Easter
Sunday Bible Study
March
31, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the
broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a
decision Is the church loved?
We’ve
been following Dr. Luke around this week, looking at how he described the events
of the passion week.
On Sunday we
saw the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
On Thursday we
looked at the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane
Friday took us
to the cross.
Early this
morning a group of women including Mary Magdalene went to add spices to Jesus’
burial wrappings. They found the tomb
was open and empty. They reported this
to the disciples.
Peter and John ran to the tomb, find it empty, and see the grave clothes. They believe.
When Mary gets back to the tomb, she is the first one that Jesus actually appears
to. She goes back to the disciples and
tells them what happened, but they don’t believe what she said.
24:13-32 Walking
with Jesus
:13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that
same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.
:13 Emmaus
Play “Road to
Emmaus” map clip
It seems that scholars haven’t
pinned down the location of this ancient village. There are about four ideas out there of
places that have been identified at one time or another with Emmaus. The one that seems to fit best is located
inside the West Bank, and it is seven miles northwest of Jerusalem.
We’ll take a helicopter trip from Jerusalem to Emmaus
We’ll start down Israeli Highway #1, then veer right and up a valley into
Palestinian lands on the West Bank where we wind up at Emmaus, today known as
the town of Al-Qubeiba. A seven mile walk is going to
take some time. At
least a couple of hours.
:13 seven miles
The Greek text is “sixty stadia”, or 60x600feet, a little under seven
miles.
:14 And they talked together
of all these things which had happened.
:15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned,
that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
:16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they
did not know Him.
:16 their eyes were restrained
restrained – krateo
– to have power, be powerful; to get possession of; to hold in check,
restrain
Imperfect passive indicative
The language makes it sound as if
Jesus has gained control over their eyes and is keeping them from seeing who He
is.
Jesus has joined these two men on
the road as they are having their “chat”.
:15 conversed – homileo
– to be in company with; to associate with; to converse with, talk about:
with one
The word is also translated
“talked” in verse 14.
verse 14 – Imperfect active
indicative
verse 15 – present active
infinitive
We get our word “homiletics” from
this word, which is the fancy word we preachers use for the preparation of our
sermons. I worked on my homiletics
skills yesterday when I prepared my messages.
I think it would be better if us
preachers worked more at “conversing” with people rather than “preaching” to
them.
:15 reasoned – suzeteo
(“with” + “to seek”) – to seek or examine together
Present active infinitive
Lesson
He shows up when we talk about our lives
These two fellows had a lot to talk
about.
These were men who considered
themselves among the disciples of Jesus.
:17 And He said to them, “What kind of
conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are
sad?”
:17 conversation – logos
:17 you have – antiballo – to throw in turn
:17 are sad – skuthropos – of a sad and gloomy countenance
:18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered
and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known
the things which happened there in these days?”
:18 Cleopas – Kleopas
– “of a renowned father”
:18 stranger – paroikeo
– to dwell beside (one) or in one’s neighborhood, to live near; in the NT,
to be or dwell in a place as a stranger, to sojourn
Present active indicative
It’s funny he’s calling Jesus a
“stranger”.
:19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they
said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty
in deed and word before God and all the people,
:20 and how the chief priests and our rulers
delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
:21 But we were hoping that it was He who was
going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since
these things happened.
:21 we were hoping – elpidzo – to hope
Imperfect active indicative
:21 to redeem – lutroo – to release on receipt of ransom; to
redeem, liberate by payment of ransom
Present middle infinitive
Lesson
Not what I expected
He did redeem us. Just not the way
they were expecting.
Things are not always what they seem…
People have
interesting ideas of what they think Jesus is all about.
Every once in a while I get prayer requests from people who want God to
take away their financial problems. And
sometimes it comes across more like they want God to make them rich.
Don’t get me wrong, God cares about your finances. He promises to meet our needs.
But I don’t think making a lot of money is top on His
priority list for us.
I
think that God paving the streets of heaven with gold is His way of
gently reminding us that gold is not that big a deal. Yes it can be helpful. Yes it has importance. But I’m not sure it’s God’s top priority for
our lives.
I tend to think that God is more concerned about our
character.
Look at what Paul says,
(Ro 5:3–5 NKJV) —3 And not only that,
but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces
perseverance; 4 and
perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the
love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given
to us.
I don’t see a word about money here. We look forward to the glory of God, not
money. The process that leads us to hope
is by going through trials, persevering, growing in character, and character
produces hope. Those are what’s important to God.
Some people
come to church when they hit a crisis in their lives.
Their wife
leaves them, they
get fired from their job, or they
get arrested and are facing a trial.
It’s common to come to church and be looking for God to fix your particular
problem.
I just want to let you know that He might not fix it the
way you want Him to.
God
may not want to fix your problem as much as God may want to fix you.
Look at how He does
“redeems” us. The
disciples might have expected a military takeover. Both Paul and Peter use the same word that
Cleopas uses:
(Tt 2:14 NKJV) who gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special
people, zealous for good works.
He redeemed us WHEN He died for us. His redemption was intended to get us out of
our lawless deeds. He came to change us.
(1 Pe 1:18–19 NKJV)
—18
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like
silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
We were redeemed by the blood of Christ. He came to change our “aimless conduct”.
Illustration
The cheerful girl with bouncy
golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand,
she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. “Oh
please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?” Quickly the mother
checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading
blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face. “A dollar ninety-five. That’s
almost $2.00. If you really want them, I’ll think of some extra chores for you
and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your
birthday’s only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from
Grandma.” As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out
17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to
the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents.
On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she
had enough money to buy the necklace. Jenny loved her pearls. They made her
feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere—Sunday school,
kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went
swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her
neck green. Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready
for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a
story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you love me?”
“Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you.” “Then give me your pearls.” “Oh,
Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess—the white horse from my
collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one you gave me.
She’s my favorite.” “That’s okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night.” And he
brushed her cheek with a kiss. About a week later, after the story time,
Jenny’s daddy asked again, “Do you love me?” “Daddy, you know I love you.”
“Then give me your pearls.” “Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby
doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can
have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.” “That’s okay. Sleep well. God
bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.” And as always, he brushed her cheek
with a gentle kiss. A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was
sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he
noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. “What
is it, Jenny? What’s the matter?” Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted her
little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl
necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, “Here, Daddy. It’s for you.”
With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny’s kind daddy reached out with one
hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into
his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls
and gave them to Jenny. He had had them all the time. He was just waiting for
her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.
The Treasure, by Alice Gray as printed in
“More Stories for the Heart”
Let God work in your life the way He wants to. Are you teachable? Be
careful about thinking you know how things should turn out.
:22 Yes, and certain women
of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.
:23 When they did not find His body, they came
saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.
:24 And certain of those who were with us
went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they
did not see.”
:25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and
slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
:25 foolish – anoetos – not understanding, unwise, foolish
:25 slow – bradus – slow; dull, inactive, in mind; stupid,
slow to apprehend or believe
I have to admit
it, sometimes I’m just a little too much like Patrick.
The disciples were “foolish” and “slow” to believe God’s Word.
:26 Ought not the Christ to
have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets,
He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
:27 He expounded – diermeneuo
– to unfold the meaning of what is said, explain, expound; to translate
into one’s native language
Imperfect active indicative
:26 Ought not the Christ to have
suffered
What I don’t understand is why nobody bothered to write down what Jesus
said.
Wouldn’t that have been the most fantastic Bible Study you’ve ever
listened to?
Lesson
He suffered for us
It was
necessary.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise that the Messiah had to suffer. It had been hinted at by the prophets for
centuries.
We don’t know what Scriptures Jesus talked about, but He might have included
some of these verses:
(Ge 3:15 NKJV) And I will
put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your
seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
This was a warning given to the serpent in the garden of Eden. Satan
would be wounded in the head, and Jesus would be bruised in His heel. Though Jesus would suffer on the cross, it
was Satan who was dealt the bigger defeat that day.
(Ge 22:8 AV) And Abraham said, My
son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of
them together.
When Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his only son
Isaac, Abraham was painting a picture of the day when the Father would
sacrifice His only begotten Son.
God would provide Himself a sacrifice.
(Ex 17:6 NKJV) Behold, I will stand
before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water
will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel.
As the people cried for water in the wilderness, Moses
struck the Rock with his staff and water came out. Paul tells us that the Rock was Christ. Moses was painting a picture of the Christ
being struck for us.
(Ps 22:16 NKJV) For dogs have surrounded Me; The
congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My
hands and My feet;
A thousand years before Christ, David painted an eerily
accurate account of crucifixion. Back on
Friday Jesus even quoted the first line of the psalm while on the cross,
hinting at the people that they ought to look up the Psalm when He said,
My God, My God, why have
You forsaken Me?
(Is 53:5 NKJV) But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are
healed.
Isaiah made it clear 700 years earlier that the Messiah
would suffer, and do it for our sake.
(Heb 10:7 NKJV) Then I said, ‘Behold,
I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O
God.’ ”
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the entire Old
Testament speaks of Jesus. You find Him
on the pages of every book.
It was necessary
for Him to suffer.
This was what
the Scriptures taught. Jesus taught the
Scriptures.
He was suffering in order to pay for our sins.
He paid a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.
:28 Then they drew near to
the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone
farther.
:28 he indicated– prospoieomai (“toward”
+ “to make”)– to take or claim a thing to one’s self; to conform one’s self to
a thing, or rather to affect to one’s self; to pretend
:28 further – porrhotero – further
:29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with
us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay
with them.
:29 they constrained – parabiazomai – to employ force contrary to nature
and right; to compel by employing force; to constrain one by entreaties
:29 abide – meno – to remain, abide; in reference to
place; to sojourn, tarry; not to depart; to continue to be present
:29 evening – hespera – evening, eventide
:29 is far spent – klino –
transitively to incline, bow; to cause to fall back; to recline; in a place for
repose; intransitively to incline one’s self; of the declining of the day
:30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took
bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
:30 he sat – kataklino – in the NT in reference to eating, to
make to recline; to recline (at a table)
:30 He took bread, blessed and
broke it
This is Sunday evening. It was only last Thursday evening …
(Lk 22:19–20 NKJV)
—19
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it
to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for
you; do this in remembrance
of Me.” 20 Likewise
He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new
covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
:31 Then their eyes were
opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
:31 vanished – aphantos
(“not” + “shining”) – taken out of sight, made invisible
Luke used the root word in verse
11, translated “seemed” –
(Lk 24:11 NKJV) And their words seemed to them like idle
tales, and they did not believe them.
Jesus was only hanging around until
they “got it”.
:32 And they said to one another, “Did not our
heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened
the Scriptures to us?”
:31 their eyes were opened
Lesson
Open Eyes
Some have suggested that they
recognized Jesus because they may have seen the nail prints in His hands as
they ate together.
I think it was the sharing of bread
that opened their eyes.
These two disciples will head back to Jerusalem and tell the other
disciples what had just happened to them.
(Lk 24:35 NKJV) And they told
about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to
them in the breaking of
bread.
Some folks think that this is speaking about how important communion is, or in
Catholic terms, the “eucharist”. They say that it was in the taking of
communion that Jesus became known to them.
These folks tend to think that during the church service that the bread magically turns into
flesh, and the wine magically turns into real blood.
They will say that only certain magically enabled priests
can do this magic trick.
My friends, it’s not about the “magic”. Communion is about
remembering.
Jesus said that we were to “remember” Him when we ate
bread and drank grape juice.
We are to remember what He did for us.
Paul writes about “communion”:
(1 Co 10:16 NKJV) The cup of
blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which
we break, is it not the communion
of the body of Christ?
communion – koinonia – fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation
Communion is about “sharing” the bread and grape juice
together. It’s about us all sharing
Jesus with each other, that we all have Jesus in common.
Communion was regularly practiced by the early church.
(Ac 2:42 NKJV) And they
continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and
in prayers.
The word “fellowship” is “koinonia”.
You’d be hard pressed to decide whether Luke is describing communion
when he uses “fellowship” or when he describes “breaking of bread”.
(Ac 2:46
NKJV) —46 So continuing daily
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate
their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
I’d suggest
that an element of what opened their eyes was the “fellowship” they
experienced.
From the
beginning of our passage, these two fellows had been talking about the things
that had been happening over the past week.
Then Jesus entered into the conversation and they began to talk with Him as
well.
Then Jesus brought the Scriptures into the discussion and explained them to
the fellows.
They begged Jesus to stay with them – true fellowship is about keeping
Jesus in the conversation.
They broke bread together.
Not just as communion (though this is a part of it), but
as eating a meal together.
Some of my favorite times of fellowship take place at
Polly’s Pies or Panera Bread, as we sit down over a meal and share Jesus with
each other.
Each time, my eyes are opened a little more.
Do you realize how important it is that you have real “fellowship” with
other believers?
Together, we are the “body of Christ”. Part of seeing Him better involves your
relationship with other believers.
If you’ve been
with us from the sunrise service, you’ve been reminded that He is alive – we don’t
look for Him among the dead. He wants us to walk with
Him.
How do we walk with Him?
It’s not what I
expected – so stay teachable
It’s about the
Scriptures – He teaches me about what He must do…
It’s about
fellowship
Have you opened your heart yet to Jesus?
Let today be that day.