Luke 24: 13-35 13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles [a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days? 19 What things? he asked. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. 25 He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. I once heard a seminary professor, someone that I had a lot of respect for, talk about this passage Jesus walk to Emmaus. He said that it is common and understandable for people to get the wrong idea of why Jesus was finally recognized, because of verse 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him The assumption is that in the breaking of the bread, (and because of the way Luke describes it, recalling Eucharistic language) these men were recalling the Last Supper. This, then, is what opened their eyes. And so, people often make a connection between seeing the risen Christ in the act of Holy Communion and this passage. Well, I think we do see Christ in Communion, but I don t think that s what was happening here in Luke 24! For one thing, it was just the bread Jesus shared, not the cup as well. But more convincing than that, is that these men are clearly not the inner group of disciples. In verse 33, after they recognize Jesus, it says that they returned at once to Jerusalem where they found the eleven and those with them. These men on the road to Emmaus were not there at Page 1 of 8
the Last Supper, and since this meeting occurred on the same day that Mary and the others began reporting the empty tomb (i.e., Easter!) there hasn t been enough time to incorporate the importance of the events of Holy Thursday into the mindset of a church that hadn t really been born yet. You see what I mean? We re projecting what we know onto this passage when we conclude that it s about Communion. There must have been something else that opened the eyes of these disciples something that was not a subtle, theological connection perhaps something they saw. And this professor suggested that what they saw were the scars on Jesus hands. When they saw the scars they knew this was really Jesus! Easter, the stunning triumph of God, the great victory over death and defeat, did not erase the scars. Did you ever think about that? Why not? Jesus, surely, could have had any sort of Resurrection body that he chose to. But the fact that he still had scars was obvious, not just from an inference here, but from places like John 20 where we all remember Thomas saying, I won t believe until I touch the scars And then Jesus appears and says Come on Thomas put out your hand. It s really me. I know sometimes people are told, If you are a Christian, a real Christian, you will always feel joy and peace in your heart. But to be honest with you, I ve known lots of people who, even after becoming Christians, still feel great sadness in their hearts over events in their lives. They still carry these memories. Is something wrong with them? Is their faith not really solid? There are people who have been abused as children, people who have been abandoned by those they trusted parents, spouses... all kinds of terrible pain from this life and sometimes, even though their Christian faith brings much joy, still they bear the scars of their past. Well, they re in good company! So did the Risen Christ and I think that this has great meaning for us today. Thomas and these Emmaus disciples, recognized him, I think, because they knew that the Jesus whom they loved did not hover above the heartache of the world; he embraced the pain, he touched the care and the sorrows of this world, he lived where we lived, he died as we must die. And ultimately, he was victorious over it all. But he bore the scars as a sign of where he had been. A sign of hope for all of us who still walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Page 2 of 8
Early on in Church history, there was a heresy called Docetism. Docetism said that Christ, the Son of God, didn t really suffer on the cross, didn t really live as we live on this earth. He only appeared (Greek: doceo to appear, or seem) to suffer, he only appeared to be human. The early church fathers said, No! That s not it. He was God, but he was fully human. The divinely Risen Christ bore human scars. Only a wounded God can save us. In last week s message we looked at the Cross of Christ as it was foreshadowed in the Old Testament and we (hopefully) understood a little bit better what it means that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. The Cross was not an accident of history, it was a Divine plan, it was God with us Emmanuel sacrificing himself for our freedom. Peter goes so far as to say, quoting Isaiah 53 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. To be human is to have scar tissue inside and out. You have scars, as you are human. I have a scar that I earned when I was quite young, living in Northeast Philadelphia. I fell down a number of concrete steps in the front of our row home, and gashed my forehead on the top of a fire hydrant. The bleeding eventually stopped. But I still bear the scar, (which seems to become more prominent as the skin up there generally sags!) That scar is a tangible reminder of a day when something really bad could have happened, but didn't. Maybe, as we grow older, our scars show! There are other scars too bittersweet memories of loved ones who are not longer with us. Memories of being stabbed in the back by friendly fire, and how much that hurt at the time. You all know what I m talking about. But think about this: the Risen Christ, the Christ after Easter, still has scars. I heard a man, (John), telling about a friend of his who spent much of his young life in an orphanage. His mother took him there as a little boy, let him out of the car under a big cedar tree, told him she would return that afternoon, but never did. His friend is now a middle-aged man. One day John was to meet him for lunch and he was late. When he arrived, about fifteen minutes late, John found his friend in a state of high Page 3 of 8
agitation, pacing around, perspiring heavily, visibly upset. He said it seemed like quite an overreaction to his fifteen minutes of tardiness. Later, he explained it. I just can't help it. I know why I get so bent out of shape when a friend is late. My mother kept me waiting under that tree at the orphanage all afternoon. And she never, ever returned. I just can't stand for someone I love to be late." He was now all grown up, on his own, functioning quite well, yes. But he still had scars. There are people who think that Easter has overcome all of that. They think that, just because Jesus was raised from the dead on Easter, the Cross is now history, overcome, fixed, forgotten. No. The Risen Christ bore nail prints in his hands. That's how they knew that the mysterious one who stood before them was none other than Jesus. Thomas touched his scars. Others saw them and they believed. Timothy Keller, in a book that I ve been quoting from frequently in recent weeks (King s Cross: the Story of the World in the Life of Jesus) makes what I think is a spot on observation: One of the most frequent objections to Christianity that I ve heard is that it is too pat or escapist. One man once said to me, I can understand why people want to come and hear that someday God will make everything better. The stories of the bible and of Jesus are certainly consoling. But in the end it s all just wishful thinking. We live in one of the first eras of history in which it is widely believed that a happy ending is the mark of inferior art. Why? Many are certain that, ultimately, life is meaningless and that happy endings are misleading at best. Life therefore would be better represented by paradox, irony, and a sense of frustration. Happy endings are all right for children s stories, perhaps, but not for thinking adults. Grown-up art, whether is Seinfeld or Waiting for Godot, deliberately lacks narrative coherence and, of course, any happy ending. (p. 182) J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of the Lord of the Rings series, and one of the spiritual mentors to the great C. S. Lewis) argues that the gospel story of Jesus is not simply one more great story, perhaps pointing to an underlying Reality. He says, rather, the gospel story of Jesus is the underlying Reality to which all the meaningful stories point. It gives us more than a passing inspiration because it is the true story; it happened. (p. 183) Page 4 of 8
And the best evidence that the Resurrection happened happened to a real man, in a real body, on the real earth, the same earth that we live on were Jesus scars. Keller writes: The resurrection means we can look forward with hope to the day our suffering will be gone. But it even means that we can look forward with hope to the day our suffering will be glorious. When Jesus shows the disciples his hands and his feet, he is showing them his scars. The last time the disciples saw Jesus, they thought those scars were ruining their lives. The disciples had thought they were on a presidential campaign. They thought that their candidate was going to win and they were going to be in the cabinet, and when they saw the nails going into the hands and the feet and the spear going into the side, they believed those wounds had destroyed their lives. And now Jesus is showing them that in his resurrected body his scars are still there. Why is this important? Because now that they understand the scars, the sight and memory of them will increase the glory and joy of the rest of their lives. Seeing Jesus Christ with his scars reminds them of what he did for them- that the scars they thought had ruined their lives actually saved their lives. Remembering those scars would help many of them endure their own crucifixions. What he s talking about is that on the Day of the Lord which Keller refers to as the day that everything sad comes untrue - on that day the same thing that happened to Jesus will happen to our own hurts and sadness. We will find that the worst things that have ever happened to us will in the end only enhance our eternal delight. Because on that day, all of it will be turned inside out and we will know joy beyond the bounds of the world. The joy of our glory will be that much greater for every scar we bear. (p. 181) That s what the Scriptures say. Millions of people have seen Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of Phan Thi Kim Phuc (pronounced "fuke"). [The picture is easily accessible on the Web, but it is to me, as disturbing as ever, so I m not going to show it to you. If you ve seen it, you ll remember.] On June 8, 1972, a napalm bomb was dropped on her village. Phuc, who was just nine-years-old at the time, ran crying from her hiding place in the village temple in Vietnam. Ut's picture shows Phuc's arms outstretched in terror and pain, skin flapping from her legs as she cried, "Nong qua! Nong qua!" ("Too hot! Too hot!"). Page 5 of 8
Doctors said Kim would not survive, but after 14 months in the hospital and 17 surgeries she returned to her family. Despite the miraculous recovery, however, Kim was seldom free from pain and nightmares and anger. The anger inside me was like a hatred high as a mountain, said Kim, and my bitterness was black as old coffee. I hated my life. I hated all people who were normal, because I was not normal. I wanted to die many times. Doctors helped heal my wounds, but they couldn't heal my heart. While spending time in a library, Kim found a Bible and began reading the New Testament. The more I read, the more I felt confused, said Kim. I wondered which was true my religion or the Bible. Kim's brother-in-law had a friend who was a Christian, so she arranged to see him with her list of questions. After they talked, the friend invited Kim to visit his church for a Christmas service. The end of the service was a turning point in Kim's life. I could not wait to trust the Lord, Kim said. "[Jesus] helped me learn to forgive my enemies, and I finally had some peace in my heart. Now when I look at my scars or suffer pain, I'm thankful the Lord put his mark on my body to remind me that he is with me all the time." 1 For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Galatians 6:17) The word here rendered "marks" (στίγµατα stigmata), means properly marks or brands that are pricked or burnt on the body. So slaves were sometimes branded by their masters to prevent their escape; or devotees to an idol god sometimes impressed the name or image of the divinity which they adored on themselves. It seems that by these marks or brands Paul refers to the welts that he had received in his body; the marks of stripes and sufferings that he endured in the service of the Redeemer. 1 Ruth Schenk, "Napalm Attack Begins 36-year Journey to faith and Forgiveness," Southeast Outlook (September 11, 2008) Page 6 of 8
In 2 Corinthians 11-12 Paul talks more about what he had endured as a Apostle shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonments, hunger, and more. But he ends up telling about something he refers to as a thorn in his flesh some (likely) physical issue, perhaps failing eyesight, that he just couldn t understand. He says, Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. How did he know that? What possible reason would he have to say something so logically inconsistent? Could it be the scars of Jesus bearing witness to the way the world really is? We ve been studying Phillip Yancey s classic book The Jesus I Never Knew during Lent. His insight on some familiar teachings has been refreshing during this time. So, I think I ll let him have the last word about the scars of Jesus I believe the story of Easter would be incomplete without those scars on the hands, the feet, and the side of Jesus The scars are, to him, an emblem of life on our planet, a permanent reminder of those days of confinement and suffering. I take hope in Jesus scars. From the perspective of heaven, they represent the most horrible event that has ever happened in the history of the universe. Even that event, though the crucifixion Easter turned into a memory. Because of Easter, I can hope that the tears we shed, the blows we receive, the emotional pain, the heartache over lost friends and loves ones, all these will become memories, like Jesus scars. Scars never completely go away, but neither do they hurt any longer. We will have re-created bodies, a re-created heaven and earth. We will have a new start, an Easter start. There are two ways to look at human history, I have concluded. One way is to focus on the wars and violence, the squalor, the pain and tragedy and death. From such a point of view, Easter seems a fairy-tale exception, a stunning contradiction in the name of God. That gives some solace, although I confess that when my friends died, grief was so overpowering that any hope in an after-life seemed somehow thin and insubstantial. There is another way to look at the world. If I take Easter as the starting point, the one incontrovertible fact about how God treats those whom he loves, then human history becomes the contradiction and Easter a preview of ultimate reality. Hope then flows like lava beneath the crust of daily life. Page 7 of 8
Michael Card The marks of death that God chose never to erase The wounds of love s eternal war When the kingdom comes with its perfected sons He will be known by the scars *** *** Page 8 of 8