on page 1061 in the Church Bibles, verses 1-12.
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning,
the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were wondering about this,
suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground,
but the men said to them,
Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here, he is risen.
Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee.
The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.
Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb,
they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others.
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James,
and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
But they did not believe the women,
because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb.
Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves,
and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Let's come.
Sorry, I'm adjusted now.
Thank you, Jez, for reading those opening verses from Luke 24.
And we're going to continue on the story.
Now that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
And as they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.
But they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, what are you discussing as you walk along?
They stood still, their faces downcast.
One of them, 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?
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.
The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him.
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.
In addition, some of our women amazed us.
They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body.
They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.
Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said.
But him they did not see.
He said to them, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?
And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.
And as they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he was going further.
But they urged him strongly, stay with us for it's nearly evening and the day is almost over.
So he went in to stay with them.
And when he was at the table with them, he broke bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
And he disappeared from their sight.
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?
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.
There they found the eleven and those with them assembled together and saying, it's true, the Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.
Then these two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Let's just ask for God's help this morning.
Our Father, we thank you for your word.
The words of scripture that we are free to open up this morning.
And we know, Father, that unless your Holy Spirit is here with us, they are just words.
But your spirit can take them off the pages and plant them deep within our hearts.
And that's what we ask this morning, Father, that your spirit would be at work through your word among us.
And we ask this in Jesus' name, the risen Savior's name.
Amen.
Wake up.
It's Resurrection Sunday.
Quick, John, James, Philip, Matthew.
Come on, everyone, get up, get up.
We need to go and we need to meet Jesus.
Oh, it's been a tough couple of days.
But won't it be great to see him again alive and on his way to glory?
Come on, let's go.
Let's go and welcome him.
That'd be a much better story, wouldn't it?
If we had written it, I think that's how we would have put it down on paper.
If we were to sit down and write the resurrection experiences,
we would write about disciples that had understood all of the scriptures.
disciples that understood the Old Testament and had listened so very carefully to what Jesus had told them
that when it came to Resurrection Sunday, they would be there.
They would know to look for him again on the third day.
But instead, the real events that we read about in chapter 24
show us that the disciples thought that Jesus was literally dead and buried and gone.
The only people that showed up on Resurrection Sunday,
we read about in verse 1 in chapter 24,
on the first day of the week, very early in the morning,
the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
Some women who come with burial spices for a dead body.
There are none of the key disciples here.
Peter, James and John are nowhere to be seen on Resurrection Sunday.
There's no sunrise service that everyone's been invited to.
They just didn't see it.
The women, the only reason they're here is to take away the smell
from that blood-stained, dead and rotting corpse that they were expecting to find.
No wonder in verse 5,
the women are frightened when they see these two men.
They're literally frightened out of their wits by the appearance of angels.
And as we read down verse 11,
they come back to the disciples and those that were following Jesus.
And they didn't believe the women because the words seemed to them like nonsense.
It was like the women had been sniffing the spices too much or something.
They'd hallucinated.
They'd lost the plot.
Celsius, who I'm sure none of you have heard of,
I didn't up until this week,
is a second century philosopher.
And he was debating against Christianity.
And do you know what one of his points was?
Well, he said,
Christianity couldn't be true
because the written accounts of the resurrection
are based on the testimony of women.
And this is him speaking, not me.
And we all know that women are hysterical.
So that was his take on a resurrection account.
You wouldn't write them with women being the witnesses.
And do you know what?
The disciples agreed with Celsius at this stage.
Hysterical women don't make for reliable witnesses.
So by and large, these women were ignored.
Except for Peter.
He seems to have a little bit of hope inside him, doesn't he?
He runs off to the tomb
and a couple of other disciples go with him.
But all they find is the empty grave.
And they too are left wondering.
What a mess.
Here we are on Resurrection Sunday.
The first one.
And no one expects.
No one believes.
No one understands.
Verse 13.
Two of those disciples
that hear the women's reports,
they don't even bother to hang around any longer
to see if it could possibly be true.
They're off back down the road to Emmaus.
They're walking away.
And that's where we join them.
On that road.
As they're walking.
That seven mile trek from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
We're leaving the defeat
and the confusion
of what's happening in Jerusalem.
They're leaving that behind.
And they're going somewhere.
And it's most likely home.
But wherever it is,
it's away from Jerusalem.
And it's back to some sort of pre-Jesus
experience in life.
Do you know it's so easy to catch up with these two
as they're walking along this road?
Because they're slow.
They're plodding.
They're like the losing supporters
of a team
that's been defeated on match day.
You know that big match that you expected to win
and the supporters are trundling out of the stadium.
Defeated.
And as we come,
we come close
because we want to hear
what they're talking about.
And they're going through
their post-match analysis.
Where did it go wrong?
We had great expectations
for our team.
We wanted them to win.
And who's to blame for this disaster?
Was it the ref?
The coach?
The players?
It's that kind of discussion.
That post-match analysis.
But while we're just content
to eavesdrop
and to listen in from a distance,
who's that?
He's coming up right beside them.
Where did this bloke come from?
Who's that?
Well, this guy,
he's far more direct than us.
We're just casually listening in.
But he actually interrupts them
and he asks them in verse 17.
What are you discussing together
as you walk along?
What is it?
What are you discussing?
And they stop.
And you know that heart-sinking feeling,
don't you?
That sudden feeling of pain,
the one you've been coping with.
And then suddenly someone says something
or reminds you of something
and it just prods it again,
the pain here.
And it feels like your heart
rises up slightly
and then just sinks down again
into your stomach.
And it's that audible sigh.
And then your head just withers
and it goes to that spot.
The one 12 inches in front of your toes.
And we've all been there, haven't we?
We've felt that kind of pain in our lives.
And for these broken disciples,
it's just a simple question.
A simple question from a stranger.
What is it you're talking about
that brings it all back again,
all to the surface again?
And once he begins to recover
from this initial downcastness
that we read in verse 17,
Keopas, he's suddenly puzzled by the question.
And he says,
well, most translators actually put his response like this.
Are you really the only visitor to Jerusalem
who doesn't know what happened?
Didn't you see the big matchup this weekend?
It was Jesus versus the rulers.
I mean, how could you have missed it?
It was the biggest show in town all weekend.
There was earthquakes.
There was darkness.
There was a show trial.
There was the mob rule.
Bane, crucify him, crucify him.
And there was the crucifixion.
How could you have missed it?
Verse 19.
The stranger says,
what things?
What things?
Well, now they have their chance, don't they?
And we're going to listen a bit closer
because we want to know
that they have an opportunity
to give their version of the story.
What Jesus versus the rulers was all about.
And who is to blame for things going wrong.
And I'm kind of glad this new guy has come along
because, you know,
and he's asking these questions
because now we're going to get the detail.
Verse 19.
Cleopas gives the answer.
And this is what he says.
Jesus of Nazareth.
Well, he was a prophet.
And he was a pretty good one at that.
He was powerful when he spoke.
And powerful when he acted.
And it was just obvious to everyone around,
even to God himself.
This was a great prophet.
And then the leaders got him.
And they handed him over to the Romans
who killed him.
Would you believe?
We kind of hoped that this Jesus,
he was the one who was going to make Israel great again.
He was going to restore our country.
He was going to restore Israel.
So there we have it.
Their version of the story.
Jesus, the failed prophet.
Beaten by the chief priests and the leaders
and killed.
What a disappointment.
He was meant to win out
and turn some of those mighty words
and some of those mighty deeds
into the actions
that would defeat the Romans,
defeat their enemies
and restore Israel
to some great nation again.
And this view of Jesus is,
it's a very popular one still today, isn't it?
It survived from the New Testament
right up until now.
Jesus, the really nice guy
who did and said some wonderful stuff.
Remember that?
Love your enemies.
Turn the other cheek.
He healed people.
What a wonderful example.
A great teacher that,
well,
he just got beaten up
and killed
by those nasty religious folk over there.
Nothing more than a man
with some great ideas
that was overtaken
by the power-hungry leaders
and the angry mob.
In his famous fiction book,
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
the author, Douglas Adams,
who is a very avid
and vocal atheist,
he compliments
and then dismisses Jesus
in the same way
as the disciples have just done.
This is what he says.
One man nailed to a tree
for saying,
how great it would be
to be nice to people
for a change.
One man nailed to a tree
for saying,
how great it would be
to be nice to people
for a change.
Jesus, the good,
nailed to a tree.
It's a popular view
of Jesus today, isn't it?
Your friends or people
that are willing
to acknowledge
that Jesus existed
say, yeah, Jesus,
he said some good things.
He just ended up
being nailed to a tree for it.
That's their Jesus as well.
Great hopes for him,
but he's dead and buried now.
The amazing stories
of the angels from the women
and the reports
of the empty tomb
that they'd heard
from their fellow disciples.
They're not enough.
All of these reports,
they're just a confused noise
to these two.
The reality for them
is that Jesus has failed.
He's dead.
He's buried.
He's gone.
What a shame.
You see, the disciples,
their view of Jesus,
they had an idol Jesus.
And an idol Jesus
is really a one-sided view
of Jesus that we construct ourselves.
We have our Bibles
because we're Bible-believing Christians
and we find a verse
or we find some idea
and then we take this one idea
and we build our Jesus around us.
Jesus will restore Israel again.
Oh, that's great.
I can follow that Jesus.
That's cool.
And it's something
that we still do today.
We look at the disciples
and kind of say,
well, they missed it,
but we miss it.
And here's another one
that I heard again recently
from a church leader.
And his emphasis was this,
that Jesus is the King.
King Jesus.
If Jesus is the King,
therefore we're children of the King.
And as sons and daughters of the King,
ask.
Ask whatever you want
and Jesus will make it happen.
God will bless you
and prosper you
because that's who He is.
He's the King.
And do you see what's happened?
We've taken something of Jesus
and we've made it all of Jesus.
We've taken something of Jesus
and made it all of Jesus.
And that's an idol Jesus,
not a real Jesus.
And in our idol Jesus,
He is the King,
which means that we're all
just princes and princesses.
Jesus.
The disciples did it,
didn't they?
They did it here
and they did it in other parts
of Scripture.
Jesus, Jesus,
my two sons,
can one of them sit
at your left hand
and one of them sit
at your right hand in heaven?
Jesus,
those bad people over there,
can we call down
that fire from heaven?
That would be good,
wouldn't it?
Let's burn them up.
Jesus,
we're hungry.
Do you remember that trick
you did with the loaves
and the fishes?
That was great.
Could you do that again?
Could you feed us again?
Jesus,
restore Israel.
So Jesus,
all of Jesus,
just gets broken up
into little,
manageable,
pocket-sized chunks.
Jesus,
the ruler.
Jesus,
the judge.
Jesus,
the giver.
Oh,
I'll have some of that.
That's grace.
But at some point,
we take out our pocket-sized
version of Jesus
the one we've created
and he doesn't deliver.
He doesn't deliver.
Remember that time
that you were fed up
when Jesus didn't deliver
for you?
Oh,
you might have said it like that.
You wouldn't have used
those words.
But really,
really you'd started
to give up on Jesus yourself.
And someone,
someone comes along
like verse 19
and says,
or verse 17,
what things?
What's up?
What is it?
What's the problem?
What are you discussing?
And there's the same reaction.
There's the,
there's the downcast eyes,
the sigh,
the disappointment.
I was really hoping
for a result this time.
That job,
it just seemed right for me
and I would have loved
to have worked
for that company.
You know what?
I had loads of people
praying for me.
I had loads of people
in the church
and my friends
and some family even
and they were praying
that I would get the job
and then I didn't.
And I don't know
what's on the road ahead
or where it's leading.
I really thought
that Jesus this time
was going to sort
this one out for me.
You see,
if you haven't already
walked this road to Emmaus,
maybe you're walking it now
but sometime soon
you will walk it.
We have this particular idea
of Jesus
or of his church
and then Jesus fails
to deliver
so we start to walk away
slow, plotting.
We walk away from the church,
away from the community,
away from Jerusalem
and we're off somewhere else.
As we walk,
just like these disciples,
our eyes,
our eyes are literally closed
to the real Jesus
in front of us.
We can't see him.
We can't see the resurrected Jesus
that is standing there.
The stranger
has listened
very politely.
Verse 25.
He's listened to your story
but there's a fire
in his eye now.
Something he wants to say.
So,
we're a bit nosier now
so we're coming
a little bit closer
and we're drawing
a little closer.
How foolish you are.
How slow of heart
to believe.
Sounds a bit like
road rage is happening
on the way to Emmaus.
We actually take a step back
because we're not sure
where this is going to go.
How foolish you are
and how slow of heart
to believe.
Why?
Because they've missed
the resurrection.
They've missed
the resurrection.
Don't be mistaken here.
This is a rebuke.
These are strong words.
This person
can see clearly
where they've gone wrong
in their understanding
of Jesus.
Where their idol Jesus
has come from
and where it has
let them down.
And this is what he says.
You are slow
to believe
all.
Hear that word
all that the prophets
have spoken.
Yes,
they believed
some of this.
Remember,
they'd taken the bits
they liked
and stuffed it
in their pockets
for use later.
They'd believe
those easy bits
about the Messiah
coming to rescue Israel
and to redeem it.
The bits about freedom
from their enemies
and maybe having
bigger borders
and the bits about
feasts in the Old Testament.
They're quite nice.
I wouldn't mind
some of that
and beating enemies.
That sounds good.
And their idol Jesus
was quite easy
to construct
from those few pages
of the Bible,
the Old Testament.
But the other bits,
they just didn't understand.
They didn't get it.
They didn't see it.
But now,
it was going to be
shown to them,
wasn't it?
For now,
now if we look,
the most important phrase
in this whole section
is in verse 26.
Everything hinges on this.
Listen up.
Listen carefully now.
In fact,
come a little bit closer
to the conversation.
For first came the rebuke,
now comes the correction.
And these words,
these are the words
that are going to drag
the disciples
away from staring
at their navels.
and have their hearts
burning again
for the real Jesus.
Did not the Christ,
did not the Christ,
come closer,
look again,
did not the Christ
have to suffer
these things
and enter his glory?
Verse 27,
and beginning with Moses
and all the prophets,
he explained to them
what was said
in all the scriptures
concerning himself.
The stranger has rebuked,
now he corrects
by opening the Bible
up for them.
Come and look closer.
What does the Bible say
about the Christ?
Suffering and glory.
Read the Bible.
Suffering and glory.
Look here,
the obvious place,
if you look at Isaiah,
God's servant,
he's gentle,
he's humble,
and then he's taken
and slaughtered,
suffering.
But look over to Daniel
and the Christ,
he's called the son of man,
coming in his glory
to judge and to rule.
Glory.
They're both there,
the suffering servant
of Isaiah
and the ruling
son of man of Daniel.
Clearly,
the Messiah
must both suffer
and then enter
his glory.
But there's the obvious
things like that,
the Christ-centered passages
that we can go to.
But look at the whole story,
look at all the pages.
Look,
there's Joseph.
Joseph?
Well,
see how he suffered.
Remember Joseph
down the well?
Remember Joseph
in prison
for something
he didn't do?
He's low,
he's suffering.
But now,
flick on a few pages
in the story of Joseph
and there he is,
he's the second in command
of the whole of Egypt,
providing for all the people.
Not just the people in Egypt,
but the people
who come from afar,
who are suffering famine.
Joseph in his glory.
Look at Noah.
I'm not just saying that
because it's his birthday today,
by the way,
he's two.
But look at Noah,
the Noah of the Bible.
120 years
he stood there
building that ark,
hammering away
and the people came
and they mocked him.
They ridiculed him
and he suffered.
You can be very sure
if you were to build something
for 120 years
on dry land
that looked like a boat,
your neighbours would be,
your neighbours would be
looking strange at you.
But look at the end
and he is one of eight people
that is rescued,
enjoying glory.
Or look at the Exodus story.
Egypt,
suffering,
slavery.
40 years later,
glory,
the promised land.
The whole Bible,
the whole story,
suffering,
then glory.
Of course,
we want to see Jesus the King.
Yes.
We want to see Jesus the King
for he is the King
but never forget
that Jesus is also
the suffering servant.
You see,
there's a problem
with just the Jesus is King view
because at times
our lives aren't very princely,
are they?
And at those times,
how are we going to cope
if all we see of Jesus
is Jesus the King?
How does that help us
in those situations?
This Resurrection Sunday,
this Easter weekend,
we need to remember
that the crown of thorns
came first
before the crown of gold.
This seven mile trek
to Emmaus
is literally life transforming
for these disciples.
they now see Jesus
through the pages
of the scripture
as the suffering king.
And as a result,
in verse 31,
we have this unblinking,
their physical eyes
are suddenly open.
Then their eyes were opened
and they recognized him.
And then just like that,
he's gone.
just when they see him physically.
Well,
you see,
his work here is done.
And it's not just because
they recognize
that this stranger
is in fact
the risen Jesus.
No,
it's that they see
him from the eyes
of their heart.
That's why Jesus' work
is done.
Verse 32,
were not our hearts
burning within us
while he talked with us
on the road
and opened the scriptures
to us?
You see,
Jesus has come alongside
and they've been
kindly rebuked,
corrected,
and trained by Jesus
from the Bible.
Yes,
yes,
they had seen
the risen Lord,
bodily resurrected,
and they'd recognized him.
But there's nothing
accidental
that Luke,
and this is one of Luke's
longest passages,
by the way,
or narratives
or descriptions
in the whole of his book,
there's nothing accidental
that the first people
in Luke's story
to see the resurrected Jesus
are these two
two.
You know,
in some of the other accounts,
the focus is on the people
that saw Jesus
around the grave,
but for Luke,
these are the first people
that actually see Jesus,
that we read about
actually seeing him.
Why is that?
Why did Luke
choose
to take this story?
Well,
you see,
it's important
that they saw Jesus
with their eyes,
yes,
but more importantly
for Luke,
it's that they can see
Jesus now
with their hearts
and their minds
through the pages
of the Bible.
You can say,
well,
yes,
but surely seeing
the resurrected Jesus
with their eyes
is the important thing.
It is,
but it's more than that.
It's just as crucial
for them
and for the generations
that would come
that they could see Jesus
not just with their
physical eyes,
but with their hearts
through the pages
of Scripture.
and that's why
Jesus took the time
to open the Bible
for them
and gather around
and over their shoulders
saying,
look,
look here,
look at this bit.
I bet you never,
I bet you never realized
that's what that was about.
That was about me.
Did not the Christ?
Put your eyes
on the real Jesus.
The Bible is all about him.
Every story,
every page
just whispers his name.
Have you had your eyes
opened to Jesus?
Have you?
Have you seen him?
All of him?
The Jesus of the Bible?
From the God
who came from heaven
down to be born as a baby?
Have you seen the Jesus
that is angry with sin?
Have you seen that Jesus?
Have you seen the Jesus
that picks up the weak
and picks up the lowly
and fights for the poor?
Have you seen the Jesus
that's going to come back again
in his glory to judge?
We need a whole
Bible view of Jesus.
Not just,
not just this
little idol view.
So again,
which Jesus have you seen?
The popular one?
Do you remember
the one we spoke about?
The nice
but dead Jesus?
Or have you seen
the all-powerful
suffering king?
You see,
our eyes are open
when we read
and hear the Bible
explained to us.
and the words
are almost
taken off the pages
and embedded
in our hearts
by the work
of the Holy Spirit.
We need to know
about sin.
We need to know
about our need
for a suffering king.
A king who dies
in our place
and turns aside
the wrath of God
so that we can be rescued.
And what a difference
this view makes.
Just look at
these two disciples.
Do you see the differences?
Do you remember
the story we've read
so far
and how they were
on their way
from Jerusalem to Emmaus?
Well, now they're
back on the road again
but they're going
the opposite direction.
They're going back
to Jerusalem.
Back to the church.
Back to their mission.
Back to persecution
and threats
of the authorities.
It's late in the evening
and they're tired.
They've said it.
Come stay with us.
It's late.
But that doesn't matter now.
That doesn't matter
that it's late.
They practically run
the seven miles
back to the others.
Do you see it
in verse 33?
They can't get there
quick enough.
Remember their original road.
Plodding.
Slow.
Downcast.
What a change.
Now their hearts
they're on fire
and they're no longer
worried that it's evening
and it's bedtime
and I'm tired.
For them
the day is just beginning.
It's not the end of the day.
Yes, they've missed
the resurrection service.
Oh, what a terrible one.
Imagine missing
the resurrection service.
Imagine being there
the very first Sunday
resurrection Sunday
and actually seeing Jesus
come out of the tomb.
Well, they'd missed that
but that's okay.
They've seen the resurrected Jesus
through the pages of scripture.
They've seen him in person
and now they're running back.
They're back on the road
to Jerusalem
back on mission.
What a Bible lesson
that must have been.
Much better than maybe
being here on a Sunday
and listening to
preaching here.
Imagine having Jesus
with you for seven miles
on that trip
opening up the Bible
for you
and being able
to listen to him.
Wouldn't that be amazing?
Wouldn't that be great?
If only, if only.
Imagine Jesus
being our guide
through the pages
of the Old Testament.
We need not imagine.
For Jesus sends
his Spirit,
his Holy Spirit
to be our helper.
His Holy Spirit
is what we need
to see Jesus
in the pages of the Bible
every single day
and understand
the mission
that we have been called to
to tell others.
Remember, Jesus tells us
in the book of John
that the Holy Spirit
was going to come.
Do you know,
yes, it's great
having me around,
but I'm going to go
to my glory
and that's better for you.
It's better for you
that I leave
because the Spirit
is going to come
and the Spirit
goes everywhere
and is going to live
within each one of you
and remind you
of the things
that I've said.
I'm going to remind you
of the Scriptures
that they're all about me.
The Spirit comes.
Jesus sends
his Spirit to us.
You know that idol Jesus?
I don't know
which one you picture.
I have a few
that I picture at times.
You know,
it looks attractive.
Well, we've made it ourselves
and we're pretty clever people.
It promises much,
but someday
or something
is going to take that
and nail it to a cross.
And our defeated
idol Jesus
is going to put us
on the road
out of Jerusalem
and on the road
to Emmaus.
It's going to put us
away from the church,
away from our mission
and it's going to put us
back to an old life.
And the sad thing
about the idol Jesus
that we construct
is that we're not
clever enough
to know that we should
be looking for a resurrection.
And so we'll put our heads down
and we'll march away
defeated.
But look over your shoulder.
Who's that coming alongside?
It's the one who listens
to our story.
It's the one who,
when the time is just right,
will rebuke us.
Will rebuke our slow
and foolish hearts.
And then,
and then,
he's going to set about
painting this amazing picture.
This massive picture
this picture,
this picture that,
that blows our idol Jesus
away from the,
from the scriptures
of the Christ,
the full picture.
You see,
that's the spirit
of Jesus working then.
Did you,
did you know that?
That when your pastor
comes alongside you
at that time,
that that's Jesus'
spirit working
through your pastor,
showing you the scriptures,
painting that picture
of Jesus for you.
that that's the spirit
of Jesus who's talking
through that godly
Christian friend
who's,
who's helped you
in the past
and,
and now you're not
feeling well
or something's not right
and they're,
they're,
they're coming beside you
again,
aren't they?
and encouraging you.
That's Jesus.
That's his spirit
at work through his people,
through his church
to help you.
Lifting your eyes
off the ground
in front of you,
lifting your head up
to see Jesus again.
And can I encourage you
with this as we finish?
That when that happens,
when you feel like
you're on that road,
when your idol Jesus
has been nailed to a cross
and that person
comes beside you,
don't cling too hard
to that statue of Jesus
that you had.
Don't,
don't,
don't grab it.
The one you've relied
upon up to now,
just,
just let it go
and let your heart
like these disciples
burn again,
burn again
for the real Jesus.
Get back on the saddle.
Get back on the saddle
and turn back to Jerusalem
and share the joy
of a risen,
suffering king
with the community
of his people once more.
Let's pray.
Father,
we need a rebuke
every now and again,
more often than we realize.
And we thank you this morning
that your word
rebukes our hearts,
our slowness,
our hostility,
our unbelief.
And Lord,
if we had been there,
we would have been
in our beds that morning.
Lord,
forgive us.
But Lord,
we thank you
that you don't leave us
in that state
and you give us your word.
We thank you
for these words of scripture.
May our hearts
burn again.
We thank you
that this morning
we are here
2,000 years later
on a resurrection Sunday
celebrating
the risen king,
the suffering king,
our Jesus.
Help us, Lord.
Help us to encourage
one another
to have the spirit
of Christ
working through us
as your people,
taking your word,
making us ready
and fit for our mission.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.