04.04.10 - The Resurrection: What Difference Does It Make?

Read Luke 24:13-35

At the end of that story, Cleopas and his companion were completely different from what they had been at the beginning. Meeting the risen Lord Jesus transformed them. And it transforms us. This story illustrates the difference the resurrection makes.

At the beginning of the story Cleopas and his friend were depressed and dispirited. We are told “they stood still, their faces downcast.” When they talked about what had happened in Jerusalem in the last few days, they referred to Jesus as only a prophet. He had been powerful in word and deed, they said, but the authorities had had Him crucified. “We had hoped that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel.” “We had hoped...” implies “We no longer do.” They had hoped but it has all come to a depressing end.

They had heard the reports that the tomb was empty and an angel had said He was alive but that doesn’t seem to have lifted their spirits. At best they were simply confused. They don’t, at this stage, believe in the resurrection. They still are depressed and dispirited.

Jesus rebuked them. He called them foolish and slow to believe – slow to believe what the prophets had spoken. The prophets had said two things. Firstly, the Messiah must suffer these things. They thought that the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus was an end to the story and proof that he was not the Messiah. They had hoped that He was the Messiah but instead he had been killed. But Jesus said, “Did not the prophets say the Messiah had to suffer these things?” The crucifixion wasn’t proof that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah. The prophets had foretold this. It was evidence that He was the Messiah.

Secondly, the prophets had said that the Messiah would then enter His glory. He must die, but that would not be the end. He would triumph and be glorified. So they should have expected the reports that He was alive again. And when it happened, again it should have been proof that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

Easter is often the time when people take pot shots at Christianity. This year, in New Zealand anyway, it is Bryan Bruce claiming that the gospels are largely myth with very little that can be believed. In the last few years there has also been the rise of what is called “new atheism” which argues, on supposedly scientific ground, that religion is dangerous and should not be tolerated. The best known spokesperson is Richard Dawkins who wrote the book, The God Delusion.

When we hear such things, it is very possible for us to also be dispirited and confused. We might say, “We had hoped that He was the Messiah – but now we don’t know.”

Or, maybe, our own experience has been disappointing. Maybe it seems that God has let us down. We have prayed but God hasn’t answered. Again, we might say, “We had hoped, BUT...”

Cleopas and his companion were in that place. They had been with Jesus. There was so much to suggest that He was a prophet. They had heard His powerful words and seen His powerful deeds, BUT... they had been let down big time. It all came to a crashing halt. The authorities had crucified Him. God had built up their hopes, only to crush them.

That is at the beginning of the story but what are they like at the end? Totally different. By the end they are running back to Jerusalem with good news that they must tell the other disciples. By the end they are excited and their whole outlook has changed. This is a story of transformation accomplished because of one thing: Jesus was alive.

I want to suggest six things that changed because of the resurrection.

Firstly, at the beginning of the story they were alone. Jesus had gone. They had hoped that He would redeem Israel but, all of a sudden it had gone wrong and He had been killed. They had spent time with Him but then, suddenly, He had been taken from them and they were left alone, like orphans.

Then something amazing happened. He was with them. He walked with them and talked with them and ate with them. Dead men don’t do that. Even before they realised who He was, they experienced the presence and the companionship of Jesus.

It seems that they only momentarily realised that they were in the presence of Jesus. He broke the bread, their eyes were opened, they recognised Him and then He disappeared. But, then they thought back to what that walk had been like and said to each other, “Did you find that your heart was burning within you when He explained the scriptures to us? Yeah, me too!”

Jesus is our companion. He is our ever present friend and master. He said, “I will be with you always.” Sometimes we are not aware that He is there. We don’t recognise Him either. But He is there.

Maybe there is implied forgiveness there too, or an assurance of forgiveness. Jesus had rebuked them for their unbelief but their fellowship with Jesus – fellowship that had been broken – was restored. He ate with them. There is no explicit forgiveness but maybe it is implicit.

Thirdly, there was a shift in their understanding of who Jesus was. At first they refer to Him as a prophet. That seems strange because even during His lifetime people called Him “Lord”, Peter had declared that He was the Messiah. But the disappointment of the crucifixion seems to have destroyed their belief that He was Lord. Now they see him as merely a prophet alongside Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel – certainly an important and godly person but they no longer believed He was the Messiah. By the end though, they concur with the other disciples saying, “The Lord has risen.”

None of the prophets was raised from the dead. This sets Jesus apart. The resurrection shows that He is more than a prophet.

Rom 1:4 Jesus... who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection.

It doesn’t mean that Jesus wasn’t the Son of God prior to the resurrection. Clearly, he was, but the resurrection declared that that was who He was. The resurrection says, “This man is the Son of God.”

The meeting with Jesus shifted Cleopas and his friend from unbelief to belief.

Fourthly, there was a dramatic shift in their understanding of scripture. Passages they knew well suddenly came alive as Jesus showed them how those scriptures foretold Him. Of course, they had only the Old Testament but even the Old Testament is about Jesus. They hadn’t realised it before but as Jesus took them through the various books He showed them how it all referred to Him. He started with Moses and the prophets. “Moses” refers to the books of Moses, the first five books of the Old Testament. “The prophets” refers to the prophets! He just started there. Possibly Jesus took them through the psalms and the other writings as well and they saw that from go to whoa the Old Testament is about Jesus. They hadn’t realised, for example, that the prophets had foretold a suffering Messiah. It must have been an eye-popping experience to have Jesus bring new light to those old passages. No wonder they later said, “Were our hearts not burning within us while He talked to us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?” They saw things they had never seen before and it was exciting and faith-building.

It is exactly the same for us. The risen Jesus is now present, not physically, but by His Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus – who opens our eyes to see things in the scriptures. There can be that same excitement for us as the Holy Spirit reveals to us the true meaning of the Bible. If Jesus had simply died and we didn’t have His companionship, there would be nobody revealing to us the meaning of the Bible. Cleopas and his friend knew the words of the scriptures but the meaning was hidden until Jesus opened their eyes. We can read the words but it takes God to reveal the meaning.

We can also have that same sense of seeing things we have never seen before as the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus – opens our eyes and reveals things to us.

When they saw what the Bible actually said and how it had been fulfilled in the very events that they had witnessed; and when they realised that Jesus was actually alive and was with them, they moved from hopelessness to hope. If Jesus really was alive then it was not all lost. In fact, a miracle as big as a resurrection held out huge hope for the future.

The story started with them being very dispirited and talking about what they had hoped but now no longer did. It ends with them racing back to Jerusalem to tell the others what had happened. When they got there, they found that the others too were saying that Jesus was alive and had appeared to Simon Peter in addition to the women who had earlier told them of the empty tomb.

They still didn’t understand it all. If you read on you will see that while they were still talking, Jesus appeared again and they were startled and frightened thinking they were seeing a ghost. He had to reassure them again. But at least they had hope. It no longer looked gloomy. They were no longer downcast. They were excited.

Jesus is alive. Life is not out of control. God is not defeated. It didn’t all end on a cross. God is still on His throne. He will bring in His Kingdom. In fact, He is doing that now, every day in little and big ways, the Kingdom of God is being extended. We can expect to see prayers answered and miracles happen because Jesus is alive and well.

But it also gives hope for the next life. Jesus wasn’t defeated by death. Death was defeated by Jesus. We can have confidence in the promises of heaven.

One last thing that the resurrection did for these two people on the road to Emmaus; it changed them from miseries into missionaries. They had good news to share and they felt a responsibility to share it. Possibly their friends still in Jerusalem still didn’t know about these things. Possibly they were still depressed by the fact that Jesus had died. Cleopas and his friend had good news for them. The passage says they returned “at once” to Jerusalem. There was no time to lose. They had good news people needed to hear.

As do we. We also are in that position of having news that others possibly haven’t heard – good news that they need to hear. Jesus is alive. Death has been conquered. The price for sin has been paid and we can be forgiven. Jesus promised to be with us always and He is. Without the resurrection, none of that would be true. Because of the resurrection, all of it is true.

The risen Jesus immediately began sending His disciples out to share this news. It is part of knowing the risen Jesus that we tell others about Him. In the same chapter of Luke, Jesus said to the disciples:
Luke 24:47-49 47repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

The living Jesus makes that difference. This is the new life; the post-resurrection life:
1. Knowing the presence and the companionship of God.
2. Having the assurance of forgiveness
3. Knowing Jesus is Saviour and Lord
4. Hearing the voice of God especially as He speaks through the scriptures
5. Having hope for the future
6. Becoming a missionary with good news that must be told.

Cleopas and his companion were totally transformed through meeting the living Jesus. The difference for us is exactly the same. This is the new life. Let’s rejoice in that. Let’s celebrate. We talk about celebrating Communion but often it is rather sombre. Today maybe we can simply celebrate the difference there is in our lives because Jesus died and rose again. Maybe we can just give thanks and rejoice. Or maybe it can be a time when we seek an even greater experience of the living Lord Jesus Christ.