There are experts in the field who tell you how to shake a hand, how to walk, how to talk, to try to look more confident, more assured - more impressive. Maybe you remember your mom telling you on occasion, “stop slouching! Say thank you! Stop mumbling! Look at me when I’m talking to you.” You can tell a lot about a person just in the way he walks or talks - whether he is confident or not, happy or sad, eager or timid. When Jesus approached the disciples on the way to Emmaus and asked them what they were talking about, today’s text says, “They stood still, their faces downcast.” They didn’t have to say anything. You could tell just by looking at them - with their faces buried at the ground - that something was wrong. It’s kind of like when mom hears a crash upstairs, comes running up and asks, “what happened?” I guarantee you, there will be some kids looking at the floor - sad over the fact that one of them is going to get it. The disciples were depressed, and Jesus knew why. The reason he asked the question, was because He wanted to change their countenance, liven up their night. As we study this conversation, we’ll get to see how
Jesus Turns Your Frown Upside Down
I. The frown
When Jesus asked them the question, the disciples were in awe over the thought of Jesus not knowing. It shows that this crucifixion of Jesus was not just some isolated incident that only a few people knew about it. The whole region was abuzz. Cleopas, one of the two disciples, responded, “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. This answer to Jesus reveals the source of their depression.
Why were they depressed? Because they had the wrong expectations of Jesus. The disciples had been impressed with the POWER of Jesus - in His words and in His deeds. He had raised the dead. He had healed the sick. He had spoken in ways they had never heard before. Therefore, they expected Jesus to redeem Israel, as the Scriptures had said. But their idea of REDEMPTION was messed up. Redeem is literally in the Greek “lutrousthai”, which means to release on receipt of ransom, to liberate by payment of ransom. Their idea of redemption meant freedom of the physical sort - freedom from the slavery to the Romans, and the re-emergence of the state of Israel. (There are still many today who foolishly place the hopes of the end of the world on the state of Israel as we know it.) Therefore, when Jesus died, they realized that their hopes for a physical Israel - a great reestablishment of the kingdom - was gone - and they were depressed because of it. They were depressed because Jesus didn’t use His POWER to fulfill THEIR hopes and dreams.
I wonder if that’s one reason that Judas decided to betray Jesus also? Ahab did not want to confer with Jehoshaphat because he never prophesied what he wanted to hear. (1 Kings 22:7) Paul also predicted to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3 that, “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” God doesn’t always tell us what we want to hear. He doesn’t always do what we ask him to do - or even what we EXPECT Him to do. The problem is that we are born to want to turn to God for His POWER, but not for His CROSS. Some people respond with anger. Some respond by just turning to other gods. And some, like the disciples on the way to Emmaus, respond with depression. It’s how you feel when you pray and pray that God would bless the surgery your mom is having, but He has her die instead. It’s the reaction you have when you ask God to help you overcome your feelings of anger or your love of slander, but find it happening again. You feel depressed, sad, and disappointed in God - wondering to yourself, “where WERE you? I THOUGHT you were going to be there for me! I thought you promised to answer my prayers! I can’t believe you didn’t pull through! How couldn’t you?” It’s almost like having your best friend come up to you and punch you in the gut. The physical pain hurts for a while - but it’s more the emotional pain - the “why” that hurts more. As you lay on the ground smarting, you wonder, “why didn’t you help!”
The disciples responded the way many depressed people do. 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. They found each other - another person to commiserate with. Even though the women were reporting an empty tomb, they didn’t want to hang out with the hopers. They didn’t feel the desire to live among such optimists. So they decided to go into seclusion - to walk back home to Emmaus - apart from the other disciples. What they were basically going to do was to go home and sulk. They didn’t want anyone talking about a resurrection with their brothers and sisters in Christ. They didn’t even like explaining it to Jesus. They just wanted to be alone - sulking with each other.
That’s where Satan loves us to be. A fellow Christian does something to irritate you? Go home and sulk. Your pastor tells you to do something that you don’t want to do? Say to yourself, “I’m not going to go to church anymore! I’ll show him.” You don’t get the good health that you prayed for, then find someone to complain to and assume the worst. You don’t like the fact that your fellow Christians are in a good mood, then don’t be around them. The natural response - the sinful response - is that a part of us likes to be depressed. We like to assume the worst. We like to see the dirt and the sin in our congregation, instead of finding the hope and the love. We like to live and act as though Jesus was dead. Since we live in so much garbage every day - why should we expect any more from Jesus? The devil whispers, “did you REALLY think that this Christianity would change anything? Did you really think that life would be HAPPIER with Christ? You should have known better than to think that this church would really help you. Go home! Get out of your dream world!” Satan loves to put you in seclusion or in the company of misery - to make you think that you’re on your own little island - and nobody cares about you. Nobody understands you. Nobody loves you. Everybody hates you. Might as well go eat worms.
II. The turn
As these two disciples were on their approximately two hours journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a seeming ignoramus came up to them. He had no idea as to what had happened to their King. After they explained to them why they were so depressed, they were found to be the ignoramuses. Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! The word for “foolish” literally means “not understanding.” Their brains did not want to understand what had to happen. Their hearts didn’t want to believe the good news, even though it seemed it really could be true. You might compare it to someone who is so used to being alone, so used to having relationships not work out, that when he or she meets someone that really begins to feel right, an immediate fear takes hold. Why? Because it’s never worked before. It’s always turned out bad. A friend of mine was dating a gal he really liked, but she was going to break up with him because she thought he was too good for her. Her heart couldn’t believe she could be loved by him. She assumed it wasn’t going to work. It couldn’t work. He kept after her and married her anyway. Jesus wouldn’t let go of these disciples so easily either. He went after them.
How did Jesus start out? With a rebuke. Luther was so depressed for a time that his wife Katie came down all dressed in black. When he asked her what was wrong she said to him, “God died.” He said, “you silly woman, God didn’t die.” She replied, “from the way you have been acting, I assumed he had.” She was giving him a rebuke. Sometimes we need that kind of rebuke. Sometimes we need to be told, “what are you so depressed about! Quit being so pessimistic! But it has to be coordinated with the Word of God - for faith only comes from hearing the message. Jesus did just that. He said, “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.” Jesus rebuke for the disciples was in their inability to look at the whole of Scriptures - for them not to clearly see that Jesus HAD to suffer. It was clearly explained in passages like Isaiah 53 which said, “he was pierced for our transgressions.” That same passage talks also about the Messiah being crushed and wounded. Basically, the disciples had a messed up theology. They wanted a glorious King without suffering. Jesus showed them that Scriptures predicted a glorious King AFTER suffering.
Maybe you have been walking down that road to Emmaus. Maybe you’ve been straying from the fold. Maybe you’ve found yourself wanting to believe that nobody loves you. Then listen to my rebuke to you today. How can you say God doesn’t love you, when He sent His only Son to die for you? How can you say God doesn’t hear your prayers, when the Bible says that He has every hair of your head numbered and promises you that He hears your prayers? Why are you walking away from your fellow Christians, when they are living with the hope of Christ! Stop being so foolish! Use your brain. Listen to the promises of God. Paul describes it so well in Ephesians 2:3-5 Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. God’s Word says He loves you in Christ with an unconditional love. God’s Word declares that you were forgiven. You want proof? Look at the cross. Look at the empty grave. Now, either all of these promises of God are lies, or God is telling the truth. Either He really is a God who hates us and wants to send us to hell, or He is a God who in Christ loves us and has died for us so we could be in heaven. Stop acting like Jesus is dead. He is alive! Satan didn’t win - Jesus did. This isn’t too good to be true. So stop staring at the ground. Stop kicking the dirt.
III. The upside down
When Jesus started explaining the Scriptures like that, the disciples hearts couldn’t hold back any more. 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?” Their hearts were on fire. The Holy Spirit - the same flame that later on landed on the disciples on Pentecost - was burning within their souls - when they realized that it was all part of God’s plan to have Jesus SUFFER and then to RISE from the dead. They couldn’t get enough. When Jesus acted as if He was going to keep on going, what did they say to Him? They urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” They wouldn’t take no for an answer. They wanted to hear more of what Jesus had to say. Their appetites were whet, and they were hungry for more. Finally, when Jesus had then revealed Himself to them, how did they respond? They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. When they realized that Jesus really had raised from the dead - as the Scriptures stated, they couldn’t wait to SHARE what they had learned with their fellow Christians - telling them that it really was true. Jesus was ALIVE! The biggest pessimists had been turned into the greatest optimists. Even though it was late in the evening - they were filled with energy and couldn’t wait to SHARE the good news. I imagine that the seven miles back to Jerusalem - it went a lot quicker than two hours. I would imagine that they ran to the point of exhaustion - in the spirit and power of Elijah who outran Ahab’s chariot back to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:44)
How else can you respond? When you hear the message that Jesus lives, how can you sleep through it? How can you yawn? How can you go about your every day business, as if He were still dead? It seems sad to me when I see many Christians who seem to live knowing the message of the resurrection - and yet still remain depressed. Instead of wanting to share the message, they would rather just get a good nights rest. “Maybe in the morning I’ll go,” they say, “when I have more energy.” The fire within is flickering. The flame that once filled their hearts isn’t so hot any more. And they’ve gotten used to it that way. They like it that way. Then they wonder why they don’t enjoy life. They wonder why with all of their amenities in life, they still aren’t happy.
Are you one of them? Do you find studying the Bible tedious and dull? Do you think that worship is cold and dull? I fear that we as Lutherans tend toward depression more often than we ought. We are taught to pray with our heads bowed. When we take the Lord’s Supper, we look to the ground. When we come to worship, we sit in the back. All this is a part of our training, remembering our sinfulness in the presence of a holy God. This is all good and fine - and we need to remember our sins - but we also need to remember the message on the other side of the cross. Christ is died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. God loves you. God died for you. God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus prepared a place for YOU in heaven. We don’t need to constantly walk around with our heads down. God forgive us for too much of this depression! When we take the Lord’s Supper -we can also look up with hope and comfort, knowing that we are forgiven. When we pray, we can also lift our hands up and look to heaven with confidence, knowing that we were declared holy by God. When we live our lives, we can have confidence knowing that God works ALL things out for good. We can be happy knowing that even in death, there is life for us. God also wants us to find joy - in Christ!
When President Bush was running for re-election, he made mention that some people were making fun of him, saying that he had a “swagger” about him. They felt he was arrogant in the way he carried himself. His response was, “in Texas, we call it walking.” As the disciples were walking on the way to Emmaus, their faces were downcast. They were depressed. Jesus changed their whole disposition, by showing them a new message. Jesus said, “I am not dead. I have risen, just as the Scriptures said I would.” It changed the way the disciples looked. It turned their frowns upside down. It made them run back to Jerusalem.
When you find yourself sorrowing over your sins - over what you caused to happen to your Savior, stop for a moment. Listen to these words of Jesus. See Him - He’s alive. Listen to Him. Before you know it, the path that you were on - the path of seclusion and sorrow - will be a thing of the past. After dining with Jesus you will find yourself sprinting back to Jerusalem - in hope and joy. Your frown will be turned upside down. When you pass the other mourners going on their way to Emmaus - those who are constantly depressed and angry over life - they may ridicule your running back to Jerusalem. They may be angry with you and call you arrogant for thinking you can run to the holy God in confidence. They may accuse you of having too much “swagger” about you. Tell them, “in Christianity, we call it walking in faith. In Christianity, we also call it running in the hope of the resurrection.” Amen.
