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This is the age of personalities. You stand in the supermarket queue and cast your eyes over the magazine stand and there are the lives of the stars laid out for your study. And some people are so wrapped up in their stories that they almost feel as though they know them. |
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Or you watch your favourite soap opera and get so involved with the lives of the characters that you feel like you know them. |
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But the reality is you don't, do you? All you see are two dimensional images of an imaginary reality. |
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On the other hand, if you should happen to meet one of these people at a party, you might get to know them a bit better. If your brother or sister or son or daughter were to marry one of them you'd get to know them even better. Then they'd no longer be a personality. They'd become a person for you. |
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Well, it's a bit like that with Jesus. We read the stories of his life, of the things he said and did and they give a bit of a picture of what he's like. But we need more. We actually need to have a personal encounter with him. |
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Now can I just say, this isn't anything new. Even the disciples who went around with him didn't really know him until the day he rose from the dead. |
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Sure, they knew he was special. They'd worked out that he somehow fitted the prophecies about the Messiah who was promised, but they had no idea what that meant. And when it ended in him being crucified they were devastated. So much so that they realised they had no idea who it was they'd been following after all. But let me read to you the way one couple discovered the person of Jesus. |
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(Luke 24:13-35 NRSV) "Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad." |
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Here was Jesus walking beside them and they didn't recognise him. Their picture of him, you see, was a false one. It was a false image that had been wiped out by the crucifixion. |
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Can I just say that there are plenty of people around today who have just as false an image of Jesus as these two. Even people in the church. They imagine Jesus as a kind man, a great teacher, a healer who never turned anyone away; or they see him as all inclusive, willing to accept anyone who comes to him, no matter what they happen to believe or do. |
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And notice that, like so many of us are from time to time, these two are so focussed on their own loss, their own pain that they can't recognise the one who's walking beside them. |
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But Jesus is very longsuffering isn't he? He engages them in conversation and listens as they pour out their troubles to him: |
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"18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, 'Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?' 19He asked them, 'What things?' They replied, 'The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.' |
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Even the news from the women that the tomb was empty didn't give them a clue that maybe they had it all wrong. But Jesus doesn't correct them. He just quietly walks along beside them listening as they tell him the whole sorry saga, waiting for the moment when they'll look at him clearly enough to recognise him. |
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When they finish telling him what's happened he begins the process of enlightening them. But notice how he does it. He doesn't just tell them what's happened. He let's them discover it for themselves. |
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"25Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures." |
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All they needed to know in order to understand had been given to them years before by Moses and the prophets. In other words by the Old Testament. If only they'd studied God's word they mightn't have been so lost, so confused. |
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Those people in our world today who are confused about Jesus are often confused simply because they haven't read the Scriptures, they haven't studied the Biblical record of Jesus life and teaching, let alone the Old Testament. They haven't plumbed the depths of God's revelation of himself to us. |
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"28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them." |
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The disciples do what any good Jew would have done. They get to their home and they invite him in. And they couldn't have done anything better could they? If you want to know Jesus personally, invite him in to your life. God tells the Church at Laodicea: "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." This is a call he still makes to people today. He tells us to invite him to come in and become part of our lives. |
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For these two disciples this is a life changing decision. |
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"30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread." |
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As they're beginning their meal Jesus gives thanks, breaks bread and immediately they recognise him for who he is. It's their Lord! But then he disappears. But that's OK because they don't need anything more than this. They've encountered the risen Jesus and notice what happens. They immediately become messengers of the gospel. They race back to Jerusalem to let the others know that they've seen Jesus alive. And so the episode ends. |
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Well, what can we learn from this encounter with Jesus. |
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First of all, we learn that Jesus never forces himself on people. He waits for them to invite him in. I'm sure you've seen the famous painting by Holman Hunt of Jesus standing at the door knocking. What you find when you look closely at that painting is that there's no handle on the door. Like many front doors, it can only be opened from the inside. Jesus knocks then waits to be invited in. That might be at the moment of conversion, but interestingly, in the passage from Revelation 3 where we read about it, it's actually addressed to people who've been Christians for many years, but have got out of the habit of spending time with Jesus. When that happens Jesus waits for us to invite him back in to our lives. |
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The second thing we might want to think about is the fact that as he enlightens them about what's just happened Jesus isn't telling them anything new. It was all there in the Scriptures. All he does is remind them of what they should already know. So what should we be doing? We should be reading our Bibles. We should be studying God's word so we'll understand the things that God has planned for the world. |
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Finally, assuming that you've encountered the living Christ in your life then the question you need to ask yourself is this: are you letting others know that he's alive. |
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It's important that you invite Jesus into your life and even do it over and over again if you're to know him as a person not just a personality. But out of that encounter with Jesus, out of the amazing joy and privilege it is to know Jesus personally should flow, naturally, the desire to tell others about him. |
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Those two disciples on the road to Emmaus couldn't wait to get back and tell their friends about the risen Christ. Never mind that they'd walked all day. Never mind that it was now night time and the roads could be hazardous to walk along at night. They just had to go as fast as possible because the news they had was out of this world. |
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We still have that message to tell people. God has become one of us. He was killed but death couldn't hold him. He was raised and is now back with God the Father where he continually intercedes with God the Father on our behalf. Jesus Christ has cleared the way for us to return to the Father. What great news that is! |
