BURSTING WITH JOY AFTER A DEPRESSIVE, GLOOMY MARATHON LUKE 24

They headed for Emmaus, the city of hot springs. Not that they needed a bracing spa, but an infusion of faith and energy. Twelve kilometres was a long haul, when they had seen their dearest Friend beaten, mocked and hung on a Roman execution tree. V 13

They were depressed, following the trauma of rejection and bitter enmity of religious leaders, and they pitied themselves as they talked together of all these happenings. V14

Medically this is a classical depression, with emotional trauma, rejection, failed expectation, loss of self esteem, growing self-pity, and utter hopelessness. Their anger flared with every step. They urgently needed the great Physician.

And now their circumstances changed, when Jesus Himself drew near and accompanied them ( v 15 ). Presumably, they would be ecstatic over the company of the mighty Son of God, Who walked step by step with them, watching for the potholes, breathing the same air, and listening intently to their discussion. ( 15 )

The powerful One alongside forcefully restrained their vision, so that they should not see Him, nor recognise them. Their grief, lack of faith, and deepening depression contributed to their blindness. We may be spiritually blind also, even when He walks with us in our blackest hours. ( v16)

Our Lord asked them about their discussion while they were walking. He commented on their sadness, or sullenness, anger, gloom or mourning as the original language conveyed.( v17). These were elements or symptoms in their depression.

One of the two, named Cleopas , the son of an illustrious father, asked Jesus Christ if He were only a stranger, or visitor or in transit. ( v 18 ) How could he mistake the Creator of the universe and Sustainer of His glorious world for a stranger to this Jerusalem? And how could anyone not know the earth-shattering events of the last three days.

The Son of God drew them out, asking what things had happened over the preceeding three days. They told of Jesus of Nazareth, recognising that His name Jesus was given by the angel, and meant " He would save His people fromn their sins." The thirty years in Nazareth in the carpenter’s shop proved His incarnation. Cleopas told the Stranger that "Jesus was a Prophet mighty in deed with God and men ". Their understanding was limited, but they were still blind. ( v19)

Cleopas told how the degraded chiel priests and rulers condemned and put to death the Son of God.(v20) If only they had known that Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and other mighty chapters of the Bible accurately foretold these events.. The followers of our Lord had hoped for a Redeemer, Who would pay a ransom price, and free them from slavery. The Son of God had done that exactly in dying for His people; yet they were still blind. Seeing that three days had passed, the walkers felt that this was impossible, - and all their hope had faded. Yet, three days were necessary for hope to be realised, as with Jonah in the belly of the great fish, before his marvellous release. Cleopas and his companion , like us, needed spiritual insight to grasp the truth of the resurrection.

They explained how they were "out of their senses " when the women insisted that they had met angels, who told how the Lord was alive. They remembered that the angel Gabriel had come to the aged Zechariah and Elisabeth, telling of the miraculous conception of John the Baptist, and to the virgin Mary and Joseph with the astounding news of the birth of our Lord Jesus. The heart of our Lord must have warmed on hearing their surprise and excitement, yet they were oblivious that the Lord of glory was alongside.(v23)

The distresed couple told how some of the men went to the tomb, confirming what the women had said, without seeing the Son of God. (V24).

Oh, how the risen Lord, replied gently when He described them as fools, who lacked intelligence and moral fibre. Then He used a medical term " bradicardia ", which means a slow-beating heart, as in heart block, when a pacemaker is urgently installed to activate the heart and restore normal rhythm. Many believers in Christ suffer from this heart lethargy, and need God’s Spirit ro reinvigorate them.

The Son of God explained that His suffering was essential to enter into His victory. ( v26) Very simply He stated that without suffering, there would be no glorious, risen life. Many times the Lord had warned that His costly stand would lead to rejection, cruel beatings and shameless handing over to the Roman executioner. The Old Testament repeatedly told of brutality that awaited Him, and the ensuing glory as the Father raised His Beloved from the grave. The truths are dependent and are inseparable.

Good Friday was essential for Resurrection Day to follow. So in our lives.

Then followed the most illuminating, exciting Bible study in human history, as " He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Notice that the study began in Moses’ writing. We presume that He began with creation, namely that " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." And if so, Creation was foremost in the resurrection teaching of our Lord. Then marriage was discussed as in Genesis 2. Then He would have discussed the Fall in the following chapter, when our first parents disobeyed the Lord of glory, and corruption, disease and death followed for the whole human family. .

We presume He reminded them " that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent" ( 3:15 ), for our Lord Jesus was the Seed of Mary, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And, further, how He conquered Satan and destroyed all his works. In the cross of Christ the heel of the suffering Lord ( His human nature ) had been bruised at Calvary, where He had bruised Satan’s head, and triumphed over all the enemy’s power.

Did our Lord speak of Noah and the ark, a delightful type of His salvation; or of Abraham the father of faith in offering up Isaac; or of Joseph, rejected by his 12 brothers, and miserably sold for 20 pieces of silver,and finally elevated to Egypt’s royalty? We shall wait until heaven to ask Cleopas and his associate what the Lord spoke on in that epic walk.

Our risen Lord opened the prophetic Scriptures, showing the things concerning Himself. He carried no scroll nor written word, for the prophecies were stored in His memory, in the frontal cortex of our Lord’s resurrection body. ‘All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him’. We must hold the same glorious truth stored also on the ‘hard disc’ of our brain, and embossed on our hearts.

We do not know which of the prophecies Christ used to reveal the hidden Redeemer to His distressed companions.. Isaiah has many Messianic truths. Micah appeals as it refers to Bethlehem. . If our Lord had spoken of Zechariah, such truths as "Your King comes unto you " ( 9:9 ), or " They weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver" ( 11:12 ), or " They shall look upon Me, Whom they have pierced " ( 12:10), or the passage Our Lord had quoted prior to His death, " Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered" ( 13:7 ) or " His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives" ( 14:4 ).

The Saviour made as though He were going further ( v28 ),when they pleaded with Him to " Abide with us", so pleasing the Lord. This was the basis of the great hymn , " Abide with me " set to this scene. " The day is far spent" rightly described the end of the stupendous resurrection day. The Son of God agreed to their urgent request to stay .( v 29)

The Lord presided over the evening meal as " He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them" As the Lord of heaven and earth, he was the rightful Controller.. What flashed to their mind as He broke the bread.? Was it the feeding of the 5000 or the 4000 or even the Last Supper? Was it the healed scars in His hands that gripped them? ( v30)

A miracle followed. " Their eyes were opened, and they knew Him". Only the living Christ could open the blind eyes of these two disciples. Did He remind them of His calvary sufferings when He broke bread, for all life flowed from the cross of Christ. Now that they knew He was alive from the dead, He vanished out of their sight". ( v31 ) They would not need to see Him bodily to believe, for He had revealed Himself to them inwardly.

" Our heart burned within us, while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened to us the Scriptures" was the thrilling comment of two whose deep depression had been thoroughly lifted, whose heavy feet had regained power, and whose spirit had soared. In our consulting sessions in medical practice , Christ dispelled depression when the downcast met the living Lord. My highest aim as a physician.

The coals of fire in their hearts were nearly out and grey with ashes, when the glory of the Lord blew on them and the flame reappeared. ( v32 ). " He opened the Scriptures " showed that the risen Lord gave clear understanding. The original language used the expression for the ‘opening’ of the cervix in the first stage of childbirth, when the neck of the womb opens to allow the baby’s head to pass through. Three times the Word tells of open eyes, open Scriptures and open understanding: so that life can pass through. . Medically, it is consistent that the Lord, Who initiated all the wondrous processes of childbirth is the Lord of glory risen from the dead, Who opened the Scriptures.

" They told about the things that had happened on the road " centres on the word "told", which means He made a faithful exegesis. Every true Bible teacher seeks to give a conscientious exegesis or explanation of the eternal truth. (35). A further secret unfolded where " He was known to them in the breaking of bread ". How important was the Lord’s supper or Communion to God’s people. The remembrance of Christ took them ( and us ) to the cross, Where He obtained eternal salvation for us.

In the following verses 36-43 our Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples, challenging their doubts ( mental awareness ), urging them to handle Him and see ( physical contact ), and so eating broiled fish and honeycomb in their presence. Strong evidence of His bodily rising from the dead! Christ is risen.

The whole group of disciples heard how He specially endorsed " that all things must be fulfilled concerning Me, which were written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms". These three major areas of the Old Testament focus on the Lord of glory. (44). We must duly regard each section of the Word of God, believing as we read.

We were not told how much truth the risen Christ passed on to His disciples.. However, sufficient evidence poured in as " He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures." ( v45) The risen Christ taught many " wayfaring men though fools (or simple-hearted ) who did not err therein". Many dedicated Bible teachers, instructed in the Holy Spirit, have taught my wife and me the deep truths of our God..

Therefore, whether accomplished in our grasp of the Word, or still babes in Christ , let us fall at the pierced feet of the risen Lord Jesus Christ with open eyes, heart, and understanding, and be taught of Him.