Luke 24:13-21 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened.(Revised Standard Version)

A traumatic event occurred to a good friend of mine. His wife lay in a coma for over two months. I spent a lot of time with him during the ordeal. We were close, so during the second week, out in a hallway at the hospital, I asked him a hard question: “Well, Eddie, is God really there for you in the dark places?” A tear creased his cheek as he barely nodded. “When I first entered the room after they got her situated, I looked up at the ceiling and said, ‘Jesus, are you here?’" 

That’s very similar to the situation we find in this story—only worse. They’re not asking, Jesus are you here? They know the answer to that question. They just watched Jesus die three days earlier. They’re rehashing the events over and over again in their mind, but they keep coming up with the same scenario. No matter how many times they play the sequence of events in their heads—it always turns out the same way—Jesus is dead.

It was easy enough to believe in miracles while he was alive. They had seen plenty of them. Two loaves and five fishes in Jesus’ hands became enough to feed 5,000. Storms and waves that were life-threatening, by Jesus’ voice, had been calmed to complete stillness. People who had been blind since birth, through Jesus’ touch, had completely regained their sight. Death had even obeyed His command—on more than one occasion they had watched Jesus call back to life someone who had succumbed to death. But, now, the miracle worker Himself was dead. That means there are no more miracles.  

But, still, they kept “talking with each other about all these things that had happened.” I remember in the Emergency Marriage Seminar, forgiveness was defined as “giving up any hope of changing the past.” Finding real hope is the same way. To grab hold of real hope means giving up any hope of changing the past. These guys were still stuck in the past. They wanted things to be different than they were, but they were completely powerless to change the past. You know what? Even God won’t change your past. The past is rock solid reality. Jesus had died. No matter how much they talked about it and how many times they rehashed it, every time they told the story, Jesus died.

And so, the Bible says, they “stood still, looking sad.” Does that describe any feelings you’ve ever had? How many times has life thrown you a curve ball you weren’t expecting and it completely immobilized you? You stood still—you couldn’t move—you were sad, depressed, maybe in despair.  

Some reading this article are living on last week’s hope, because you keep trying to change the past. Part of the healing process, part of grasping the real hope that God offers you, is giving up any hope of changing the past.

Luke tells us, in the midst of their pain and struggle, “Jesus Himself” drew near and went with them. Isn’t that great!! They didn’t recognize Him, but He was right there with them. I dare say, there have been times in all of our lives where we didn’t think God was with us. We felt bereft and alone. But, as we look back, we can see how He really was there all the time—we just didn’t know it.  

Jesus asks them a question, “What is this conversation you guys are having?” As if He didn’t know. It’s really almost humorous here. They can’t believe this person doesn’t know about everything that has happened. “Are you the only person around here who doesn’t know the things that have happened the last three days?” Jesus says, “What things?” Get this—He’s the one all the things have happened to, and He asks, “What things?” Jesus wants to hear their perspective on things. Have you ever had that kind of conversation with God? Someone once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” Jesus asked them to tell their story, not because He needed to hear it, but because they needed to tell it. Sometimes, in prayer, God wants us to tell him our story because we need to hear when we’ve given into hopelessness and despair. We need to come face to face with where we are. The Greek playwrights, when writing tragedies, would always conceive of predicaments and situations so tragic and difficult, that only the introduction of a god into the plot could solve the problem. That’s why Jesus let them retell their story. They had to be in a place to give up last week’s hope in order to lay hold of real hope. Here are three things we can take from this story.

I. IF YOUR PROBLEMS SEEM TOO BIG, THEN YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL

Their experience of God is about to grow exponentially. They describe Jesus in these verses as “a prophet mighty in deed and word. ” Well, Jesus was a prophet, but He was so much more. They were about to discover how big God really is.  

If you have problems in your life right now that seem insurmountable—you have no earthly idea what to do or how things can ever work out—you’re in a good place. The first thing you need to do is refocus your attention on not how big your problems are, but how big your God is. Sorrow looks back—like these guys were doing. Worry looks around—like the disciples in their little room, hunkering down in fear that the authorities might find where they are and execute them the same way that they had Jesus. But, faith looks up.

You want some new hope? Are you tired of living on last week’s hope—then the first step is to get a bigger view of God. He’s more than you ever imagined. 

II. EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE GOD DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE’S DOING—GOD KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING

They recount their sad story, and end it this way, “and besides all this, it’s been three whole days since all this happened.” In other words, God can’t possibly be in control or something would have been done about this by now. Have you ever been there? God, I’m in so much pain and I don’t understand why you let this happen to me. I have faith in you—doesn’t that mean I’m supposed to have pleasant circumstances and good feelings—a great family, loving and faithful husband, supportive and helpful wife, obedient and respectful children, good health, prosperity, wonderful job. I want pleasure, not pain.

We want God to give us a little bit of heaven now, and when He doesn’t come through, we feel betrayed. We want what we want, and we want it now. Maybe God wants to do something deeper in our lives than we can even imagine. 

Which leads to the third observation, and the most important point of the story:

III. THE HOPE THEY HAD IS NOT THE HOPE THAT HAPPENED

Notice what they say, “But we had hoped (past tense), that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel.” Those dreams were shattered. But, notice what their dream was—they thought Jesus was the one to redeem Israel. In other words, they thought He was the Jewish Messiah, and that He was literally going to restore the kingdom of Israel on earth. They thought Jesus was going to overthrow the Roman government and return Israel to the same glory it had under King David. That was the scope of their hope. But, God had a much bigger and better plan. Jesus didn’t come to defeat the Roman authorities—He came to defeat sin, and death, and hell. God’s plan was so much bigger and better than anything the disciples could envision or imagine.  

In the midst of whatever situation you find yourself in--whatever you can envision or imagine, whatever you hope will happen to change your situation, whatever you cry out to God to do to change your circumstances—God has an even bigger and better idea. We keep wanting God to relieve our pain and give us pleasure. When He doesn’t come through, we feel betrayed. But, in reality, our shattered dreams point us toward our true hope. Our suffering will have a purpose; it will stir our desire to know God above all else, which will ultimately bring us our greatest joy. Larry Crabb stated it this way: “Shattered dreams open the door to better dreams, dreams that we do not properly value until the dreams that we improperly value are destroyed.” If we put our hopes and dreams in anything other than God, then we have given something an improper value—whether it’s a relationship, our health, our finances, our job. It doesn’t matter. Our hope doesn’t lie in any of
those things. Only God deserves that place of honor and only He can truly satisfy our souls.

In your life, if you have heard a verdict from your doctor, “cancer,” your hope does not rest on beating the cancer. If you have a broken relationship with an important person in your life, your hope does not rest on a restored relationship. If you are without employment right now, your hope does not rest on finding a new job. Don’t get me wrong—God can work miracles. God can heal cancer. God can restore broken relationships. God can lead you to a new job. But, even if none of those things happen, you can still have hope today—real hope. The hope of God in Jesus Christ does not depend on any exterior circumstances. It goes much deeper than that.                          

On that resurrection morning, in one of the gospel accounts, as the women were making their way to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for proper burial, they asked themselves this question: “How will we get in—who will roll the stone away for us? ” It was heavy—seemed like an insurmountable problem. Do you know why the stone was rolled away that resurrection morning—it wasn’t so Jesus could get out—it was so we could go in.

This article began with a story about my friend Eddie. As he stood in that hospital room with his wife, not knowing if she would live or die, he looked up at the ceiling and said, “Jesus, are you here?” He told me he experienced an almost audible reply, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” 

Are you feeling some discouragement about a situation in your life that you don’t know what to do? Are you feeling hopeless? Are you trying to live on last week’s hope? Are you maybe even feeling a little dead inside? Then, I have good news for you. Ray Steadman said it best: “Resurrection power works best in a graveyard.” God’s power works best in your life when you’ve given up hope of anything else making your situation better. In the end, we have God—and He is more than enough.

March 2007