2616AFC041726 – Downhill and Up Again ← PODCAST LINK 😀
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Acts 2:30-33 – 30 Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
‘He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.’
32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.
Psalm 16:8-10 –
8 I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
10 For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
1 Peter 1:20-21 (GNT) [1] 20 He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God.
Luke 24:28-33 – 28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But 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. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They 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?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him. Before we get down to business – a little housekeeping. I have mentioned that my emails have been blocked by MicroSoft because they consider them to be SPAM. It happens often and usually takes days to undo. I am pursuing a way to send “bulk emails” in a manner that will not be SPAM. THAT MEANS I WILL NOT BE USING OutLook TO EMAIL THESE POSTS. If you wish to continue reading these essays, there will be two ways to go about it. [1] Go to the website and pull it up from the archives the archives (↔ Click Link or copy and save this link), or [2] SUBSCRIBE. There is no charge or cost involved in the subscription.The bulk email system requires that recipients have an intentional subscription, and that each message have an unsubscribe link. The messages – like this one – will still show up in your inbox and you will not have to go to the website to read them. I’ll be able to send you full information by the end of the month (I hope) and you can decide whether or not to continue, and how to do that. OK enough of that. Here we go. First, I’m going to set the scene a little better.
This account of “The Road to Emmaus” is recorded only in Luke’s Gospel, although it is referenced in Mark 16:12–13. It begins during the afternoon of Resurrection Day. Two of the Disciples (not Apostles, but other disciples of Jesus, one of whom was Cleopas) were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Emmaus was a perhaps something of a “resort village” – the word Emmaus would be probably from a Hebrew word meaning something like “hot springs.” It was about 60 stadia – around 7-8 miles northwest of Jerusalem. recall that Jerusalem is at a fairly high elevation – about 2500 feet (around 760 meters). Emmaus’ elevation was about 850 feet (roughly 245 meters, so that was quite a drop – downhill 1650 feet or about 236 feet incline per mile, all the way essentially – past impressive limestone cliffs. Cleopas and the unnamed Disciple were walking there – a journey of about 2 ½ hours. As they walked, they tried to make sense of what had happened during the previous three days as well as that morning.
We learn that they had heard reports from some of the women Disciples that they had seen Jesus and that he was alive. They could not understand or believe that report. While they were discussing this, Jesus – who was apparently walking behind them, but perhaps at a quicker pace – joined them and began to participate in their discussion. We have no indication why any of these three men were going to Emmaus. Jesus, though, made it a “teaching moment.” During this longish journey in the late afternoon, he went through all the Scripture “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all passages referring to him throughout the Scriptures.” With the village of Emmaus just steps away, Jesus appears to be going farther – perhaps along the ancient road to Jaffa. The Disciples urge him to stay with them – at the resort inn, perhaps? – and he agrees and soon joins them at table. There he receives bread, offers the blessing, breaks it, and hands it to them. At that moment they suddenly recognize Jesus, and – to their astonishment – he just disappears!
Take a minute and put yourself in that situation. You’ve just spent almost three hours with a man you had followed for at least three years, whom you loved, hoping he would be the one to free Israel from the oppressive presence of Rome only to see him tortured to death. You’ve heard fantastical tales about him being alive after all that, and now – with the same subtlety as an anvil falling on Wiley Coyote – you realize you’ve been with him, with the real, LIVING Jesus! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!!!! Those stories told by the women were TRUE! These two guys were so excited that they had actually seen Jesus that they decided to go back UPHILL 7 MILES IN THE DARK to tell the Apostles what, and who, and how they had just realized. Jesus is alive, and they knew that as soon as he broke the bread – precisely as the Apostles had apparently told them before they left Jerusalem to head for Emmaus. And they exclaim as the realization takes hold: “Were not our hearts burning within us?” (↔ Music Link)
JESUS IS RISEN! JESUS IS THE LORD! Lo, and behold! Once they rejoin The Eleven, they hear from all those assembled there, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” From other Gospel accounts, we know that several women – Mary of Magdala, Joanna (the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward), Mary (possibly the wife of Cleopas who may have been the brother of Jesus’ foster father, Joseph), Salome (often cited as the Mother of James and John and the wife of Zebedee), and other unnamed women – I like to think Susanna, who also was healed by Jesus of “evil spirits and infirmities,” was there as well, (See Luke 8:1-3 please), mainly because she reminds me of the woman named Susanna in the apocryphal sections of the Book of Daniel, Chapter 13. (←This is one of my favorite Bible stories!)
Now then why Downhill and Up Again for the title. Well, of course, it describes the journey that Cleopas and his companion made that first Resurrection Day. In another context, it describes how our lives can go sometime. Here’s an example. Here in Hawaiʻi, a common greeting is “howzit.” That’s an abbreviation for “how’s it going?” Sometimes the answer is “Br’ah, it’s go straight downhill.” Other times the answer can be, “Oh, Auntie, you know, it’s uphill alla way, but one day atta time, you know.” But, whether it’s up or down, or just cruisin’ on a good road, it’s always possible that as we go truckin’ along, Jesus might just come up and start walking and talking with us. I have to tell you, I’m not always paying attention when that happens, and often it is only through some unexpected sign, or sound, or memory that I go, “Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!!!!” And – along with you – whenever that finally dawns on us, often the afterglow is the Fire of the Holy Spirit making our hearts a suitable place for Jesus to come in, break bread, and sup with us – but, without disappearing. It really is worth running all the way back uphill to share the news, “Jesus is back in my heart again, and I’m going to have to shout that from the housetop.” (↔ Music Link)
David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
“He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.”
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God. And we say amongst us 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? Belovéd,THAT IS something to shout about!! (↔ Music Link)
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us hereat Share-a-Prayer.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
