For Real: The Journey of Belief

Hope At Your Table, Again
May 7, 2023
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch

Luke 24:13-14 (NIV)
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.

As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. But they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does 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. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.

“In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

Luke 24:21 (NIV)
“… but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”

Luke 24:25-27 (NIV)
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah 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.

Luke 24:28-33a (NIV)
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.

Luke 24:31 (NIV)
“… then their eyes were opened … .”

Genesis 3:7 (NIV)
Then the eyes of both of them were opened … .

Takeaways

• Hope that’s for real is a “who” more than a “what” or a “when.”

Ephesians 2:12 (NLT)
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

• Experiencing real hope involves a conversation with Jesus about what we had hoped for and hearing what he has to say about it.

Romans 15:4 (NIV)
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

• Real hope in Christ means that the most difficult things in our lives should be followed by “commas,” not “periods.”