today we're looking at a story I think it's one of the most beautifully told stories in the whole of the New Testament that we heard read it's the story about these two two Disciples of Jesus who are coming to terms with this strange reality of Jesus's resurrection from the dead but before we dive into the story as I sometimes do I want to kind of prepare the ground to give us a framework for how to even think about what's happening in this story and to do that I want to show you a picture and as a picture you've probably seen before actually my Hunt is that most of you have seen this picture before it's an oil painting that's one of the most famous paintings of Jesus ever in history do you guys have you guys seen this painting before so in 1941 by a a painter called Warner Salman you may not have known that this is the pre-World War II painting um this painting you guys this painting of Jesus is the most Mass reproduced image of Jesus in human history uh there have been over 500 million prints of this painting if you include calendars and lamp shades and magnets 500 million it's the most reproduced image of Jesus in Christian history in world history this one right here and it's not I mean look it's you know 1941 it's not even that old in terms of how long Christianity has been around um and it's you can just see it's very captivating right Jesus is depicted here he's very serene he's uh he's simple um he's staring at something so there's kind of like a mystery but a purpose to him there you go it's the head of Christ Warner Solomons head of Christ 500 million of these floating around planet Earth um now here's what's interesting is you know every every image or representation of Jesus has a story underneath it it also has a whole usually unexamined series of assumptions driving it um if you grew up with this image which maybe some some of you have this image shapes how you think about Jesus and probably more ways than we could ever realize um there's one really outstanding feature of this painting that would be obvious to somebody two thousand years ago right uh and anyone it's the fact that Jesus is a white European looking man you know that with impeccable hair right um he's not too far from a mullet I don't know if you could just shorten the top and then he's going for it anyhow yeah so very very clearly Jesus is a white handsome beautiful European looking man right are you with me it's just clear clear as day it might not be clear as day to you depending on the culture you've grown up in so here's what's fascinating um in 2002 there was a group of British New Testament Scholars and they teamed up with a group of forensic scientists and they did this Tour all around Jerusalem and the regions around and they um got access to all of the skeletons and skulls found in tombs in and around Jerusalem dating to the time of Jesus and they did these 3D scans of all the skulls which you might think is kind of gross but here's what they wanted to do they wanted to get what is the average looking skull of a Jewish man from the time of Jesus and then they let the forensic scientists you guys see in forensic scientists how they can you know if they find like a corpse in a river and they need to re-piece together who was this person they can do these things do you know that this is possible in the world today so do you get where this is going so they're like well okay let's reconstruct the face of an average Jewish man from the first century and will at least be closer to the face of Jesus than Warner Solomon's head of Christ and so here you go you can there you go now I'm not saying this Jesus but are the odds much much better that Jesus looked something more like this than Warner Solomon's head of Christ what are the odds the odds are much higher that Jesus was mid five foot average male skeleton Jewish man in the first century was mid five feet five six average and uh course black hair much larger nose than Warner Solomon's head of Christ there you go now not by a raise of hands but I just want you to ask you would you put this picture up in your living room and if not why if really think about this if if you're happy to have Warner Solomon's head of Christ hanging somewhere in your house um why is it that a less handsome Jesus is is less appealing to you to have hangout it's Jesus all right if I'm a follower of Jesus it makes all the sense in the world to have some representation of him in my house why not have one that's almost certainly more accurate what's going on there are you with me and what is raises is the whole it's very interesting it raises this age-old truth about how we perceive people that the way that you and I perceive someone's appearance drives and shapes our assumptions about them doesn't it and so there are many people at least 500 million uh who are much more comfortable with white European Jesus handsome Jesus represented in their home than not and that just speaks to something about The Human Condition about how we perceive each other and how we perceive people and these images of Jesus I think highlight it in in a different way that that somehow we we need to recognize and this is true of every disciple of Jesus as we're going to see from the very beginning that we come to Jesus with pre-loaded assumptions and preconceptions about who he is and what his story is and what he's all about and the Warner Solomon's head of Christ shows that perfectly and so I don't know what you thought when you first saw this almost certainly more accurate representation of of what Jesus face or complexion was but there's there's a humbling that must take place because if if we don't allow who Jesus actually is to challenge our assumptions about him there's a truth that this story shows us that we actually will remain blind to who he is we can be a Christian we can go to church we can read the Bible somebody can do that for years and remain totally blind to who Jesus actually is and so with this story with these images raised for us is what does it take to have the blinders removed uh so that my assumptions about Jesus get brought out into the spotlight and shown for what they truly are and that's exactly what this story here in Luke 24 uh the cross and the resurrection if you let them sink in to your mind and heart will shatter everything you thought you knew about Jesus and and about ourselves this week we're looking at uh Luke's account of the Resurrection appearance of Jesus so Jesus in Luke's story has been executed uh the empty tomb has already happened in the story right before this so uh a number of uh women Disciples of Jesus and then Peter goes to the tomb he's nowhere to be found and there's these mysterious people at the tomb saying that Jesus is alive from the dead and then we're introduced to two of them two of the larger crew of hundreds of disciples that were there and uh they're going away from Jerusalem where are they on their way to a town called Emmaus just tuck that away it's extremely important a village called Emmaus it's a number of miles but a Day's Journey from Jerusalem and what are they talking about on the way well what would you be talking about so you uh just sold half your possessions and spent the last year and a half following this guy around Jesus of Nazareth and you thought he was the real deal you know you thought he was the Messiah and you went with him went out to Jerusalem for Passover the most important religious political holiday of the year for the Jewish people and you thought it was all going to hit the fan and everything was going to go down and Jesus said the kingdom of God was right here at the door and he was coming to bring it and then you go to Jerusalem and what happens to Jesus he gets arrested and he gets brutally crucified by the Romans and this didn't fit any of your categories for what was supposed to happen here and so a number of then then it gets even more weird because then some of the other disciples are like yeah well the tomb's empty now and it's all very strange and two of them are just I'm over this and they pack up they're going back home they're not going to stay in Jerusalem they're leaving and they're going back home are you with me so the the the fact that Jesus and we'll see this exactly and what they say Jesus is death was a shattering tragedy for for most of the disciples it did not make sense even though Jesus had been trying to communicate to them that it's what was going to happen they'd had such a different story in their heads about they had a set of driving assumptions about who Jesus is and what he was going to Jerusalem to do that when he ended up on the cross it just everything everything fell apart and so we have two of them and as they walk along talking about all of this about their shattered hopes who appears walking next to them Jesus and this because this is the center point of the story the Risen Jesus is walking alongside them and what are they unable to do can they see him do they see Jesus yeah they're gonna start talking with them do they know that it's Jesus so they can see but they actually can't see do you get it this is a this is a powerful story and and this is one of the most beautiful artistically told stories in the New Testament about somebody who is walking alongside Jesus but cannot see him so Jesus asked this whole story is full of irony right Jesus asked what you guys talking about and then they stop right and and their face is downcast and then a guy we find out what are the names cleopas said are you the only one in Jerusalem you have no clue what just happened over the weekend you don't know what happened and that's the irony is so thick you can cut it with a knife right of course not only does Jesus know about what happened he is what happened and they don't know it what things Jesus asks what's it what I don't know what Jesus of Nazareth and then look at their depiction of him Jesus of Nazareth listen he was a prophet he was powerful in word and deed before God and all the people and the chief priests and our rulers they killed him they handed him over to be sentenced to death he was crucified and then wait for it here it is we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel let's just stop right there so they've just showed their hand so they don't know it but you know it as the reader and Jesus is going to focus on they'd they just exposed what what is blinding them do you see that for them Jesus's crucifixion is not a victory do you see that for them Jesus's crucifixion what shattered everything that they hoped for they thought Jesus was a prophet that he was going to redeem Israel through his powerful words and deeds and then the cross ends up being this tragic destruction of their hopes and everything that they thought nobody saw this coming even though Jesus tried to communicate it to them it was so outside the crucified Messiah was so outside of what they thought the Messiah was supposed to be and here's a great example now the language here is so loaded here because in reality does Jesus think that he redeemed Israel by dying on the cross does Jesus think that as we'll see yes so exactly the thing that they think makes Jesus a failure is in the story of the Gospel that the thing that made Jesus the Victorious Messiah why do they think that Jesus is death is his failure to redeem Israel and so part of this we have to do a little homework on this word um Redemption which is I you know as good a religious word as you could ever want you guys um it's one of those I think in our cult I mean we have movies named after the word for goodness sakes right it's kind of this I don't know what do you think redemption mean what comes to your mind when you hear the word redeem or Redemption you can redeem I guess you can redeem like tickets or coupons or something like that down at Oaks Park right you play a bunch of skee ball you're one of those people right and you play a bunch of skee ball and then you redeem your tickets to get the teddy bear or whatever that's gonna fall apart in two weeks so you can do that right that we use the word redeem for that to like buy something but more often that word Redemption it's this kind of broad word to talk about when something tragic or horrible or sad gets transformed into something good and beautiful that's my read on how we use the word Redemption what do you guys think yeah there you go so whatever picked the movie or book that has the word in the title um so that word Redemption though has a really really specific meaning and origin in in the Bible um and this is a really fun trivia fact to know use it a party this Friday night I don't know um where in the story of the Bible does word Redemption appear for the first time in if you start on page one where will you first come across it do you have a hunch what story the book of Exodus and this is right uh before Moses goes to pharaoh and you've seen the movie Let My People Go that whole business so here's the here's the first appearance of the word redemption in the Bible the Lord said to Moses I've heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are enslaving and I've remembered my Covenant promise so say to the Israelites I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the Yoke of the Egyptians I will free you from being slaves to them and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with Mighty acts of judgment I will take you as my own people and I'll be your God the the first time that the word Redemption appears in the Bible it's in a story about The Liberation of slaves from oppression into the freedom of becoming God's people that's what Redemption means it means God does something to purchase and liberate slaves and then make them into his own free liberated people it's the meaning of the word redemption in the Bible and so just map the story on here it is if you know the story ten plagues Pharaoh gets tromped on and so on parting the Red Seas um so when these when two Jewish men have their hopes that there's going to be a messiah in the first century who's going to redeem Israel what does that mean because for these two Jesus's death is a is a tragic fate that means Redemption is not going to happen at least not through Jesus what does it mean well what's the Exodus Story I mean uh if if who who are the Egyptians in the days of these two right here who's the oppressor of Israel in Jesus day this is the Romans the Romans and who is the who's Pharaoh in Jesus day this guy I'm Caesar Augustus and then he has a crony uh puppet guy in Jerusalem what's his name he had Jesus executed his name's Pilate it's very clear it's very very clear how this story works if there's a messiah and he's going to redeem pull an exodus move here then he's going to Trump on pharah and destroy the Romans that's how this story works I mean it was Passover weekend for goodness sakes and what story does Passover retell every year this story The Exodus story so I'm trying to like sympathize with these two for a minute like really sympathize you've grown up under the thumb of Roman oppression and Jesus comes around saying the kingdom of God Is Here It All Leads up to a climactic weekend retelling the Redemption story in Jerusalem and then he's crucified how do you feel about your life if you're these two now there's one more piece to this that when it was pointed out to me it it all all the dots came together for this story right here where are these two going they're they're traveling away from Jerusalem they've packed up and they're going to what town again do you remember Emmaus now biblical authors when they tell you stories they're very sparing in detail very sparing um they they don't mention all kinds of things that we wish they did mention for example gs's physical appearance is never described anywhere in the Bible which is why Warner Solomon could sell 500 million of those so so when the biblical authors do give you what seems like random information pay attention because it matters they're telling it to you because it matters so what they're going to a town called Emmaus why does Luke tell you that so to in in Luke's audience this is if I were to say um you know my wife and I um wanted to learn more about the history of the of the US and the world war so we took a trip to to uh Pearl Harbor that's all I have to say we went to visit Pearl Harbor and what story is immediately in your mind of course the bombing of of Pearl Harbor where you're doing U.S history tour we went to Gettysburg why would somebody go to Gettysburg you get the idea here so when Luke says yeah there were two Disciples of Jesus going to Emmaus it's exactly do you know Emmaus you know the story right clearly you know the story the famous battle of Emmaus you don't know the story okay well you didn't grow up in first century Jewish culture that's why so if you did you would know the story and here it is this is 150 years before Jesus it's not the Romans on the scene it's uh the syrians and uh they're led by a general named gorgeous we're going to see and uh there was a Jewish Uprising against the syrians led by a family known as the hammer the Hammers uh or in Hebrew The Maccabees and one particular guy Judah or Judas Maccabee uh LED uh the Jewish foreign like this from earlier in the Gospel of Luke chapter 6. here's something Jesus said one day Luke says he was on a plane giving a teaching and Jesus said but I say to you who are listening love your enemies and do good to those who hate you bless those who curse you pray for those who mistreat you whoever hits you on the cheek offer him the other also whoever takes away your code don't withhold your shirt from him either give to any everyone who asks of you whoever takes away what's yours don't demand it back treat others the same way you want them to treat you now if you love only those who love you what credit is that to you everybody does that even Centers do that to those who love them but love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great you will be sons of the most high for he is kind and to The Ungrateful and to evil people now I um I'm not here to defend Jesus and this teaching of Jesus opens up a million cans of worms I understand that but I think that's precisely what Jesus meant to do when he said these words is open a million cans of worms uh Jesus has a vision of what it means to be a human being who follows him and who lives lives under God's reign that's a very different way of life uh than most humans have ever dreamed of uh Jesus has this idea that that the way that evil is truly confronted and defeated is by doing good but suffering sacrificial love and Jesus these weren't just words to Jesus he said this is how you live under God's Reign under God's kingdom and he said that's what he was here to bring and then he goes into Jerusalem and he walks his talk doesn't he I mean Jesus actually believed that he would conquer and defeat evil by letting evil defeat him did Jesus believe that he was redeeming Israel when he was being crucified by the Romans yes he did and that's what he was trying to tell the disciples the night before that he got arrested right because he said listen this isn't we're here for Passover it's a Passover meal and do you remember he takes the he takes the cup and he breaks the bread and he and he takes these symbols of The Exodus story and he reshapes them around what he's what's going to happen that they point to his broken body into his his shed blood and Jesus did believe that he was going to accomplish and do Exodus and he was going to do it not by becoming Moses he's going to Trump on Pharaoh he's going to do it by becoming the lamb the Lamb of the Passover meal and if I don't care how long you've heard the story right every time you hear it and you see what Jesus was actually saying most of his followers If we're honest with ourselves go what like this doesn't make any sense at all um this is about as crazy as saying something like you know if you really want to save your life you'll lose it and if you really want to be the most influential person around you'll go to the bottom and become a slave to everyone we kind of sanitize that verse by using the word servant but the word that Jesus used has all the connotations that our word has with that slave like Jesus had totally upside down view of the world that the ultimate way that God was going to confront and defeat evil was through the the suffering death of the Messianic servant King Isaiah 53 Zechariah 11 Genesis 3 15. that the God's ultimate purpose was actually not to destroy his enemy but to die for his enemy and that's where this story has always been heading According To Jesus the that in Jesus God binds himself to The Human Condition and that the the death of Jesus is not a tragedy it's actually the way that Humanities redeemed it's it's by Jesus taking into himself all of the consequences of our selfishness and sin and the train wreck of human history and he allows it to defeat him so that he can defeat it through his resurrection from the dead loving your enemies is really bad advice if Jesus didn't rise from the dead are you with me loving your enemies is horrible because your enemy will kill you and then you're just dead and you lose but in Jesus view loving your enemy is actually the only way to win if your hope is in a god who himself overcame evil and death by conquering it with his love and Resurrection Life are you with me if Jesus didn't rise from the dead this is all a sham you should go golfing and I'll go skateboarding right now you know what I'm saying it's ridiculous why we're here but if Jesus did rise from the dead then everything I thought I knew about the world I have to rethink and everything I thought I knew about myself I have to rethink everything I thought I knew about God and Jesus I have to I have to let it be rebuilt by the resurrection now watch where this all goes even after the Bible study they still don't see Jesus so they finally get to Emmaus where they're going and Jesus continued on as if he were going farther it's wonderful no really I have to go you know see a man about a horse or something I don't know all right and then they urge him they're like no come on stay with us have dinner no really I need to be going and oh okay all right that's wonderful so he goes in and they have dinner here it is what when he was at the table with them he took the bread he's being hosted by someone else and but he takes the lead he takes the bread he gives thanks for it he breaks it and he gives it to them now just stop right there he took the bread he gives thanks for it he breaks it and gives it to his disciples anybody come now do you get it all right turn two pages backwards and what we you'll discover the LA when's the last time Jesus Took bread gave thanks for it broke it and gave it to his disciples it's the Passover meal that happened hours before he got arrested he took the bread he gave thanks for it he broke it the the symbols that he gave his disciples to eat and internalize the story of his broken body and shed blood he gives it to them then their eyes were opened then they recognized him and he disappears and they're like oh my gosh and then they go tell the others and then Jesus appears later again but so let's just write there we'll focus right there it's it's only it's only when a disciple of Jesus humbles themselves and and checks all their baggage checks everything they thought they knew about Jesus and the world and themselves and they allow the scandal of the cross the scandal of the crucified God to come to us personally and give us himself and precisely these these sacred symbols right I mean it's what we do at the culmination of every Sunday Gathering is we take the bread in the cup and it becomes such a ritual for us that we stop thinking about it but this is the it's the heartbeat of the whole story it's God defeats evil and sin God confronts his Enemy by dying for his enemy and that's so scandalous it's so It's So Scandalous I mean I do I do I even need to bring up the outpouring of hatred and vengeance that's happening right now in our culture towards our enemy who is our enemy go ask your neighbor who your enemy is it's very clearly Isis and Paul the Apostle would say fools fools Isis is not our enemy there is a deeper more mysterious form of evil at work in humanity that has tricked us all into thinking that we win when we kill each other and the scandal of the crucifixion of Jesus is is telling us something about ourselves something about God sorry I wasn't going to bring up Isis but how can I not are you with me like there's something so powerful about the crucifixion of Jesus we we assume that God is for us and against my enemy and the story of the scriptures is exposing how how shallow and superficial that thinking is as if I am not the enemy we have met the enemy says the story of the Bible and and it is us and we're all contributors to why this world is the way that it is and the good news that we come around in the bread and the cup is that God loves his enemy and that he will defeat evil and sin in our world precisely through suffering self-giving love now what that is supposed to look like on the ground in day-to-day life and in our politics may God help us may God help us and guide us by his Spirit as we figure that one out but we should have no mistake of who Jesus thinks the enemy is and it's not another human it's it's an evil a spiritual evil that lurks much deeper and that much darker and that's in every single one of us and and so we come together to celebrate Good News the Disciples of Jesus for two thousand years have had this strange idea that when Jesus walked out of that tomb with a resurrection body empowered and recreated by God's own life and love and spirit and that that gives us it's the Prototype of Our Hope for ourselves for the universe for those who will humble themselves before Jesus and follow him we can look at the tragedies of the last few weeks name them for what they are they're evil and stubbornly believe there is still good news to to be had in this world Amen it's what it means to be a follower of Jesus is what it means to believe that that the resurrection opened up a new day a new day for Humanity in a new day for my vision of myself and so that's where I'm going to land uh the plane as we come to take the bread and the Cup today I don't know what your story is that you brought in today I don't know what habits or patterns of behavior or ways of thinking that are at work in you I'm not sure I even know what are the ones that work in me that that blind me from seeing Jesus but God have mercy on us and uh as we confess and we name our failures and we bring them to the bread and the Cup today May our eyes be opened to see who Jesus truly is amen thank you foreign