Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Monday after Easter

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. Luke 24:13-35 (NKJV)

24:13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

19 And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Devotion

The scriptures tell us plainly what the Messiah’s person and work was. Even in the Old Testament it was clearly there. The Old Testament told what the Messiah must go through and what would happen when His suffering was finished. Jesus chastises His disciples on the Emmaus road for not knowing that. He calls them slow witted or foolish for not knowing the Scriptures. Their intellect had been dulled by their lack of belief. They knew the Scriptures, but they did not really ponder and study the Scriptures properly.

If Jesus chastises them for not knowing their Bibles well enough, what would He say to you and me today? Jesus shows them in the Scriptures, from the beginning to the end, that all the Scriptures have described what He was going to do. The Scriptures cried out concerning Jesus because the heart and content of the scriptures is Jesus.

We have our eyes opened to this new reality in the same way that the disciples on the Emmaus road did, through the Scriptures. We also have our eyes opened through the sacraments. We have our eyes opened through these means because Jesus is in them. He comes and stays with us through these means. The Sacrament of the Altar is not just a symbolic memorial to Jesus’ death, but it also brings us the life of the Resurrection. The Word of God tells us of the new reality that exists for us, and then that Word creates it.

We pray: Lord, help us to see You in Your Word and sacraments. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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