Hide and Seek

Luke 24:13-35
Cascades Fellowship CRC, JX MI
March 30, 2008

I remember once as a young lad I called my girlfriend’s house – no it was

not Rachel, like I said it was when I was a YOUNG LAD. At any rate, when I was

in my early teens, I called over to my girlfriend’s house to whisper sweet-nothings

in her ear. When she picked up the phone I began by using my pet name for her

– which mercifully, I have forgotten.

After cooing out my endearment to her I paused to let her coo to me in

return… but was instead met by the snickering of her mother who said she’d go

and get her daughter. Needless to say, the moment was passed, I was

embarrassed and the next time or two I visited the house, things were a bit

awkward.

Now you would think that since I was head over heels in lust with this girl –

a reasonably common teenage condition – you’d think that I would be able to

recognize her voice on the first syllable. It’s not like this was the first time I called

her house. I’d had talked on the phone with her numerous times. So, you would

think that I would hear the difference between her voice and the voice of her

mother. But I didn’t – on that day, for some reason I could not identify who I was

talking to.

There is something similar going on in our text for today. Two disciples of

Jesus are on the road to Emmaus – the day after the Sabbath, the third day

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since Jesus was crucified. One is named Cleopas, the other remains unnamed.

The speculation as to who his traveling companion might be runs high – his wife

maybe; some even think it was one of the apostles, but that is unlikely. Whoever

the person is, the two are leaving Jerusalem after the most extraordinary

Passover week ever experienced.

The week began with Jesus entering Jerusalem in triumph to the praises

of his disciples and the crowds gathered for the Passover. He caused quite a stir

riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, like a King being received by his people after

a long absence. But the honeymoon didn’t last long because Jesus had upset

the religious apple cart – he’d angered the religious leaders, so they started

gunning for him with serious intensity.

Then came the betrayal – one of Jesus’ inner circle turned snitch and led

helped the religious leaders take Jesus into custody in the middle of the night

where adoring eyes would not see. They convicted him in a kangaroo court and

handed him over to the Romans to be put to death. We know this story well – we

rehearsed it again just last week. Jesus is tortured and then crucified, but on the

third day – the same day the two disciples in our text are walking to Emmaus –

Jesus rose again from the grave – like he said he would.

There are some who suggest that Cleopas and his companion are fleeing

Jerusalem, perhaps out of fear of being next or maybe Jerusalem just holds too

many horrific memories for them now. It is true that they do not tarry in

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Jerusalem with the rest of the disciples. And as they are walking, they are

puzzling over the weeks events.

This was an impassioned conversation – emotions were running high;

hopes and fears were in play. There was heat in their words, dissonance filled

the air around them; questions, always more questions.

I have no doubt that the two disciples suffered from a kind of grief

hangover. Reality itself might have seemed a bit tenuous to these two, the world

around them but a shadow in the wake of their sorrow and fear. Let’s face it,

watching the man you pinned all your hopes on get horribly disfigured and nailed

to a cross is going to leave some scars on your psyche for a long time and this is

just a couple days after witnessing such horror. So it is no wonder that their

thoughts are dominated by images of Jesus bloodied and dying. As the two

companions are locked in verbal combat an unassuming figure steals up behind

them.

Commentators have noted through the ages that Luke shows his mastery

of language by the way he presents this particular narrative. There is a boatload

of irony throughout this passage. For instance, Luke clues us in on who the

stranger is but his identity remains hidden from the disciples in the story; it’s sort

of like being a spectator in a game of hide and seek. We have that sense of

knowing something really important that the person playing doesn’t and the most

delicious moment is when the person hiding is discovered.

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 So Jesus enters the scene, but no one knows its Jesus. We suppress a

chuckle behind our hands; this ought to be good. Jesus, risen from the grave,

Jesus, to whom all authority on heaven and earth has been given, Jesus who

has wrestled the Keys of death and hell out of the grasp of the enemy, Jesus the

Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, the one in whom the fullness of

Deity bodily dwelt, the Word of God made flesh – this Jesus asks what in anyone

else would be considered a stupid question. Cleopas certainly thinks it falls

below the threshold of an intelligent question.

“What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas,
asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things
that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked

Do you ever laugh at the Scriptures? I do. The Bible is full of these

delightful moments that come like a breath of fresh air during some of the most

serious moments. If there was anyone – ANYONE – who knew what was going

on it was Jesus. Yet, he’s the one with the question on his lips – “What’s going

on?” And it is the disciples who are totally clueless who are trying to tell him

what’s happening! Here again, we find Luke using irony to draw us into the

narrative.

If this story was a video and we were watching it for the first time, about

now we would screaming at the screen, “It’s Jesus! Come on, you

knuckleheads, open your eyes. It’s Jesus!” And just like when we scream at

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screen during “The Birds” or “Friday the Thirteenth” or “Blue’s Clues” the

disciples never hear us and continue on in their foolishness.

By the way, it’s not foolishness because I say so – it’s because Jesus says

so, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Cleopas begins recounting the history that Jesus just lived through. He

describes Jesus as a prophet and powerful. Yet, the chief priests handed him

over to the Romans for execution. He even expresses his hope that Jesus was

the one who would redeem Israel. But that couldn’t possibly be the case

because now he was dead and Rome still ruled.

Now let’s pause there for a moment and consider what Cleopas has said.

Notice how the disciple connects Jesus’ execution with the certainty that he could

not have been the Messiah they were waiting for. Why?

Because redemption to them did not mean freedom from the bondage of

sin, it meant freedom form the bondage of Rome. It meant political and cultural

freedom, it meant independence and self-governance. Redemption meant that

God was once again going before the armies of Israel, empowering the arm of

Israel’s king to strike down Israel’s enemies. Cleopas was looking for the

Messiah to purchase back God’s people by spilling the blood of Israel’s enemies,

not his own.

But there is a hitch in the story. Did you catch it? There is this lingering

hope – this ever-so-slight possibility that there is more to the story, but Cleopas

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doesn’t dare believe it; he doesn’t dare hope. Have you seen it yet? Look

closely at the passage, it’s there.

“And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.”

Cleopas notes with emphasis that it is the third day after all this took place

– why? Perhaps he remembered Jesus talking about suffering at the hands of

the priests and Pharisees and being handed over to Rome for death. Maybe he

remembers that Jesus said every time he foretold his death that he would rise

again. After all, the tomb was empty – at least that was the report circulating

around Jerusalem. But if that was true, what did it mean?

Can you see the way the discussion was going between Cleopas and his

companion? So many questions, so much grief, and precious few answers or

reasons to smile. And now, here comes this bumpkin out of nowhere asking,

“Hey, what you are talking about?”

I remember one time when a friend and I was going to see his

grandmother in the hospital. As we approached the entrance, a rush of people

came pouring out, very overwrought. Our military training had conditioned us to

respond in crisis – so we assumed the worse. Was there a fire? Was someone

out of control, destroying equipment and lives? We ran across the parking lot

and asked the people coming out if something was wrong.

In surprise and anger a man appearing around sixty rasped at us, “Yes.

My son is dead.” With ice cold clarity my friend and I became suddenly aware

that we were treading on some very personal, very sacred ground. I imagine that

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Cleopas felt somewhat the way that father who lost his adult son to a bee sting

did – a stranger had violated sacred space.

But Jesus is not so easily put off. These disciples – his disciples – were in

great distress; sheep without a shepherd, blinded by their own grief and

misconceptions. Knowing they need someone to lead them out of the valley of

the shadow of death, Jesus opens the Scripture for them.

In April we will begin to gather together again on Wednesday nights to

study the Scriptures. For an hour we will study maybe as much as a chapter of

Genesis and then go home feeling like we have feasted on the Word of God. In

the time that it took the disciples to walk with Jesus to Emmaus – a reasonable

estimate might be three hours – Jesus walked the disciples through the Old

Testament Scriptures, from Genesis to Malachi, explaining how every moment of

redemptive history pointed toward him – toward a Messiah that had to come, die

at the hands of sinful men and then rise again from the dead.

I want us to note something here – all during this time, it does not

suddenly dawn on Cleopas or his companion that they are talking to Jesus. He

remains hidden from their eyes – even after connecting all the points of faith and

doctrine for them. For some reason they still don’t see Jesus for who he is.

As they come to Emmaus, Jesus acts like he is going to keep traveling

and Cleopas begs him to stay and enjoy his hospitality. Jesus agrees but oddly

enough acts as the host. It is Jesus who takes the bread, gives thanks and

breaks it. And in that moment, as he re-enacts the breaking of bread made three

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nights before – the one he told the disciples to do in remembrance of him – in

that moment, the eyes of his disciples are opened and the true nature of their

traveling companion is revealed. Suddenly, they understand the truth and as

soon as they do Jesus disappears.

You know, I have often been puzzled by this passage of Scripture. It

seems like Jesus is playing hide and seek with his disciples and once they find

him, he’s off. As I read through it in preparation for this sermon the question that

kept popping up was “Why? Why can’t Jesus just show them who he is

immediately and send them scurrying back to the other disciples with another

sighting of the Risen Christ?”

As I thought about those questions, I began to see a pattern – some logic

to the passage that I hadn’t noticed before. Remember where Jesus found them

on the road – dismayed, confused and wrestling with some wrong assumptions

about who and what the Messiah should be. When he found them, they were not

prepared to see the real Jesus – their expectations would still have been for him

to chase Rome out of Palestine and restore an earthly Israel to political

prominence. They would have rejoiced that Jesus was back from the dead, but

they would have completely missed the reason why he was back at all. So Jesus

sets about correcting their thinking about the Messiah. And once he had their

thinking corrected, he then revealed himself using the symbol he had given the

disciples to remember his sacrifice – the breaking of bread.

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 It dawned on me that what we find in the Emmaus story is an explanation

for the way God reveals himself to us – the disciples of Jesus Christ, the children

of God. You see, we often feel the way Cleopas and his companion felt –

dismayed, confused, and wrestling with thoughts of God that are unworthy.

There are moments in life when it seems like God is playing hide and seek.

The reality is God may not be hiding at all. It may be that we are not

seeking him in the way he has already revealed himself. In those times when we

can’t seem to catch a glimpse of God the problem isn’t that God is not there, the

problem is that our eyes have not been trained to see him. In other words, we

keep looking for him to show up in a particular way – we want to see God

according to the expectations we have about him.

God wants us to see him as he really is.

Where do we see God as he really is? In the Gospel of John, Jesus says

that his true self would be revealed on the cross. Can we go to Calvary, see our

mutilated Savior crucified for our sin and have a sudden epiphany about the

nature and person of God? Literally, no; it happened two thousand years ago –

this is what we would see today.

But there are two specific ways we can see – relive – Jesus on the cross

and both are represented in the Emmaus story. The first is through the

Scriptures. How did Jesus prepare the disciples to see him? By taking them

through the Scriptures and revealing how Genesis to Malachi pointed to him, to

the cross and to the resurrection. He corrected their vision of the Messiah by

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giving them the lenses of the Scriptures. When God seems hidden, maybe he’s

just out of focus because the eyes of our heart need glasses. Go to the Scripture

to cure your myopia first – pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to presence

and power of Christ as you read. God said that those who seek him shall find

him.

With our vision corrected – just as with the disciples on the way to

Emmaus – the second means of seeing Jesus revealed on the cross becomes a

powerful image of the love and grace of God. We also see Jesus revealed in the

participation of the Lord’s Supper. You see, the two go together. It is when our

reading of Scripture is coupled with faith that coming to the Table reveals Jesus –

allows us to feed on him and be nourished in spirit. If we fail to read the

Scriptures, to seek God where he has revealed himself, then our hearts will not

be prepared to see him when the bread is broken for us. God will seem hidden

to us.

God wants to be exposed, to be found, to be seen. He wants us to know

him on sight, to recognize his voice. So let’s not play hide and seek with God –

let’s just play seek. Use the means God has given us to correct the vision of our

hearts – his Word – so that we can see his presence here where tow or three are

gathered.

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