Apostle Andre Pelser
16 March 2008  10AM

Luke 24:13-23  "Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. And He said to them, "what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" Then the one whose name was Cleophas 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?" 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, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. "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. "Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive." Why were they astonished? It wasn't a vision, it really happened, but it is hard for the men to believe that women know more than they do.

Verse 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." Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"

I promise you that "o foolish ones" are not underlined in your Bible. We only underline what we like. The whole Word is the Word of God. God is saying to us too this morning, "O foolish ones." Aren't we foolish sometimes? Underline it. "O foolish ones", and we'll find out now why we have underline it. "O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe…" things are already happening and we don't believe it. God has already done something for us and we say "it was unbelievable." "Slow of heart to believe." Why? Because it doesn't work the way we wanted it to, or that pleases us or how we would do it, so we don't want to believe. Whereas God knows what is best for us. "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" That is why he rebuked Peter, because Peter was stopping Him and saying "no, in this church we don't speak about suffering, only earthly things that suit us." Cleophas, his name means 'rich inheritance' or 'son of a renowned father.' They were on their way to Emmaus, 11 km from Jerusalem in the country side. It was a hot spring and they were on their way to the hydro, to the spa. They were going to go and have some luxury after all this crucifixion. They were going to pamper the flesh a bit because it didn't work out, because Jesus was a prophet. They spoke in the past tense. So in their minds Jesus was not alive. They thought it was all over now and now they are just going to the hydro and relax. And Cleophas must have been rich to be able to afford it. That is where they were going to. Jesus appears and He walks with them and listens to what they were saying. They said sad things. "We thought it is going to work out. Jesus was a good prophet but oh well he is dead now." And Jesus asked them, "what kind of conversation is this?"

Sometimes we must tell each other, husbands to wives and wives to husbands, "what kind of conversation is this? This sad and depressing conversation?" What kind of conversation is this when you hear people talking, "oh you know, things are bad, the country is going down the drain." Let me give you some good news. The world is going to die. This world is going to come to an end. So green peace, black peace, yellow peace, little peace, big peace, doesn't matter, ozone, b-zone, c-zone, l-zone, doesn't matter, whatever this zonal thing is. We are not going to stop the fact that this world is going to be replaces by a new world. A new heaven and a new earth He is created. So the old one will, the heavens will role up like a scroll and this earth will close and will vanish away. So you are not going to stop it no matter how many seminars you hold or movies that make about the "inconvenient truth." I will tell you what the inconvenient truth is. They don't want to believe in Jesus. That is the inconvenient truth. Not the way they are trying to say it, to make more money out of that, because somebody is making a fortune out of all of that. But the point is that things are going to change and you are not going to stop it no matter how we try. The media, the newspapers, report that there are storms everywhere. But Jesus predicted that it will be like that. He said, "in the last days." It is just fulfillment of scriptures. Cut out that newspaper article and say that this is fulfillment of scripture and even though people say, "isn't it terrible?"  You should say, "it is wonderful." It is fulfilling scriptures.

So they were walking and they had sad conversations. So Jesus asked them what kind of sad conversation they are having. When we get together, what kind o conversations do we have? How do you speak? What do you sound like when you are in a group? What kind of conversations do you have? That is what the Lord is saying. He is asking us today, "what kind of conversation is this?" You have to answer that.

Verse 27-" And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them that in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then they drew near the village where they were going, and He indicated (that He acted as if) He would have gone farther."

Jesus was also an actor. He is walking with them, saying to them, "oh foolish ones, why don't you believe? What kind of conversations do you have?" He expounds the Scriptures to them, he knows who they are. He would have gone on, and so He acted as if He was going to walk on. But actually He wanted to stay with them. Don't we do that sometimes? Jesus was like, "Okay, I'll probably have to go now and see you guys later." But He was hoping that they would say, "stay." Because the moment they constrained Him, He stayed. But that is what He wants. Often we don't constrain Him enough. We just read our Bible because it is time to read the Bible. But He wants to stay a bit longer. He wants to speak to us. He wants to show you something, but we are so quick through that, because now we have done our little duty. He wants to explain the scriptures to you. He wants to give you some understanding regarding your situation. And so we need to constrain Him.

How did they constrain Him? Verse 29- "But they constrained Him, saying, "abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." There is an old hymn, "Abide with me." But it is the most depressing hymn. It is like, just before I die, abide with me quickly. Even the melody is mournful. I used to cry when we used to sing that thing because it sounds like it is the end. What kind of a song is that? What kind of a conversation is that? We need a new song about "abiding" and that abiding actually seems enjoyable. We tend to make religion something so heavy that no body wants it. It needs to have a tone of joy. It needs to have a note of joy in. Beethoven said that in the centre of the universe there is joy. "Jesus, joy of my desire." The Ki