Sermon Tone Analysis

Sometimes Meghann and I take a walk together.

After the sun starts to go down, I'm more apt to go for a walk.

I'm very, very white and I currently hold the world record for getting sun-burnt in the shortest amount of time.

27 seconds.

Sometimes we’ll head out for a walk, and we'll take our two dachshunds, Peanut and Pig.

If you see us walking, you might think, “Oh, how sweet…Barrett and Meghann out for a walk, enjoying one another's company.”

And that's very true.

But there's more to it than that.

It's not just a walk.

It's Meghann trying to increase the life expectancy of her fat dachshund, Pig, and her tubby husband, Barrett.

That's the reason behind the walk.

She has her work cut out for her though: Pig will just decide she's done walking and lay down in the middle of the street.

It's a pretty smart move.

I've even tried it myself.

“Nope, uh uh…not going any farther.

You’ll have to carry the both of us.”

What appears on the surface to be a walk is, in fact, something more than a walk.

>Watch this video.

Some random guy walking down the driveway?

Are you wondering why in the world I would show you a 10-second video of some random guy walking?

“Why,” you might be wondering, “is there even a video of something like that?”

Well, suffice it to say, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Watch it again.

This is more than a guy walking down his driveway.

This is Ryan Stollings.

He was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) when he was 22. MS is a degenerative disease with gradually inhibits the body’s ability to move.

At the time of diagnosis, there was no known cure for MS.

At age 30, Ryan struggled to walk more than 10-15 steps at a time without bracing himself.

After a new round of treatment in Chicago, this is Ryan Stollings a week or so ago, walking.

More than some random guy walking down the drive.

This is no mere walk; this is miraculous.

>Here’s a picture of one of my favorite paintings.

We actually have a copy of this in the entryway by my office.

It’s a little wrinkled and beat up, but I love it.

At first glance, though, it’s just a painting of three guys walking down the road, obviously discussing something.

But, as we’ll see this morning, there’s much more to this painting than meets the eye.

This is more than a painting of three random people walking down the road.

There’s more to it than that...

>They took this walk the same day that Christ arose, the first day of the new world that rose with Him.

That same day…Jesus has been raised from the dead.

The One who was delivered over to the hands of sinners, the One who was crucified is now raised to new life (Luke 24:7).

These two men who are traveling this road to Emmaus were part of the group of people who had been with Jesus.

They were some of His followers, some of His disciples (not part of The 12); they were His students, His followers, His disciples.

The two of them were heading away from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, likely on their way home, wherever home might have been for them.

Situated here at the end of the Gospel of Luke, there’s been quite a bit that has happened…but we know almost without a doubt what they were talking about.

“Everything that had happened” certainly refers to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Jesus, the One who had taught them and loved them; the One who had been their Teacher and their Leader for months, maybe years; the One for whom they had left behind everything—their jobs, their homes, maybe even their families; the One they loved and trusted; the One they had longed for, waited for, hoped for; the One they had hoped would fix everything and make all things sad come untrue—that One had been killed.

The death of Jesus was the talk of the town.

Jesus was betrayed by one of His own.

He was arrested in the garden.

He was mocked and beaten.

He was put on trial.

And, at the shouts of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”, Pilate gave in to the crowd of people, released a man named Barabbas, and surrendered Jesus to their will (Luke 23:25)

At this, Jesus and two other men, both of whom were criminals, were all led out of the city to be executed.

When they got to Golgotha, the place called “The Skull”, they crucified Jesus there, along with the other criminals.

At about noon on Friday, darkness came over the whole land until about 3:00 in the afternoon.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two and Jesus breathed His last.

A man named from Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus’ body.

He took it down from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock.

All of this had happened in the most public possible way.

Anyone who was in or around Jerusalem would have heard about this or watched it unfold before their very eyes.

So these two were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

I imagine most people were talking about what had happened.

This is the gossip of all gossip, this is the scuttlebutt at morning coffee, this is the conversation you have for days.

Millions of people are talking about this today, two millennia later.

>But verse 15 is where it gets really interesting.

These two travelers are heading out of Jerusalem, and we’re told they talked and discussed these things with each other.

This makes us think that the conversation is rather intense, since the word used for discussed (syzeteo) usually refers to debating.

These two travelers are talking, debating, and then…and then something incredible happens (but these two don’t realize it quite yet).

Part of what makes this account of the resurrection so enjoyable is that we know more about what is taking place than these two disciples who unknowingly encounter the risen Jesus!

My beautiful bride and I have a few TV shows we like to watch together.

Some of the TV shows we like are medical-based, some crime thrillers, some comedy, some zombie, some courtroom dramas.

A good amount of the time, though we’re enjoying the show, we can guess what’s going to happen.

I’m sure you’re the same way.

Sometimes we’re caught off-guard and thoroughly surprised, but most of the time, we can figure out what’s going to happen.

At times, Meghann will say, “I could write this show.”

Not so with these disciples!

But, then again, who could’ve guessed this would happen?

Who could write this?

Who could make this up?

We, with our perfect 20/20 hindsight, think we would have figured it out, but I really doubt it.

What’s more, for some reason Christ kept his identity a secret for the moment and fell in with them as they were walking and eavesdropped on their conversation.

Jesus isn’t being cruel here, keeping them from recognizing Him.

Jesus’ gradual revelation of Himself allows them to learn certain lessons about trusting in God’s promises.

The disciples had been told about these events many times.

They should have known, should have believed this would happen; they just couldn’t begin to understand how they would come to pass.

Then Jesus—who is, for all they know at this moment, just another traveler—steps up and interrupts their conversation:

It’s here, verse 17, where we start to understand how these two men are feeling.

Jesus’ question—to them, a question from a stranger—stops them in their tracks; their faces are downcast.

They are sad and it shows.

They are sad, and they’re a little bit confused by the question.

In other words: “What’s the matter with you?

How in the world do you not know the things that have happened?”

I wonder if they would have been quite so snarky if they knew it was Jesus.

The resurrected Jesus, the man of the hour, the object of their conversation, shows His sense of humor: “What things?”

“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened?”

they ask.

Jesus replies, “What things?”

Ha!

The Sovereign of the Universe is playing dumb.