Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

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Anger
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TITLE:  Hope in the Past Tense         SCRIPTURE:    Luke 24:13-35     \\ \\ What a week it had been!
The two disciples had gone to Jerusalem for Passover, and there they had seen Jesus.
On Sunday, Jesus had come riding into Jerusalem to shouts of "Hosanna!"
-- but on Friday he had died to shouts of "Crucify him!".
The disciples had thought so highly of Jesus -- had hoped that he was the one.
They had rejoiced with the crowd on Sunday, but had watched from afar with heavy hearts on Friday.
What a terrible ending to a week that had started so well.
\\ \\ But, then, this morning they had been with the other disciples when the women rushed in saying that that Jesus was alive.
The women said that an angel had told them that Jesus had risen from the dead.
\\ \\ Now the two disciples were walking home.
The Passover was ended, and they had to get back to work.
It was almost too much to imagine that in the morning they would be tending sheep and weeding fields.
How could you return to such ordinary work after such a wonderful week -- such a terrible week?
\\ \\ The two of them talked as they walked, but they couldn't make sense of it.
How could you make sense of Jesus being crucified?
And how could you make sense of a report that he was now alive again?
\\ \\ It was a long walk home -- seven miles -- not so far, really, for people used to walking.
But in those seven miles they were going from the great city to their little village -- from kings and princes to farmers and carpenters -- from a grand temple on a mountaintop to a collection of little houses close to their fields.
\\ \\ Walking those seven miles was like going back in time a thousand years -- but these two didn't mind.
They were going home.
Home had a comfortable feel to it -- not at all like Jerusalem.
They had always enjoyed going to Jerusalem.
They lived close enough to go every year for Passover.
But they didn't enjoy Jerusalem this year.
What a terrible week!
\\ \\ And then a stranger joined them on the road.
He asked what they were talking about.
Cleopas said: \\ \\ "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem \\ who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?"
\\ \\ The stranger asked, "What things?"
\\ \\ And so they told him about Jesus -- how Jesus had been a prophet -- how Jesus had worked great miracles and taught great wisdom.
Then they told him how the chief priests had conspired to have Jesus killed.
And then they said: \\ \\ "We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel."
\\ \\ "We had hoped!"
Can you imagine any sadder words?
"We had hoped!"
Hope in the past tense!
Hope turned hopeless!
Hope spilled out into the sand!  \\ \\ Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever felt the despair of hope in the past tense?
Most of us, at some time in life, experience hope gone bad -- hope turned hopeless.
\\ \\ *       -- I HAD HOPED to get an A in that class.
\\        -- I HAD HOPED that we would win the tournament.
\\        -- I HAD HOPED to get a good job after graduation.
\\        -- I HAD HOPED that the doctor would have better news.
\\        -- I HAD HOPED!  Hope in the past tense.
Hope turned hopeless.
\\ * \\ When Jesus heard, "I had hoped," he rebuked them.
He called them slow of heart.
Then he began to teach them about himself from the scriptures -- but they didn't recognize him.
\\ \\ Then they came to Emmaus -- the village where the two disciples lived.
The disciples stopped, because they were home, but Jesus kept walking.
They called him back -- urged him to stay with them, because it was evening -- so Jesus went home with them.
\\ \\ Custom dictated that Jesus keep walking unless they really insisted that he stay -- but they really insisted.
People in that time and place believed it important to be hospitable.
Not everyone was, but these two were.
They were genuinely hospitable.
They insisted that Jesus have dinner with them.
They insisted that he stay overnight.
Where else would he stay?
There were many Passover pilgrims, and few inns.
So Jesus stayed with them.
\\ \\ Whenever I read this story, I am reminded of Abraham and Sarah (Gen.
18).
Abraham looked up one day and saw three men approaching.
He knew that they would be weary after a long walk.
He knew that they would be hungry and thirsty.
He knew that they would need a place to sleep.
He knew that God would want him to show hospitality, and so he did.
He invited them to his tent, and asked Sarah to fix dinner for them.
They treated the travelers like royalty.
They really took care of them.
They did that because they knew God wanted them to show hospitality.
They did it because they were Godly people, and Godly people are kind.
Godly people are generous.
*Donna and I met such a family when we went to Ireland.
They provided us a place to stay for two weeks free of charge.
They hooked up a telephone so we could call home any time we wanted.
They had a meal prepared and stored in the refrigerator when we arrived.
They took us to dinner, prepared other meals for us, brought meals to us to eat at our own place.
And so much more.*
\\ \\ And God rewarded Abraham and Sarah’s hospitality.
The men who looked like ordinary travelers were really messengers from God.
They told Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a baby -- the very thing for which Abraham and Sarah had always hoped.
But Abraham and Sarah were old, and their hope was long gone -- hope in the past tense -- hope turned hopeless.
In fact, when Sarah heard the visitors say that she would have a baby, she laughed.
She laughed, because it was ludicrous to believe that an old woman could have a baby.
She was well past her childbearing years -- well past any hope that she could have a baby.
But she did have a baby.
God blessed Abraham and Sarah with a baby.
No longer did they have to say, "I had hoped."
Now they could say, "God has blessed!" \\ \\ I wonder what would have happened had Abraham failed to show hospitality to those strangers.
Would they have walked on?
Would Abraham and Sarah have died childless?
Would God have found someone else to bless?
I think so.
\\ \\ I am sure that if the two disciples had failed to show hospitality to Jesus -- if they had failed to insist that he stay with them -- they would have missed a great blessing.
They would have eaten dinner that night in silence.
They would have gone to bed wondering what to think.
When they talked to their neighbors the next day, they would have said, "We had hoped!"
Hope in the past tense!
Hope turned hopeless!
\\ \\ But that isn't what happened.
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