Resurrection and Mission (Part Two): Luke 24:13–35 The Road to Emmaus

The second scene in Luke 24 verses 13-35 (Read opening essay on Luke 24:1-12) builds on the first. This is the famous “Walk to Emmaus” narrative:

    NRS Luke 24:13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

This narrative is filled with mystery and intrigue. Only one of the two persons is named (Cleopas, v. 18), but neither of them is among the Eleven traditional disciples. They are joined by the Risen Jesus, but are unable to recognize him during the journey. They end up in a conversation about Jesus’ death and the women’s strange (24:1-12) report from earlier in the day. “Jesus” then begins to instruct them from the Scriptures about the necessity of the Messiah to suffer. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus taught them from Israel’s Scriptures beginning with Moses everything taught about Messiah. Upon reaching Emmaus, they persuade “Jesus” to stay with them for the evening. They do not recognize Jesus’ true identity until Jesus “took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them” (24:30). At this moment, they realize that they have been journeying with Jesus. Jesus disappears and the two men hurry back to Jerusalem in order to declare to the Eleven that Jesus is truly risen.

This narrative contains some key insights:

1) The Scriptures must be understood in light of Jesus. Jesus opens the Scriptures to Cleopas and his friend. The Scriptures of Israel (the Old Testament) point to the necessity of a suffering Messiah. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah is the climax of God’s work in calling Israel as a community of God’s people. Individuals now need to find themselves in this narrative and live their lives in light of it.

2) The power, mystery, and possibility of encountering Jesus in the breaking of bread is a theme. In v. 30, Jesus “took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them.”  This was no mere meal. These words are an explicit allusion to the Last Supper. Compare the language of 24:30 with that of 22:19: "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’” This is a mysterious passage. Why were Cleopas and his friend unable to recognize Jesus? Regardless, it is only after Jesus reenacts the Last Supper meal that they see him for who he truly is. I think that there is a word here for us-particularly for those among us who take a low view of the Eucharist. Let’s invite people to the Lord’s Table so that they may encounter the Risen Jesus through the meal.

3) Cleopas and his friend are transformed from forlorn former followers to empowered, passionate proclaimers. Just as the women in vv. 1-12, Cleopas and his friend are transformed into Jesus’ witnesses. There is no commission given, but they immediately return to Jerusalem to announce to the Eleven what they had seen and heard. Encountering the Risen Jesus is all that is required for a call to a missional life.

Have you encountered the Risen Jesus?

How has the resurrection of Jesus affected your life? 

What would it look like for you to live as an empowered, passionate proclaimmer and witness?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell
For more, pick up and read my latest book, (re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World . Now available!

 

Resurrection and Mission (Part one): Luke 24:1-12

The resurrection scenes in Luke are profound and memorable. They build slowly toward a resounding climax. Luke 24 consists of three interlocking narratives: 1) 24:1-12 Women Find an Empty Tomb, 2) 24:13-35 Two Men Encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus, 3) 24 36-49 Jesus Appears to the Eleven. Let’s begin with some observations on Luke 24:1-12–

NRS Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

In the opening scene (Luke 24:1-12), a group of women including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James go to the burial place of Jesus early on the 1st day of the week (they had rested on Sabbath (23:56) and discover that Jesus’ body is gone. Two angelic beings suddenly join them (24:4). The angels say (24:5a-8):

NRS Luke 24:5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words

These verses affirm several key elements about the resurrection:

1) It was a bodily resurrection. The tomb was empty. This is affirmed across the NT. To deny a bodily resurrection in favor of a spiritual resurrection is to move outside of the biblical evidence. This part of Luke’s narrative makes little sense if Jesus’ body was present at the tomb.

2) Suffering, death, and resurrection was God's plan all along. In verses 5-8, there is the beginning of a pattern (24:5-8, 25-26, 44-49) in which Jesus’ earlier words are recounted (e.g., 9:22). What happened to Jesus should not have been a surprise. It was God’s plan to which Jesus willingly submitted for Jesus to suffer and die and be raised on the third day. It becomes a central element of early Christian teaching to move toward a Christocentric reading strategy for Scripture. In other words, God’s actions through Jesus becomes the key to understanding the overall movement and message of the Scriptures. A crucial learning for us today is that this reading is not only messianic but also missional. The good news about Jesus must be shared with the nations.

3) Resurrection creates the Church as a missional movement. The women in this story shift from mourners taking spices to the tomb to proclaimers of the Resurrection Story. This group of women (only the two Mary’s and Joanna are named) become the initial witnesses and servants of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

4) The proclamation of the Resurrection is received with skepticism (24:11). This is worth pondering. Sometimes we think that the ancients were gullible and believed anything. Resurrection is an anti-intuitive and supraexperiential claim. Dead men and women are not raised. Bodies do not disappear from tombs except at the hands of robbers. Yet because of the witness of these women Peter responds by running to the tomb to check it out for himself (24:12).

How do you respond to the testimony of these women?

© 2007 (Rev. 2015) Brian D. Russell

Check out my latest book, (re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World .

 

The Cross and Mission: Am I All in?

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt 16:24, emphasis added).

A Paradoxical Existence

The central characteristic of discipleship is to live as though you were already dead. Too often we read the call to self-denial as a call to an ascetic or disciplined life. We read this as an exhortation to life a more simplistic lifestyle or to take a vow of poverty. Cross-bearing can easily be spiritualized or sentimentalized. A careful reading of the context of Matthew’s Gospel however betrays a more radical agenda for Jesus.

Why do I say this?

First, the only other context is which the word translated “deny oneself” is used in Matthew is chapter 26. There Peter denies Jesus three times. In this context, Peter is clearly trying to save his own skin by denying any relationship with Jesus. This suggests then that to deny oneself in Matt 16:24 is to renounce one’s claim to life. This need not be interpreted as a call for suicidal martyrdom or to live recklessly. But it does mean that the ultimate call in life is to follow Jesus. It is a call to renounce self-preservation as one’s modus operandi for living.

Second, “take up one’s cross” is found in two other contexts - Matt 10:38 and 27:32. The first is parallel to 16:24. 27:32 is illuminating. In it, Simon of Cyrene is commissioned to “take up” Jesus’ cross and bear it to the place of Jesus’ execution. This is profoundly important as this context shows the literal meaning of the phrase. To “take up one’s cross” is to live as though you were on the final journey of your life. To use a modern phrase, it is to live as a “dead man walking.” Jesus is thus calling his followers to a radical life in which they die to themselves up front and by doing this paradoxically find life: Matt 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will find it.” 

Why does Jesus call for this radical sort of existence? I think that it is simple: God’s mission in the world requires that disciples be willing to enter the darkest places in the world - places where only dead women and men can go.

Remember the movie Braveheart‘s tagline: Ever man dies; not every man truly lives.

We truly find lives of meaning and significance when we die up front and then follow Jesus moment by moment in order to create an unbelievable future. It all starts with the Cross. Have I found my place on Jesus’ cross? Tim McGraw’s hit song from 2005 had the great line “Someday I hope you will live like you were dying.” This summarizes aptly Jesus’ call.

A Secure Future

Jesus is not calling persons merely to die for a lost cause. Discipleship is not an invitation to a pointless martyrdom. Jesus’ call is radical, but it is also rational in light of the future. Remember Jesus’ words in 16:21 “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life“ (emphasis added). Jesus was already pointing to a victorious future when he talked about the “mustness” of his journey to Jerusalem. Resurrection would follow suffering and death. Notice also how our passages ends:

NIV Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

These two verses also point to the victorious future. In other words, Jesus’ call to a radical, sold-out discipleship in which we live as though we were already dead needs to be read in light of God’s future. The future is secure. The way of Jesus Christ is not merely about this life - it is about life in the age of salvation (present and future). This sort of hope ought to unleash us in the now of our existence to live fully for God.

A Way Forward

How do we live into the radical standard that Jesus establishes for his disciples? The issue is that Jesus is looking for to lead us into places that only dead women and dead men can go. The mission is to “make disciples of all nations” (28:19). The Risen Jesus continues to go before us calling us to follow him moment by moment.

As I reflect on Jesus’ call for discipleship, I realize that Jesus is calling for me to die to myself so that I can truly live. I am to live as one who is carrying his or her own cross - as a person with nothing left to lose. There is great freedom in this. But first I need to recognize that all of my gifts and talents are not enough…That being smart is not enough…¦That the walls that we build based on past experience (good or bad) are not high enough…that we are not courageous enough. In other words, the focus can no longer be on self, but on Jesus Christ. And when we focus on Jesus Christ, we must inevitably face the Cross. At the cross, we find the essence of discipleship. There God invites us to live as a community of the Cross. There we are shaped into a Mosaic of broken pieces that are renewed and transformed by the Cross so that we can offer wholeness, hope, and salvation to a broken world.

If anyone would come after me, let him or her take up his or her cross, deny him or herself, and continually follow me.

Reflections:

1) Am I living "all in" as a follower of Jesus Christ?

2) What is holding me back from a full commitment?

3) Am I seeking to secure the future on my own terms or do I trust God with my future?

4) Have I found my place on the Cross of Jesus Christ?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell, Revised 2016

The Heart of Discipleship: Matt 16:24 the Way of the Cross and Mission

Jesus does not end his conversation with Peter with a rebuke. Rather Peter’s challenge to Jesus’ mission serves as the impetus for Jesus to make his clearest statement about the nature of discipleship in the Gospel of Matthew. In 16:24, Jesus articulates clearly and positively what it means to live as a follower of Jesus Christ.

NIV Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Verse 24 serves as the center of Jesus’ portrait of discipleship.

A Key Assumption

Before looking at the details of this verse, we need to put this passage into its proper context. The Gospel of Matthew needs to be read in a missional context. Discipleship at its heart is missional. Jesus calls disciples in order to multiply his own work of making disciples. This is clear in the climactic passage of Matthew (28:16-20). This text, better known as the Great Commission, centers on Jesus’ exhortation to “Make disciples.” Thus, we need to read 16:24 and its call to discipleship within this overarching framework of mission which undergirds Matthew’s portrait of discipleship.

Movement

Discipleship implies movement. Look at our text. “If anyone would come after me…follow me.” This verse begins and ends with words about movement. At its heart, being a disciple of Jesus involves movement. Why movement? If we desire to be missional, we have to embody a “go to” mentality rather than waiting for the world to come to us. As we read through the Gospel, Jesus was always on the move. He didn’t wait for persons to come to him. He moved around the countryside and served the people as he met them in their own contexts. Furthermore, when large crowds did surround him, Jesus slipped away and moved on to others who needed him.

Discipleship simply means following Jesus. Too often today we think of “following Jesus” as “following Jesus’ teachings.” This is correct as far as it goes. As Jesus’ disciples we are to be shaped by a Jesus ethos. Yet, Matthew goes out of his way to make it clear that the Risen Christ resides with His Church on Mission. Matthew’s Gospel is framed by two references to Jesus’ presence: 1:23 and 28:20.

NIV 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.”

NIV Matthew 28:20b And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Thus, following Jesus involves literally following our Risen Savior into the world for mission. Jesus resides with his people.

To where does Jesus ask us to follow him? As we read the Gospel we find many clues:

1) To those desperate for the things that only God can provide. Jesus routinely interacted and served those on the margins of society: lepers, blind, tax collectors, demoniacs, children, etc (see especially Matthew 8-9).

2) To the crowds who were “harassed and hurting as sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus served those neglected by the religious and righteous of his day. Jesus motivated by compassion (9:35-38) called on his disciples to look upon the fields ripe for harvest and to pray that God would send additional workers. In 10:1ff, Jesus empowers and sends out the twelve to serve the world.

3) Perhaps most radically for his original Jewish audience, Jesus reached out to all nations. This is subtle in most of the Gospel. Jesus’ earthly mission was to the people of Israel. There are exceptions, such as the healing of the Centurion’s servant (8:5-13). The Genealogy also suggests that Jesus has a wider mission by tracing his lines back to Abraham. As Son of Abraham, Jesus lived to fulfill the promise to Abraham from Genesis 12:3 “all peoples will be blessed through you.” The scope of Jesus’ mission becomes clear in 28:16-20. There the Risen Jesus unleashes his disciples into the world to “make disciples of all nations.”

Thus, we may conclude that if we seek to follow Jesus, Jesus will lead us to serve and make disciples of all peoples. He will call on us to break down boundaries that separate people. He will push us to pay attention to the very people that polite society and self-absorbed religionists are happy to ignore.

Reflection:

1) To whom is Jesus leading me?

2) Have I embraced mission as the principle function of following Jesus

3) How would my life be different if I embraced movement as essential to discipleship?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell 

Remembering Good Friday: A Poem

I can see Jesus carrying his cross all alone,


He took on our flesh so far from his rightful throne.


Disregarded his name
, He embraced the cross


And its shame


To save the lost.

He’s the Son of God, carrying the sins of the world

I can see Jesus wearing a crown made of thorns,


In the anguish of death, feeling humanity’s scorn.


His Father’s will to obey


He died on the tree


To set us free


And show the way.

He’s the Son of God, healing all the pain of the world.

I can see Jesus crying to all “It is done,”


Creation’s redeemer, our Lord God’s victory won.


The offer is made


The price has been paid


To give us life


And end all strife.

He’s the Son of God, still reaching out to us everyday.


He’s the Son of God, still reaching out to us everyday.

So see through the pain


The means to true gain


For its true


He died for you.

He’s the Son of God, carrying the sins of the world.


Amen.

Thank you God!

By Brian D. Russell
Revised April 2017

Jesus Rebukes Peter: Matt 16:22-23

 Let’s continue with our reading of Matthew 16:21-28. As discussed in yesterday's blog, this passage marks the beginning of Jesus’ movement toward Jerusalem where he would suffer, be killed, and be raised on the third day.

Vv. 22-23 describe Peter’s attempted rebuke of Jesus, and Jesus’ response to Peter:

NIV Matthew 16:22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Peter’s response to Jesus’ mission is stunning. He rejects Jesus’ words about his suffering, death, and resurrection with some of the strongest wording possible in Greek - “may this never be!” This response is particularly stunning in light of Peter’s confession just a few verses earlier - “You are the Messiah, Son of the Living God!” (16:16). Peter goes from heroic (and correct) confessor of Jesus’ true identity to goat in the face of Jesus’ revelation about the true meaning of his Messiahship.

Why does Peter do this? How is it possible for Peter to be dead-on right in his identification of Jesus and so wrong about the meaning of Jesus’ identity?

Jesus’ response to Peter helps to answer these questions. Jesus responds to Peter in a manner reminiscent of his rebuke of Satan during Jesus’ wilderness temptation in 4:1-11. In 4:10, Jesus orders Satan away from him in a similar fashion (this is somewhat obscured in English translation of both verses but is very close in the original Greek). By calling Peter “Satan”, Jesus implies that by his words Peter is aligning himself with the forces of evil who desire to thwart Jesus’ mission. Furthermore, Peter functions as a stumbling block. In Matthew’s Gospel, this term describes those persons/things that have the potential to cause others to sin (see 13:41 and 18:7).

Why is Peter a stumbling block? Jesus focuses on Peter’s motivation or intentions. Peter’s motivation arises from his focus on the things of humanity rather than on the things of God. In other words, Peter is living his life from a human perspective rather than a divine perspective. Peter wants to follow Jesus, but he wants to do it on his own terms rather than on God’s. In God’s economy which Jesus courageously and steadfastly embodies, Jesus must go to Jerusalem. Peter cannot accept this.

What does It mean to live life from a human perspective? In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus teaches on a variety of topics that challenge our all too human inclination toward self:

Reputation versus Character

We have a tendency to go to great links to protect our reputation. Yet when we read Matthew, Jesus does not seem a bit worried about his reputation. In fact, Jesus is reviled. The Pharisees are scandalized by Jesus’ dining with “tax collectors and sinners” (9:11). He is accused of casting out devils by the power of the “prince of demons” (9:34). We could go on, but this serves to illustrate the point that if Jesus were to have worried about his public reputation, it is unlikely that he would have had the impact that he did.

Jesus fulfilled the mission that God gave to him without worrying about his reputation. What does this mean for us? We need to worry less about what others say about our actions and worry more about whether or not we are living faithfully and obediently for God. God will not be able to use us to our full potential if we are afraid to risk our reputations. We will not be able to interact with and reach those who desperately need the Gospel if we are afraid to lose our reputation by associating with those on the margins of society.

Instead, we need to focus on allowing God to shape our character after the image of Jesus Christ and then obediently following Jesus into the world to reach those who need God. Those who focus on the things of God understand the difference between godly character and public reputation.

Security

Peter was no fool. He understood that a trip to Jerusalem would end in Jesus’ death and perhaps his own in the process. In his three-fold denial of Jesus later in the Gospel, it is clear that Peter is committed most profoundly to saving his own skin. Those who live life by the “things of men” rather than the “things of God” privilege their own security over the completion of God’s will in the world. Ultimate security is found in God alone (see Matt 16:27-28). The future of the disciple is secure. This doesn’t mean that we are guaranteed security and safety in this present age - rather it suggests that claims of security in this age are an illusion and ultimately a hindrance to living the unbelievable life that God calls us to live on behalf of God’s kingdom.

Wealth/Possessions

Jesus teaches extensively on the dangers of wealth (Matt 6:20-34; 13:22; 19:16-30). I think that it is incorrect to read these texts as suggesting that we should not work and provide for our loved ones, but we do need to hear the warning: wealth and possessions can lure us away from living whole heartedly for God. Those who focus on the things of God place God’s mission above the personal accumulation of wealth and possessions. Furthermore, when resources are acquired, they are good stewards of these and use them primarily to fuel the advancement of the Kingdom rather than the satisfaction of their own comfort.

Reflection:

1) How are we like Peter?

2) In what areas of our lives do we need to turn away from a human focus to a focus on God’s mission?

3) If Jesus were on earth today, what would hinder us from following him to Jerusalem?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

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Jesus and the "mustness" of His Suffering and Death: Reflection on Matt 16:21

I want to begin a series of essays on Jesus radical call to discipleship in Matthew 16:21-28 for Holy Week. Today we ponder Matt 16:21

NIV Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

This text occurs at a major transitional point in Matthew’s Gospel. In Matthew 16:13-20, the disciples through Peter declare the true identity of Jesus - “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus commends Peter and gives a great deal of authority to the disciples for the ordering of the life of the community of faith for the future (Matt 16:17-20).

Matthew 16:21 serves as the transition to the remaining third of Matthew’s Gospel which will culminate in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and commissioning of the disciples for a ministry of “disciple making” (28:16-20). Note the force of 16:21. If Matthew 16:13-20 marks the climax of the initial chapters of Matthew’s Gospel in the disciple’s unambiguous declaration of Jesus’ identity, Matthew 16:21 focuses Jesus’ identity as the Son of God on a journey to Jerusalem where Jesus the Son of God will suffer, be killed, and on the third day raised to life.

In this one verse, Jesus explodes many of our popular conceptions about the person and identity of Jesus. Jesus essentially is saying that his identity cannot be fully comprehended apart from his death and resurrection. This is challenging for us because it forces us to come to the cross as well. My friend, Alex McManus likes to talk about the need for Christian leaders to be people “who must.” Notice that Jesus was the first. It was not optional for him to go to Jerusalem, suffer, die, and be raised. He had to do this. It was a “must do” for him. In the verses that follow, we will discover that the cross is a “must do” for us as well.

As we reflect on Jesus’ passion during this holy week, let us begin to ponder deeply Jesus as one who had to embrace suffering and death on a cross.

Reflection:

1) What role does Jesus’ death and resurrection play in my own faith?

2) Would the Jesus that I believe in be crucified?

3) Have I been so touched by the power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that I have been transformed into a person who must?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell