In The Presence Of Jesus
On the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus, I’m sure His disciples must have longed for His presence. It started early that morning when they heard the report of His empty tomb.
Upon the news, fear and excitement filled the hearts and minds of His secluded disciples. When evening came and the excitement died down, two of His followers headed home to Emmaus.
That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. Luke 24:13-14
They had a lot to talk about. There was no doubt about it, Jesus had died three days earlier. But on that morning some strange and magnificent things happened.
- Someone unknown rolled the stone from the entrance of the tomb.
- The body of Jesus was nowhere to be found.
- Angels spoke to the women declaring He had risen.
- And He had made some physical appearances.
As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. God kept them from recognizing him. Luke 24:15-16
The next verse says that Jesus asked them, “What they were discussing so intently as they walked along?” With expressions of sadness written across their faces, they stopped to explain.
Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.” Luke 24:18
Jesus never claimed not to know what had happened. He might have wanted to hear their version of those recent events. So He continued by asking, “What things?”
Jesus Inquired of What Happened
“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. Luke 24:19
Continuing they said, even though the people viewed Him as a mighty teacher, the religious leaders didn’t. They finally found a way to stop Him by removing Jesus from their presence.
But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. Luke 24:20
What they said next though revealed what they and many of His other followers expected from Jesus.
We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. Luke 24:21
Israel spent many of their existing years in bondage mainly because they disobeyed God. When they got sick and tired of being sick and tired they prayed for God’s deliverance.
In the Old Testament, their deliverers came in the forms of judges, some kings, and prophets. These men and others thought God sent Jesus as their Messiah to deliver them from the Romans.
In their thinking, everything was moving in that direction. So they continued to tell this stranger the events that had recently taken place.
Some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. Luke 24:22
- “They said his body was missing,
- And they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive!
- Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough,
- His body was gone, just as the women had said.” Luke 24:23-24
The Lord Rebuked These Two Men
I’m not sure how these two followers of Jesus reacted to the next statement made by this total stranger. This man who seemingly knew nothing about what happened boldly rebuked them.
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory? Luke 24:25-26
They indicated that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah they had waited for. You see, they were looking for a military-type leader, not a spiritual Savior. So Jesus gave them a quick history lesson.
Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:26
They finally got to their destination. After encouraging Jesus to stay, He agreed. Then as they sat down to eat, the big moment came.
Jesus Revealed His Presence to Them
As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared! Luke 24:30-31
These two men were in the presence of Jesus all along and never even knew it. They had their minds made up as to what they were looking for in a messiah. But they were wrong!
We do something very similar to what they did. When Jesus walked on the earth with them everything was fine because they could see and feel His presence. We do the opposite.
We feel that when everything is working fine for us, Jesus is right there in our presence. But when things aren’t going well, we wonder where He is.
The presence of Jesus in our lives has nothing to do with our circumstances. We can get so caught up in them we miss His presence even though Jesus is always there.
We Too Can Rely on the Presence of Jesus in Our Lives
The Lord delivered a message to these two men because they didn’t trust Him or believe His Word. But He didn’t leave them hanging there. Jesus revealed His presence to them.
We can trust Him and His Word for everything in our lives. So never doubt the presence of Jesus because our faith in Him is built upon a firm foundation.
You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. Ephesians 2:19-20
Lord, help us to stay focused on you and your will. We never want to get sidetracked by our own desires and miss the presence of Jesus.
Checkout out these related posts about what Jesus has done for us.
