Meeting Jesus

Luke 24:13-35

Mother’s Day

What do Mothers really want?

Tribute to Mother

• Preached from the fig tree• Raised 5 children• Sunday School teacher• Business partner• A heart for people on the

margins of society

Tribute to Mother

• Preached from the fig tree• Raised 5 children• Sunday School teacher• Business partner• A heart for people on the

margins of society

Tribute to Mother

• Established in 1974• For homeless and

battered women in central California

• “An outgrowth of brokenness”

The long journey

• Going home to Emmaus• 11 km from Jerusalem• Talking about what had

happened• We are all on a journey

Joined by a stranger

• They did not recognize him - veiled

• What were you discussing?

• Recalling a terrible grief

• “But they did not see Jesus.”

Explaining the Word …

• Did not the Messiah have to suffer?

• Beginning with Moses and the prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures.

… and hosting a Meal

• The dinner guest became the host

He took the bread,gave thanks,

broke it, and gave it to them.

• Their eyes were opened

TRANSFORMATION

• How do you know when someone has been transformed by God?

• 15 verses to go from Jerusalem to Emmaus

• 1 verse to go back

Meeting Jesus

The risen Lord journeys with us• Jesus came alongside those travellers and had the

patience to listen to their story and their sorrow• The church embodies that care• We are to care for and come alongside each other in

the journey of faith.

Meeting Jesus

The risen Lord meets us in worshipWord• The apostles continued to

make Jesus known through the ministry of the Word.

• “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinth 15:3-4)

Table• “They devoted themselves

to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42)

• “The Lord Jesus … took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it” (1 Corinth 11:23-24).

Meeting Jesus

The risen Lord meets us in worshipJustin Martyr (2nd century)• “, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to

one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits…

• “the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things...”

• “bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen.”

Meeting Jesus

The risen Lord meets us in worship

“O Thou who this mysterious bread didst in Emmaus break, return herewith our souls to feed, and to thy followers speak”

Charles Wesley

Meeting Jesus

The risen Lord waits to transform us• To make known to the world our risen Lord, so that

the world might be transformed.• Removing the veil• “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the

Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Meeting Jesus

The risen Lord waits to transform us• John Wesley’s strategy included: – preaching sanctification in the streets– people to journey with each other in small groups

(class meetings)– emphasising the means of grace

• Rediscovering Jesus in the Church

Open our eyes, Lord

Come - expect to meet the risen Lord today• Who moved away? God

or us?• Come to worship each

Sunday expecting to meet the risen Lord.

• Jesus waits to meet us in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives.