A Table for Revelation

Sermon Notes

Two of Jesus’ followers are walking away from Jerusalem on the very day He rose from the dead, and they can sum up their heartbreak in three words: “We had hoped.” Then a Stranger joins them on the road, asks what they are discussing, and lets them explain the death of Jesus to the risen Jesus. In Luke 24:13-35, Brad Kirby walks through six things Jesus opens on the road to Emmaus. He also shows why our circumstances can tell us what we are experiencing without telling us what God is accomplishing. If you have ever carried a “we had hoped” of your own, this one is worth your time.

Key Takeaways

• Don’t let your circumstances interpret God. The disciples had most of the facts right and the conclusion wrong, so Jesus taught them to read their experiences through God’s Word instead of reading God’s plan through their expectations.

• Jesus is not threatened by your honesty. He let two grieving disciples tell Him exactly what they had hoped for, because faith isn’t pretending you don’t hurt but bringing your hurt to the One you trust.

• God not following your script doesn’t mean He has abandoned His plan. They wanted a crown without a cross, but the very event they thought had destroyed their hope was the one God used to secure their salvation.

• Jesus was there the whole time. He walked seven miles beside two confused, discouraged disciples, and their inability to recognize Him never meant He wasn’t with them.

• His work in us calls for a response through us. The same disciples who walked away discouraged rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, because what we receive from Christ shapes what we share with others.

  Discussion Questions

1. What is a “we had hoped” you have been carrying lately?

2. Where have you been tempted to let a painful circumstance tell you something about God’s character?

3. What makes it hard for you to be honest with God about your disappointment?

4. Which parts of Scripture do you tend to skip because they talk about suffering, waiting, or surrender?

5. Looking back, when was Jesus present in a season when you couldn’t see Him at the time?

6. Where might you have mistaken an expectation for one of God’s promises?

This Week's Challenge

Invite one person for a meal or coffee this week, listen to their story, and when there is room, tell them why you have hope in Jesus.

Transcript

Right in Front of You

Have you ever looked everywhere for your glasses while wearing them? You check the kitchen, blame somebody for moving them, and announce that nobody in this house puts anything where it belongs. Then somebody says, “They’re on your head.” Suddenly, the search becomes a prayer request for humility.

It is possible to have something right in front of you and still miss it. Hurt and disappointment work like that. They can cover your view like dirt on a window. You can see enough to know something is there, but you struggle to make sense of what you’re looking at.

Our expectations can affect our view too. We expect God to answer a certain prayer, follow a certain timetable, or work a certain way. When life unfolds differently, we start drawing conclusions: “God has forgotten me. My prayers didn’t matter. There’s no hope.”

We Had Hoped

In Luke 24, two disciples are walking toward Emmaus with that kind of disappointment. They had believed Jesus would redeem Israel. Then He was crucified. Now their conversation comes down to three heartbreaking words: “We had hoped.” We had hoped the marriage would recover. We had hoped the treatment would work. We had hoped our child would come home.

Here is the astonishing part. While these disciples are discussing why their hope is gone, their risen Savior is walking beside them. They are talking about Jesus to Jesus, and they don’t know it.

Last week, at the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus used a need His disciples couldn’t meet to teach them dependence on Him. This week, He meets disciples facing events they cannot understand, and once again, He turns the encounter into a classroom.

Jesus Drew Near

Luke tells us it’s Resurrection Sunday. The tomb is empty. Death has been defeated. But these two disciples are walking like they’ve lost everything. They’re leaving Jerusalem for a village about seven miles away, trying to put the pieces together, and nothing makes sense.

Then verse 15 says, “Jesus himself drew near and went with them.” Don’t miss that. They aren’t looking for Him. They aren’t expecting Him. They don’t even recognize Him. But there He is. They don’t know where Jesus is, but Jesus knows exactly where they are.

Somebody needs that this morning. Just because you don’t know what God is doing doesn’t mean God doesn’t know where you are. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). Jesus doesn’t appear in a flash of lightning. He simply draws near and walks with them.

They Stood Still, Looking Sad

Jesus asks, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And Luke says, “They stood still, looking sad.” The question stopped them in their tracks.

Sometimes we can camouflage discouragement pretty well. We put a smile on our face, shake somebody’s hand at church, and say, “I’m doing great!” Five minutes before that, we were arguing in the car. Some of you pulled into the parking lot, wiped the look off your face, and said, “Everybody act like we love Jesus!”

But sometimes life hits you so hard that you can’t hide it anymore. What’s happening in your heart starts showing up on your face. That’s these two disciples. And notice what Jesus does. He doesn’t walk past their sadness. He walks into their conversation.

Talking to Jesus About Jesus

Here’s what makes this so interesting. Jesus asks what they’re discussing, but He already knows. He knows about the arrest, the trial, and the crucifixion. He was there! He knows about the resurrection. He’s the One who got up!

So when He asks, “What things?” I can almost picture Cleopas thinking, “Buddy, have you been living under a rock?” Here are two men explaining the death of Jesus to the resurrected Jesus. They’re telling Jesus they can’t find Jesus!

But He asks questions. He listens. He lets them tell their version of the story. He isn’t asking because He needs an explanation. He is asking because they need their understanding challenged. As they answer, they reveal the gap between what God promised and what they expected.

All the Pieces, the Wrong Picture

In verses 19 through 24, they tell Him everything. Jesus was mighty in word and deed. The leaders handed Him over to be crucified. It’s the third day. The women found the tomb empty and said angels told them He was alive. These disciples know a lot! If this were a Bible knowledge test, they’d make a pretty good grade.

But here’s the problem. They know what happened. They don’t understand what it means.

Have you ever put furniture together without reading the instructions? An hour later you’ve got six screws left over and a bookshelf leaning like it’s trying to get away from you. You had all the pieces. You just didn’t understand how they fit together. That’s these disciples. Their facts are largely right. Their conclusion is wrong.

Don’t Assume God Has Lost the Story

This is where the passage becomes personal. Sometimes we know exactly what happened in our lives, but we have no idea what God is doing. You know what the doctor said. You know what happened in your marriage. You know the facts, but the facts don’t always tell you what the facts mean.

Your circumstances can tell you what you’re experiencing. They cannot always tell you what God is accomplishing. If you’re not careful, you’ll start interpreting God’s character through your circumstances instead of interpreting your circumstances through what God has revealed about His character.

Faith isn’t understanding everything God is doing. Faith is trusting who God is when we don’t understand what He’s doing. That’s the first lesson of Emmaus: when life doesn’t make sense, don’t assume God has lost the story.

Writing Scripts for God

Then we come to the sentence that reveals what was really going on in their hearts. Verse 21: “But we had hoped.” That’s the language of broken dreams. They had pictured a throne, a crown, and a victory. Instead, they got a cross, a tomb, and what looked like the end of everything they believed.

We all have a way of writing scripts for God. “Lord, here’s the plan. All You need to do is approve it.” Then God doesn’t follow our script, and we start wondering whether He’s even paying attention.

But just because God doesn’t follow your script doesn’t mean He’s abandoned His plan. They wanted Jesus to deliver them from Rome. Jesus came to deliver them from something far greater: sin and death. Their expectations were too small for what God was actually doing.

Jesus Is Not Threatened by Your Honesty

Here’s what I love about Jesus in this moment. He doesn’t say, “Would you two quit whining? Don’t you know it’s Resurrection Sunday?” He doesn’t rush them through their grief. He listens and gives them room to say, “This is what we thought You were going to do.”

Church, Jesus is not threatened by your honesty. You can tell Him you’re disappointed and confused. You don’t have to put on your Sunday smile. Psalm 62:8 says, “Pour out your heart before him.” Not just the polished parts. All of it.

David prayed, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?” That’s a hurting man bringing his questions to God. Faith isn’t pretending you don’t hurt. Faith is bringing your hurt to the One you trust. Tell Jesus where it hurts, and remain willing to hear what He says.

Real Pain, Wrong Conclusion

These disciples aren’t wrong to be hurting. Their grief is real. But they’ve drawn the wrong conclusion from it. The very event they thought had destroyed their hope was the event through which God was securing their salvation. Their pain was real, but their interpretation was wrong.

Your pain deserves to be acknowledged, but your pain doesn’t get to define God’s character. When Lazarus died, Martha and Mary both said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But Jesus wasn’t finished. And before He raised Lazarus, “Jesus wept.” He knew resurrection was coming, and He still entered their sorrow.

Jesus doesn’t have to be confused by your circumstances to be compassionate toward your pain. Don’t let what you don’t understand about God cause you to forget what you do know about God.

Slow of Heart to Believe

Now Jesus finally speaks: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Ouch! That’s a little stronger than, “Bless your hearts, boys.” And these are His own followers. You can love Jesus, follow Jesus, and still be wrong about what Jesus is doing. But He doesn’t correct them because He’s tired of them. He corrects them because He loves them.

Notice the key word: all. They believed the promises about the Messiah’s glory but overlooked the prophecies about His suffering. They wanted a crown without a cross. Isn’t that just like us? We put the verses about blessing on a coffee mug and skip the chapters about suffering and surrender.

Then Jesus asks, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things?” The cross wasn’t an interruption in God’s plan. It was essential to it.

The Author Walking Them Through the Story

Verse 27 says, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Can you imagine that Bible study? They had the Author of the story walking them through the story! And apparently Jesus didn’t believe every sermon had to be twenty minutes long. I knew I liked that part!

Luke doesn’t tell us which passages He used, but imagine Genesis 3:15 and the promise of the One who would crush the serpent’s head. The Passover lamb in Exodus 12. The suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Psalm 22.

The suffering wasn’t a contradiction of Scripture. It was the fulfillment of Scripture. They had the right Bible. They had been reading it through the wrong expectations.

If Scripture Doesn’t Preach to You, Your Circumstances Will

When life doesn’t make sense, we need something more reliable than our feelings to interpret what’s happening. If you don’t let Scripture preach to you, your circumstances will, and they don’t always preach the truth.

Your circumstances may preach, “God has abandoned you.” But God’s Word says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Your circumstances may preach, “There’s no hope.” But 1 Peter 1:3 says we’ve been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. Your circumstances may preach, “This is the end.” But Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

Don’t let one painful chapter make you forget who wrote the Book. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, not a spotlight showing you the next twenty years. You may not see the whole road, but you can trust the One who’s leading you.

Stay With Us

When they reach Emmaus, Jesus acts as though He’s going farther. But they urge Him, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening.” They still don’t know it’s Jesus, but they don’t want Him to leave! You know you’ve heard some good Bible teaching when you’ve walked seven miles and still want the preacher to keep going.

There’s a difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. You can know the stories, quote the verses, and still miss the Person to whom it all points. In John 5, Jesus told the religious leaders they searched the Scriptures but refused to come to Him for life.

We can become so familiar with church and Bible studies that we mistake familiarity for spiritual maturity. The goal isn’t merely to know more about Jesus. It’s to know Him, trust Him, and walk with Him.

Known in the Breaking of the Bread

Verse 30 says, “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.” Then verse 31: “And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” It’s Jesus! He’s alive!

Notice where it happens. Not at the empty tomb. Not on the road. Around an ordinary table. The Guest becomes the Host. He takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it, the same pattern we saw at the feeding of the five thousand.

The table wasn’t the miracle. The revelation was. And here’s what I want you to see: Jesus didn’t become present when their eyes were opened. He was already there. He was there when they were confused, when they were discouraged, and when they thought all hope was lost.

The Dirty Window

I’ve got a window here, and it’s filthy. Looking through it, I can make out a few shapes, but everything’s cloudy. Some of you are thinking, “Preacher, you might not want to see all of us that clearly anyway!” But just because I can’t see you clearly, does that mean you’re not there? Of course not. The problem isn’t your absence. It’s what’s keeping me from seeing you.

Now that it’s clean, there you are! But did you suddenly appear when I cleaned the window? No. You were there the whole time.

Disappointment, grief, fear, and unanswered prayers can cloud our vision. But God doesn’t disappear just because our vision gets cloudy. In Luke 24, the disciples couldn’t open their own eyes. Their eyes “were opened.” So sometimes we need to pray, “Lord, open my eyes. Help me recognize Your faithfulness even when life doesn’t make sense.”

Trust Him When You Can’t Trace Him

Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” He didn’t say, “as long as you can feel My presence,” or “as long as life makes sense.” Some days your prayers feel like they’re bouncing off the ceiling. But the faithfulness of Jesus isn’t measured by the intensity of your feelings. It’s grounded in the certainty of His promises.

Think about a child riding in the back seat at night. He can’t see where the road is going, but he can rest because someone he trusts is driving. You may not understand every turn, but you know the One who holds your life, and you can trust Him even when you can’t trace His hand.

They thought they were walking away from a dead Savior. They had actually been walking with a living Lord. The story wasn’t over. They just couldn’t see it yet.

Did Not Our Hearts Burn?

Once they recognize Him, they look back and say, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” It’s almost as if they’re saying, “You felt that too? I thought it was just me!”

Their hearts were burning before their eyes were opened. And notice what caused it. Not clever entertainment or an emotional story. It was the Scriptures. There’s nothing wrong with emotion in worship, but emotion is a wonderful response to truth. It’s a terrible substitute for truth.

You can leave church saying, “Preacher, that was good!” and not remember a thing by lunch. “Well, I don’t know exactly, but it was GOOD!” We need more than Bible information. We need biblical transformation. As Paul says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Roots Before Fruit

Spiritual growth doesn’t always announce itself with goosebumps. Sometimes a burning heart looks like tears of repentance. Sometimes it looks like finally forgiving someone who hurt you, or getting out of bed when life is hard and taking the next faithful step. Sometimes it sounds like, “Lord, I still have questions. But I know who You are, and I’m going to trust You.”

The Word was changing them before their circumstances ever changed. Maybe you’ve been reading your Bible, praying, and trying to remain faithful, but you don’t see much changing. Don’t assume God isn’t working.

Sometimes roots are growing long before fruit becomes visible. Just because you can’t see the change yet doesn’t mean God isn’t changing you.

The Road Hadn’t Changed. The Disciples Had.

Verse 33 says, “They rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.” They’ve just walked seven miles. After seven miles, I’d be looking for a recliner. These men are reaching for their sandals! Resurrection news gave them a second wind.

The road hadn’t changed. The disciples had. They walked toward Emmaus talking about shattered hopes and returned carrying news of their living Savior. When they arrive, they tell what happened on the road and how Jesus was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

This is where being equipped becomes being engaged. Nobody hands these men an evangelism assignment. They’ve encountered Jesus, and they want others to know. Become a grandparent, and suddenly everybody needs to see pictures. Joy looks for someone to tell.

Who Will You Tell?

You don’t need an answer to every question before you can speak about Jesus. The healed man in John 9 said, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” Tell what you know, and keep learning what you don’t.

Think of one person this week. Invite them for a meal or coffee. Ask about their life and listen carefully. When there is room, tell them why you trust Jesus. You can say, “I still have questions, but Jesus died for our sins and rose again. That’s why I have hope.”

Church, we come to the table to receive, to learn, and to be equipped. Then we rise and carry His good news into our homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Jesus is alive, and someone needs to hear it. Who will you tell?