By David L. Larsen
Luke 24:13-35
Jesus
Christ came walking out of the tomb alive! What had been one way traffic —
no return — has now been reversed. A breach has been effected into the
hitherto unyielding wall of human mortality, and the living Christ again insinuates
Himself into the lives and affairs of His own!
When
the secret police broke into a small group meeting of Chris-tians, they asked
how many were present. The leader, a little old man with great love for Christ,
answered “15 present.” A count revealed only 14 persons. The officer
in charge was angry and said: “I thought you said 15!”
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“I
did say 15,” the old man responded: “Our Savior said, “I will
be with you always even to the consummation of the age!” The world doesn’t
account for this and can’t understand it. But Jesus lives, and how the
living Christ makes a difference in the lives of His own is made powerfully
clear in our passage.
I.
We Can Learn From the Living Christ (13-27)
The
two disciples (possibly a married couple) are wending their weary way home after
a rumor-rife day of confusion. They were downhearted. Their faith was in the
past-tense.
Then
“Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them!” The Lord Jesus
shares a Bible conference with them as He opened the whole Old Testament to
them. He showed them in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. What might have
been some of the leading passages He opened? Little wonder their hearts burned
within them as He taught them. For Jesus the Scriptures were supreme.
After
the resurrection, many things became clear (John 2:22). “In times like
these we need the Bible.”
II.
We Can Fellowship With the Living Christ (28-31)
The
living Christ longs to make Himself known to His own. Christian fellowship is
first vertical, then horizontal (cf 1 John 1:3). We are called to fellowship
with Christ (I Cor. 1:9).
As
they shared in the emblems of His dying and rising, “their eyes were opened
and they recognized Him” (24:31). Did they see the nail-prints in His hands?