Meeting Jesus

We love welcoming new people here from all around the world. So if you’re an international student – we’re really glad that you’re with us this morning. Wherever in the world you come from, we want you to feel at home here among us.

We are, of course, all very different in many ways. We speak different languages (though thank you very much for learning English, and for all those hours of learning vocabulary – you’ve certainly saved us a lot of hard work!) We like different food (no unkind remarks about the quality of English cooking please). Our cultures are very diverse. We are used to different climates (we may not have Mediterranean summers here but at least we don’t have Siberian winters).

But from your point of view, why are you here? Let me ask you: do you want to know more about God? Our experience is that many people who come here don’t just want to know more about their subject of study, or British culture. They are also wanting to discover more about themselves, about the meaning of their own lives, and about God.

There’s no doubt that getting away from your usual environment gives you a great opportunity to do that. So I want to talk to you this morning about meeting God in the person of his Son Jesus, through the pages of the Bible. We believe, with good reason, that this book is God’s message to the world. So my title is ‘Meeting Jesus’.

Sometimes when people meet, the encounter is life-changing. Those involved might not realise it at the time, though. Twenty four years ago I went to a church service. I found my sister there and squeezed into the pew beside her. Next to me on the other side was a girl I recognised. We got talking. Then we got married. Then we had three children. That does cut quite a long story short.

Neither my wife Vivienne nor I realised at the time quite how life-changing that first chat would prove to be. I was quite taken with her. But if you’d asked me after that service, ‘Have you just had a life-changing encounter?’ I’d have thought you were slightly mad.

My prayer for you is that while you’re in Newcastle, you will have a life-changing meeting. I am not referring to the person sitting next to you. I thought I’d better clear that up straight away. I’m talking about a meeting with the risen Jesus.

Luke 24.13-35 is headed “On the Road to Emmaus”. The action here takes place just after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and before his followers have understood what has happened. Two of them are on their way to the village of Emmaus. They’re joined by someone they do not recognise. He walks with them and talks with them until the truth dawns on them that this mysterious but deeply impressive stranger is none other than Jesus alive again.

As we think about what happened, here’s the first thing I want us to learn:

First, JESUS WALKS WITH US

That journey to Emmaus is another piece of the overwhelmingly strong evidence that Jesus – who was crucified and killed – is alive today. Look at what happened:

Verses 13-14:

Now that same day two of them [that is, two of Jesus’ followers] were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

As far as they knew, Jesus was dead – brutally executed by the Romans. Their minds and no doubt their emotions were full of all that had been happening in Jerusalem, which had ended in the horrific crucifixion of their master Jesus.

And as they walked and talked, this man Cleopas and his friend were going over and over what had happened, trying to make some sense of it, and not succeeding. By now they knew that the tomb in which Jesus had been laid was empty. As they later say to the Stranger who they meet on the road (v 22-24):

“In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

“Him they did not see”. Jesus wasn’t there. What were they to think? The women were claiming that Jesus was alive, but how could that be – because they knew that he had died? They were confused. They did not know what to make of it. So they talked about it, without understanding.

You can talk about Jesus and still miss the heart of the Christian faith. You can have discussions about the death and resurrection of Jesus late into the night, but that is not discipleship. Being a disciple of Jesus - being a Christian - is not a matter of just talking about Jesus. It is knowing Jesus. It is being with him. Verse 15:

As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them…

Jesus himself. Not dead. Not history. Jesus himself, alive, came up and walked with them. This is what being a Christian is all about. We do not see Jesus as those two did (mind you they did not recognise him at first). Jesus is not with us physically now, though the day will come when we do see him face to face. But instead he walks with us by his Spirit. A Christian is one who walks in step with the Spirit of Jesus.

Jesus walks with us. That is my first point. The second thing we need to take to heart is that Jesus listens to us. That is my next heading:

Secondly, JESUS LISTENS TO US

A father came in from work one day to find his small son busily drawing. “What picture are you drawing?” he asked. “God” said the boy, as his father looked on, smiling. “You can't draw God” he said, “no one knows what God looks like.” “They will soon” came the reply, “I've nearly finished.”

How do we know what God is like? It’s no good making it up, imaginative as we may be. We have to look at the picture that God himself has shown us, and that is Jesus. What Jesus is like, God is like, because Jesus is the Son of God, with his Father’s likeness. Look at how Jesus listens to the worries of these men. That’s how God cares for you too.

The first thing Jesus does as he gets into stride alongside Cleopas and his friend is to ask them questions to get them to open up to him. Verses 17-20:

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him…”

Of course Jesus knows all this, but he wants to hear it from them. And he listens to their disappointed hopes: verse 21:

“but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”

Well so he was, but not in the way they imagined. The plans of Jesus were far bigger than they knew – plans for all the nations of the world. But he listened to their confused amazement as they told him about the extraordinary story the women were telling of an empty tomb and angels saying that Jesus was alive.

They were full of ignorant questions, misunderstanding, disappointed hopes and confusion: it all sounds just like us – maybe you are feeling confused and alone yourself. And yet Jesus listens. That is the wonder of the gift of prayer that he has given us. When we talk, he listens, and he understands us. That is uncomfortable, but it is also wonderful. Jesus sees right through our foolishness. But how good it is that he does not ignore us, or scorn us, or hang up on us.

One Sunday a pastor was doing a children’s talk, using a telephone to illustrate the idea of prayer. “You talk to people on the telephone but you don't see them on the other end of the line, do you?”, he began. The children shook their heads. “Well, talking to God is like talking on the telephone. He's on the other end, but you can't see him. He's listening though.” Just then a little boy piped up and asked, “What's his number?”

We don’t need a telephone number to get through to God. We just need to know Jesus. He walks beside us by his Spirit. We can talk to him at any time. He wants us to keep talking. He always listens. He always understands.

Jesus listens to his disciples. But he does not leave us in our ignorance and confusion. He teaches us, too, and that is my next heading:

Thirdly, JESUS TEACHES US

You can see five things here about the way Jesus teaches us.

First, he begins where we are. Because he knows us and listens to us, he knows what we need to learn and where he must start. And that generally means he needs to start from a long way back. Verse 25:

“How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

Those are hard words for them to hear. But foolish and faithless sums up where they were, and I don’t think we dare to imagine that we start anywhere different. But Jesus does not say “I cannot be bothered with you. I have taught you and your friends for three long years and still you know nothing. You will never learn. Go away.” Instead, he begins to teach them.

Secondly, he teaches us about himself. Verses 26-27:

[Jesus said] “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

The most crucial lessons that we have to learn in the whole of our lives are not the lessons we learn doing University courses, or what we learn about other cultures. They are lessons about who Jesus is, what his work is, and how we are to respond to him. The rest is insignificant in comparison.

Thirdly, Jesus teaches us from the Bible. That seems an amazing thing. Even the Son of God himself, when he wants people to understand the truth, opens up a Bible (as it were) and starts to explain it. V 27 again:

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

It’s not really so amazing though. The Bible, after all, is the Word of God, so it is not surprising that God in the person of his Son would want us to get to grips with it and begin to understand it. And as Jesus himself makes so clear, all of the Scriptures point to him.

Fourthly, Jesus teaches us by the Spirit. We cannot understand the Bible or see who Jesus is without God’s help. Left to ourselves we are spiritually blind, just as those disciples were blind to who the Stranger was who was walking with them. Even when the truth is staring us in the face, we do not see it. But Jesus, by the power of the Spirit of God, opens our eyes to see him and to understand the truth. At first (v16)

“they were kept from recognising him.”

But later, when the Spirit decided that the time was right, (v31)

“Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him…”

Jesus teaches us by the Holy Spirit.

Fifthly, Jesus teaches us through the mind to the heart. Do you envy those two disciples their private Bible teaching seminar with the risen Jesus? Do you say to yourself “If only I could have been there along with them, how exciting that would have been. My faith would be so much stronger.” It was indeed an amazing experience for them, and we get a powerful insight into what they felt as we overhear them talking to one another afterwards. Verse 32:

They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?".

By now they knew that Jesus was alive, and they remembered how the Word of God had seemed to ignite a fire within them as Jesus taught them.

Do you envy that experience? You really do not need to. To be sure, we cannot yet see Jesus physically in his resurrection body. But if we follow him, the day will come when we do. And as we have seen, Jesus walks with us too. He teaches us too, from the Bible by the Spirit, and that teaching ignites fires in our hearts too.

I was thirteen when the Holy Spirit first ignited a fire in my heart as I began to learn from the Bible. This is much more than an emotional experience though it can be that. This is a fire that never goes out as the Holy Spirit makes us aware that the Bible is Jesus himself speaking to us, teaching about himself.

If that fire is not yet burning within you, then ask Jesus to give you his Holy Spirit and teach you about himself as you get to grips with the Bible. Find someone, or a small group of people, with whom you can learn together, and get stuck in to studying the Bible. One great way to do that would be to sign up for a What Christians Believe group, or to go along to the Globe Christian Fellowship. If you stay with it, and if you are prepared to believe and obey the truth that you find, then your life will be transformed just as the lives of Cleopas and his friend were transformed. To be a follower of Jesus is to have an open Bible and a burning heart as he teaches you about himself.

Then my final heading is simply this:

Fourthly, JESUS STAYS WITH US

One Christian father recalled how he gave his four year old daughter money both for sweets and for the collection plate at church. Later on he saw her with some sweets, and asked if she had given some money to God when she had been at church. “No”, she replied, “He wasn't there.”

The fact that we do not see Jesus should not fool us. He is there. Before they realised the Stranger was Jesus, those disciples urged him (v 29):

“Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over”.

And he did. And they shared a meal and as the Stranger broke the bread and gave thanks, they realised just who the Stranger was.

We have an advantage over them. Then, Jesus, risen but not yet ascended to heaven, stayed for a while and then left. But the believer today has a promise from Jesus that he will not leave ever:

“surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” he says. [Matthew 28.20.]

I remember hearing the story of a young African man called Zulu. He had been paddling in a kayak up the mighty torrent of the Zambezi River at the foot of the Victoria Falls. But he had got trapped in the gorge, lost his kayak and paddle, tried to climb out, and fallen back as the loose rock gave way under him. And now he was half way up a dangerous cliff with one slender tree for support.

His leg was severely broken, and after a long night he was getting increasingly dehydrated in the intense daytime heat and sun. He saw a search party looking for him and screamed and screamed for them to come to him. Eventually they spotted him. One of them had the expertise to climb up to him. He put Zulu in a harness, lifted him onto his back, and abseiled down the cliff carrying him on his back. All Zulu had to do was to hold himself steady and avoid blacking out. An unconscious burden would have been even harder for his rescuer who risked his own life to save him.

Jesus is our rescuer. When it comes to our journey to eternal life, it is true to say that he does not just walk alongside, keeping us company. He carries us. He puts us across his strong back and takes us to eternal safety. All he asks is that we follow his instructions and hang on to him. And he will stay with us.

However dark the night around us may get, he will always be there with those who trust their lives to him - walking, listening, teaching until, at the very end of the age, we arrive safely home with him by our side.

We’re delighted that you’re here in Newcastle. We hope you do well in your studies. But we’re confident that God brought you here for a purpose – to meet Jesus.

Please make the most of your opportunity.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending Jesus to be our rescuer and guide. Please help each one of us to meet Jesus, to learn from him, to follow him, and to trust our lives to him, now and for ever. Amen.