Luke 24:13–35 

There’s a very important concept that is central to our being able to understand some of the more confusing issues that we find in the Bible: some of those questions that people often ask about. Whether we are disappointed in not finding scientific answers to the Creation question (or wondering where dinosaurs fit in), when we want to know how a God of Love could sanction the elimination of entire towns in the Old Testament, or demand harsh penalties for ‘low level’ offenses, when people ask why there is no definitive statement in Scripture prohibiting slavery, or why there are such mixed signals on the status of women in the New Testament … these and many other important questions need to be answered in the context of two important words: progressive revelation. 

While there are some well meaning traditions which understand that Scripture was dictated word for word to people who simply wrote down what they were ‘hearing,’ like holy stenographers, I personally do not hold to that view. Like most people, I believe that Scripture came about as God’s Spirit led real people in real contexts of life, of history, of personalities…and it makes sense then, that there would have been a limit to what they were able to grasp. 

The biggest move was from a world-view of animism and local deities, to Monotheism (one God). Not only Monotheism, but One God who stands entirely apart from his creation. “Wholly other.” Getting an entire nation to understand this was a huge first step in the history of religious thought. Understanding what that ‘one God’ was like, the character of that ‘one God’, what that ‘one God’ expected from his followers, was not just another step, but a series of steps that encompassed culture, faith, theology…and life itself. 

All this was cooking in the crucible of history in which all the participants were immersed. Israel wasn’t secluded away in some huge monastery where God could do his thing with them, you know. They were free. It was painstaking. It was an up and down process. And it took time. 

In Hosea 11 we read of how God looked at the nation of Israel as a parent relating to a child: 

"When Israel was a child, I loved him...
    ³ It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms;
⁴ I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.
       To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek and I bent down to feed them. 

If we think in terms of the ‘bigger picture’ we can see the Scripture as a record of God’s interaction with his “called out” people. From the beginning – from calling Abram out of the land of Ur – to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ: Jesus was the apex of God’s self-revelation. I.e., it’s in Jesus that we see God better than any other ‘lesson’ or method. But all the previous lessons – the ones about holiness, sacrifice, the Law, the Messiah, the way we treat other people – these and others were pointing to Jesus. The ‘point’ of revelation is to reveal God, and in Jesus that was completed. Everything before him set the stage for his coming. So, Paul writes, “At exactly the right time, God sent a son…”[1]

Using Hosea’s analogy, it was like God was training a child. There were good times and rough times, but every parent knows that it is a process. And it takes time. And as you build, as you train your child, you have to take things in proper order; do things in their ‘time’. You can’t rush. 

So, for example, in a world where everyone (and that’s hard for us to grasp) knew life by the sword, might makes right, etc., you introduced concepts of mercy carefully. In a bloodthirsty culture where human sacrifices were common, where individual life had very little meaning, “You shall not murder” was a radical teaching. Compassionate treatment of enemies – which we also find in the Old Testament – was an almost unheard of concept culturally at the time. 

In societies that were thousands of years old, built on the backs of slave labor, you planted the seeds of the equality of all people, of God’s compassion for everyone…you add a heartfelt plea from an Apostle to receive back an escaped slave as a brother…and slavery ends. Much later, true, but it is significant that virtually all of the abolitionist leaders in the West were motivated by Scripture and their faith in Christ. 

This is progressive revelation… giving people what they were able to grasp at the proper point in their faith development. And not before. 

Now this can get confusing sometimes for us, because we have the entire record of that revelation at hand, and because we (naturally) read all of it with the informed eyes of ‘the enlightened’. We ask questions about, say, Old Testament warfare, that would have never occurred to the ones who lived then. But we don’t realize that our very sensitivity to that doesn’t come from our culture, it comes from the Scripture itself. 

So we can see things clearly that the original participants may have struggled with mightily. And we might even wonder why they were so dense at times. And thick- headed! It seems easy to us! 

All revelation ultimately points to Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1 (the Message) says,

“Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son…” 

In her book, Mystery on the Desert, Maria Reiche describes a series of strange lines made by the Nazca in the plains of Peru, some of them covering many square miles. For years people assumed these lines were the remnants of ancient irrigation ditches. 

Then in 1939 Dr. Paul Kosok of Long Island University discovered their true meaning could only be seen from high in the air. When viewed from an airplane, (or a satellite) these seemingly random lines actually form enormous drawings of birds, insects, and animals. 

In a similar way, people often think of the Bible as a series of individual, unconnected stories. But if we think of the Scriptures as a whole, we discover that they form one great story of redemption—from the opening scenes of Genesis to the final chapter of Revelation.[2] A story of redemption whose focus is Jesus Christ. But one thing about the Nazca lines and Scripture is similar – you need to ‘step back’ to see the bigger picture. It is not always obvious. 

You probably can see where I’m coming from by now. We read the wonderful story of the walk to Emmaus this morning. Here’s these poor, disappointed ‘would be’ disciples.  They are slowly shuffling home; mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, spent. This has been the most excruciating week - not just of their lives - but of history itself. 

A stranger appears, and begins to walk with them, and asks them what they were talking about. They wonder, “Are you just visiting here, or could you be the only person in all of Jerusalem who doesn’t know what just went down?”  So they tell him the story of this man on whom they had placed all their hope. “We were sure that he was the promised Messiah. And now he is dead. But now they can’t find his body, and people are saying he rose from the dead… we don’t know what to think.” 

And Jesus responds with :

“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah 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. 

I was thinking about that statement. And I did some checking. First I looked up lists of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah that were obviously fulfilled in the life, ministry, and death of Jesus. There are many specific prophecies (which doesn’t even get into the general assumptions of a coming Messiah that is kind of ‘built in’ to the Old Testament itself.) 

I made a list – impressive predictions – such as:

Descendent of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Heir of the Throne of David, Born in Bethlehem, Slaughter of the Innocent children and Flight to Egypt, Triumphal entry in Jerusalem on a donkey, Entry through the "Golden Gate", (that shall be shut for ever after his entrance); Betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver, (Money to be returned for a potter's field), Accused by false witnesses, Silent to accusations, Spat at and struck, Soldiers divided his garments and gambled for his clothing, His side pierced, Deserted by God, Buried with the rich, Deserted by his followers… there’s at least 50, some count hundreds. 

And you know what I noticed? I noticed that it was very easy to find prophecies of Jesus’ life, his ministry, his character, and even his death (especially from our perspective of ‘looking back’)…but I could not find one clear (Old Testament) prophecy of his Resurrection. 

There are some hints that are much clearer in retrospect (like Job’s statement, “I know that my Redeemer lives”, but that’s pretty oblique. Or Isaiah 53:11, “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied” but, frankly, most other translations render that completely differently.)  Jonah in the belly of the great fish for three days is analogous, but can hardly in its context be seen as a foretelling of resurrection! “He will not allow his holy one to see corruption…” again, looks clearer from a backward perspective. 

Then I came across this quote from an Old Testament scholar Michael Gleghorn, of Probe Ministries): 

I do not think there are any specific predictions of Jesus' resurrection in the Old Testament. This, I think, is partly why Jesus' disciples had such a difficult time understanding his own predictions of his resurrection. [There were predictions, prophecies, but they all came from Jesus.] They did not have a category for a dying and rising Messiah (i.e. raised to glory, never to die again) within world history. They only knew of a general resurrection at the end of time.[3]

I think he’s right. And I wondered, ‘Why don’t we find anything like that in the Old Testament?’ And it occurred to me, progressive revelation was still in progress! God had brought the people of Israel from a belief in nothing following death, to a murky concept of Sheol (literally ‘the grave, where everyone went after death), to David’s statement, “Surely… I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (the end of the 23^rd Psalm).” 

God had led the people, he had taught them as children. Now it was time for the final revelation. Now they were ready to be brought in to the very intimate counsel of the deepest plans of Almighty God.  Not only was the Messiah going to suffer, not only would he carry the sins and pains of the world (which was predicted by the prophets)… but he would then overcome the very gates of death – and as he himself predicted, on many occasions – he would rise on the third day. And death itself would die because of his victory! 

[Now, this progressive revelation continued for a time after Jesus’ resurrection. Most of our understanding of what the Resurrection actually means for us today came through the writings of the Apostles – Paul, Peter, James, John. They interpreted this historic event. When they were finished, the canon was closed, because God’s revelation was complete. We have all we need – we have the Scripture, we have the Holy Spirit present in the Church, the Body of Christ. ] 

Back to Emmaus… an interesting thing. Jesus explains to these men from the Scriptures the necessity of the Messiah’s suffering and death. Can you imagine hearing the Scriptures interpreted by Jesus? As they remembered this time, they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 

So God touched them through a deep understanding of his Word.  But… their eyes were opened … in the breaking of the bread. That’s when it ‘all came together’ for them. 

As Jesus broke the bread and handed some to each, these men, who very likely could have been among those in the upper room that Holy Thursday, saw the truth. Their eyes were opened, and they knew that this was Jesus among them.  Some say that they must have noticed the scars… maybe. 

I think it was the breaking of the bread itself.  Something began to happen there at that table, that has been repeated in gatherings of believers for 20 centuries since. In groups of two or three, to assemblies of many thousands. People in jungles, to those in inner cities, in schools, and churches of every nationality, language, culture, shape and size.  Among people whispering quietly at 2 am, to not attract the attention of neighbors who might turn them in to authorities for fear of death – holding that bread, in the dark, whispering the words: “Jesus said, “This is my body broken for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” 

And in the breaking of bread, in a mysterious way that I’ve come to believe goes far beyond mere symbols and our limited human understanding: Jesus still makes himself known to us. 

It is important to hear, read, study, and learn the Scriptures. But at some point, the knowledge needs to move from our head to our hearts. And eyes are still opened in worship and Sacrament. Because Jesus actually meant it when he said, “This is my body.” 

So we invite you, today… to come to his table. Come, and in the breaking of bread may our eyes be opened.