Dear Worshipers,
Last week I gave you an example of revelation and response from the Old Testament. God revealed Himself to the prophet Isaiah, and Isaiah responded from Isaiah 6. This week I want to give you an example from the New Testament that will hopefully be a helpful illustration of this summation of worship. Let us walk a while down the road to Emmaus where the Master revealed Himself to a couple of His servants.
You remember this amazing account of Jesus walking along with two of His followers after His resurrection. (Luke 24:13-31) It is almost humorous to read this account knowing this is Jesus, but these disciples did not realize that for the longest time because “God kept them from recognizing him.” (24:16) Now there is an interesting truth. God began to slowly reveal who Jesus was to these two who thought they knew Him. How often have we experienced a greater revealing of Jesus as we spent time with Him?
It is noteworthy that Jesus used the Scriptures to reveal Himself to these two. “Jesus quoted passages from the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining what the Scriptures said about Himself.” (24:27) And He is still doing that today. As we come to the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit reveals who Jesus is.
The disciples response, before the revelation was completed, is worth considering. They invited Jesus to spend even more time with them. This is how we feel too when we have had a sweet time of relating to our Lord, coming to know Him better. We want to spend more time. Our quiet time often feels too short because we just want to linger there with Jesus. That must have been how Cleophas and his friend must have felt. Certainly, it was the hospitable thing to do in their culture, but I am confident there was more behind that as we see evidenced later.
Do you see it already? Jesus revealed Himself, even though slowly, and the disciples responded. Just this much is a clear exampling of this pattern, but in the remaining verses there is much more.
The next section is of particular interest as Jesus takes the loaf of bread, asks Gods blessing on it, broke it and gave it to them. “Suddenly, their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” (24:31a) Then interestingly, Jesus disappeared. Even so, this did not deter the immediate response of these two. Within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem through the dark of night to tell the others. It could not wait. Revelation and Response.
But it does not even end there. As the Scripture records, even as they were telling the disciples about their encounter, Jesus appeared to all of them gathered. Their response to this revelation, “the whole group was terribly frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost.” (24:37) Jesus quickly reassured them he was no ghost, encouraging them to touch Him.
And Jesus wants to a similar thing in our lives today. He wants to reveal Himself to us and He wants us to respond. He wants to be with us as we walk down the road with another friend. He wants to be with us as we entertain guests, and share meals together. He wants wants to be with us as we gather with others to consider the truth of who He is. He wants to calm our fears with His presence. He wants to erase our doubt. Revelation and Response. Do you see it? If you do, how will you respond.
Jesus wants to reveal Himself to you today. He wants you to respond to Him in faith. But Jesus also wants to reveal Himself through you. May the Spirit of God open your eyes to see Him at work around you, for then you will be better prepared to enter into the process of revelation and response.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment