THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

            A Sermon by Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith

"And it came to pass as He sat at the table with them, that He took
bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes
were opened and they knew Him" (Luke 24:30, 31).

     Who were these men who are said to have finally recognized
Him? A certain Cleopas and a friend of his. Whoever they were, they
had a remarkable experience on that evening. It changed them. It
changed their whole outlook on life. Why? Because they had been
given visible proof that the crucifixion had not ended the life of
Jesus Christ.
     For them the day had begun in sadness. They felt lost,
aimless, very unsure of their future. By the end of that day,
however, they found something special. They found a goal. They knew
what they had to do.
     The sadness, the loss of a sense of direction in their life,
came after they witnessed the crucifixion. They had seen the chief
priests and rulers crucify "Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet
mighty in deed and word before God and the people."  They could not
believe or understand how this could have happened because, as they
said, "We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem
Israel."
     These two men were probably feeling very sorry for themselves.
They had expected Jesus to redeem Israel - to become their King and
deliver them from the hated Romans. It did not happen.
     They had heard, yes, but really they had not listened. They
had seen but really they had not understood what Jesus Christ had
both taught and demonstrated. The result was that they would not
accept the news from the women who had been to the sepulchre and
had reported seeing angels who said Jesus was alive. It made no
difference. They had made up their minds to leave Jerusalem and
walk to Emmaus, some obscure mountain village in the west. They
turned their backs on what had been the center of their lives.
     But leaving Jerusalem, as they walked the road to Emmaus,
brought no comfort. In fact, they continued to discuss the disaster
that had just taken place. They were sadly realizing that there was
now no meaning in their life. As this state hung heavily upon them,
the Lord came.
     "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one
another as you walk and are sad?" They stopped, stood still. "Then
the one whose name was Cleopas...said to Him, Are You the only
stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which
happened there in these days?"
     In total disbelief that there could be such an ignorant man,
the two companions explained the subject of their discussion and
sadness. Of course the Lord already knew their thinking. But it was
only after they had expressed their thoughts that He could show
them that the real cause of their unhappiness and confusion was in
their own stubborn attitude.
     "And He said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to
believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And
beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in
all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."
     "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe." This was the
same state of mind, the same attitude shown by John the Baptist
when in prison. He sent messengers to the Lord, asking Him if He
really was the promised Messiah or should they look for someone
else? The Lord's answer was patient and understanding. He did not
answer John, "Yes" or, "No" but rather showed His desire to reason
with us.
     Consider the facts and draw your own conclusion, because you
will not believe anything that you do not understand for yourself.
     The Lord's answer was: "Go and tell John the things you have
seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the
gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended
because of Me" (Luke 7:22,23).
     The Lord did much the same thing for the two men on the road
to Emmaus. After gently reprimanding them for their stubbornness,
for not believing what had even long ago been taught about the
promised Messiah and how He would die, the Lord patiently
instructed them. "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He
expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself."
     The whole of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the
Heavenly Doctrines tell about the Lord God Jesus Christ, who is our
Father in the heavens. When we read them, He speaks to us. And if
we do not hear, truly hear, then it may be because a proud heart
and a stubborn attitude have got in the way. That is why we have to
pray, implore and even beg the Lord to have these mental barriers
removed.
     When we read the Word with a sincere desire to know the truth
for its own sake, not for the sake of confirming our own opinions,
not for the sake of going through the motions of piety, and
certainly not for the sake of loading up on doctrine so as to
impress others, then and only then is the Lord able to teach us
something, something about Himself, and we are able to actually
learn. When this happens, we may sense a gradual change - something
like spring following winter. Pride and stubbornness melt away as
a certain warmth comes into our hearts. This was the experience of
the two men walking to Emmaus.
     After the Lord disappeared again from their sight, they
reflected on what had happened and remembered: "Did not our hearts
burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He
opened the Scriptures to us?"
     It is a real warmth that we feel, the spiritual sun of heaven
shining upon us, when we see something living in the Word and are
affected by it. It is something we see as being very worthwhile,
something we want to take home and use.
     How is it that these two men felt this way?
     Consider what the Word teaches us. All its truths form one
heavenly voice urging us to love one another by finding and doing
things that are useful - that show concern for not just our own but
other people's lives as well.
     The two men showed something of this concern, this love for
the neighbor, when they pleaded with the stranger who had walked
with them to accept their hospitality.
     "And they drew near to the village where they were going, and
He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained
Him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day
is far spent. And He went in to stay with them."
     By this small token of love and care for the neighbor who was
a stranger to them, the two men were able to be conjoined with the
Lord. That is why we are told that He broke bread with them,
letting Himself be recognized (see AC 3863:14).
     "And it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that
He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their
eyes were opened and they knew Him."
     Since ancient times, people breaking bread and eating it
together was a sign of mutual love (see AC 5405). When bread is
offered by the Lord Himself, it is a sign of conjunction or
friendship with Him (see AE 617:21).
     Their eyes were opened and they knew Him in the breaking of
bread. Breaking bread with the Lord surely must be an amazing,
wonderful experience. Who is able to do it?  Any person who wishes
to receive the bread of life - to receive its spiritual nourishment
and then let it work in one's life.
     Who is this person and how does he know if he is being
spiritually fed? It is the person who wants to be of service, to be
useful, who has a clear idea of the meaning of charity.
     His heart warms when he hears the Lord say, for example, that
"the life of charity is to wish well and to do well to the
neighbor, to act from what is just and fair, and from what is good
and true, in like manner in everything we do; in a word, the life
of charity consists in performing uses" (AC 8253).
     "He who loves his neighbor as himself perceives no delight in
charity except in its exercise, or in use; and therefore a life of
charity is a life of uses...The more noble the use, the greater the
delight" (AC 997).
     Showing mutual love in our uses to each other is symbolized in
the breaking of bread together. And when this bread is broken and
eaten in the holy supper, it expresses our desire to be with the
Lord, receiving and returning His love.
     As this bread of life, the goodness and love He offers is
received, we change. We become very sure of His presence, realizing
that the Lord's being alive and with us, providing all our needs,
is all that really matters.
     It is a changed person who knows in his heart that without the
Lord he can do nothing, nothing at all.  "Abide in Me, and I in
you....I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and
I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
(John 15:4,5).
     This is the person who is able to live his life without any
fears or worries. He is able to walk through the valley of the
shadow of death and fear no evil, simply because he knows that his
life has meaning and purpose in the presence of his Lord and God.
     Any change in one's life that replaces a sense of confusion
with a sense of purpose, along with a willingness to be unbound by
any stubborn resistance to this very change, is shown when Cleopas
and his friend immediately returned to Jerusalem.
     The Lord had disappeared from their sight. But now they had
lost their doubts and confusion. That is why we are told that "they
rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the
eleven...And they told about the things that had happened on the
road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread."
     It was a journey during the night, some seven miles on a
mountain path. But they gladly did it. Their hearts were burning
and they wished to share their joy with the eleven disciples still
hiding in Jerusalem.
     These two men had left Jerusalem earlier that same day. They
had felt frustrated and confused. They left for the obscure village
of Emmaus. For what reason?
     Is this state not common to us all? Are there not times when
we feel very unsure of ourselves? Have we not all felt the
frustrating experience of indecision? And the very process of
making it from one day to the next can seem a muddle!
     Whenever we do not have a living knowledge of the Lord and His
presence with us, we are like the two companions who left
Jerusalem, walking to Emmaus, very disillusioned. But He draws near
to help us change. We can understand and believe, putting aside a
foolish heart, so that we hear, with crystal clarity, when He says,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
     He says to each of us, "Where I go you know, and the way you
know" (John 14:4). If we do know the way, shall we not follow it?
Amen.      

Lessons: Luke 7:11-23; Luke 24:13-35; AC 3863:14,15

Preached in Bryn Athyn on April 22, 1990

Arcana Coelestia 3863:14, 15
     
     "It came to pass when Jesus sat down with them, that He took
the bread, and blessed, and breaking, gave to them; and their eyes
were opened, and they knew Him (xxiv.30,31)," by which was signi-
fied that the Lord appears by good but not by truth without good,
for "bread" is the good of love (n 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3478,
3735, 3813). From these and other passages it is evident that
"seeing," in the internal sense, signifies faith from the Lord, for
there is no other faith which is faith than that which comes from
the Lord. This also enables man to "see," that is, to believe; but
faith from self, or from what is man's own, is not faith, for it
causes him to see falsities as truths, and truths as falsities; and
if he sees truths as truths, still he does not see, because he does
not believe, for he sees himself in them, and not the Lord.  
     That "to see" is to have faith in the Lord is very plain from
what has been frequently said above concerning the light of heaven,
namely, that being from the Lord, it is attended with intelligence
and wisdom, consequently with faith in Him; for faith in the Lord
is inwardly within intelligence and wisdom; wherefore "to see" from
that light, as angels do, can signify nothing else than faith in
the Lord. The Lord Himself also is in that light, because it
proceeds from Him. It is that light also which shines within the
conscience of those who have faith in the Lord, although while he
lives in the body the man is unaware of the fact, for it is then
obscured by the light of the world.