“And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27)
The accounts regarding the events of the resurrection are based on eyewitness testimony, told by the very people who experienced the events. Today we encounter two of those eyewitnesses on the road to Emmaus in the late Sunday afternoon of the day of Resurrection.
From what Luke writes, we can tell that those 2 disciples, Cleopas and his unnamed companion had been completely demoralized by the crucifixion of Jesus. They had not expected it. Everything had been going great; they had believed that He was the Messiah, the One who would redeem Israel. But just when they thought He was going to reveal Himself and overthrow the Romans, He was crucified. They were quite confused, at a complete loss as to what to do with their lives. What they needed was not a scholarly theological lecture. They needed was encouragement. And this is what Jesus gave them.
We all would like to know the words of encouragement that Jesus brought to those disciples, but these are not given to us. All we are told is that Jesus used the Old Testament scriptures to show them that their expectations of who the Messiah was and what he would do were all wrong. He used the Word of God to prove that He, Jesus is the Messiah who has fulfilled God’s promises in His life, suffering, death and resurrection. They were expecting a military and political Messiah, one who would set up the Kingdom of Israel. What they got was for more important: a Messiah who suffered and died for their sins and the sins of all mankind, and who proved it by rising from the dead.
In these days of violence and turmoil, the Resurrection of Jesus gives us great cause for rejoicing. His resurrection means that our sins have been forgiven. It is proof that we too will rise from the dead. It means that we need not fear death for it is not the end. We need not worry about what is on the other side. We need not fear God’s wrath or His judgment. We can rejoice that because of His mercy, we are not going to spend eternity in torment, separated from God. We know we will enjoy eternity in heaven in the presence of the Lord and in the company of our fellow Saints. The great assurance that we have been granted by our faith enables us to endure all our tribulations and suffering, not matter how difficult. We have a eternity of joy awaiting us in the heavenly Kingdom in the presence of our loving Savior Jesus accompanied by all the Saints and angels.