IN T R ODUC T ION M.O.G. Easter is kind of like the Super Bowl of Christianity, don''t you think? Our church--Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina--expends a tremendous amount of energy every year around Easter. Countless hours of planning and rehearsal go into preparing for our worship experiences with hundreds of volunteers donating thousands of hours to make it all happen. Our team goes all out for these services. Original music. Dramatic live elements.
Video presentations. Projection mapping. Creative lighting and sound effects. And I try to deliver the most powerful presentation of the gospel message I can. All of this-- from the technical elements to the proclamation of truth--is executed with our best efforts. All for the greatest possible purpose--to declare that Jesus is Lord over life and death and that God''s grace is greater than our sin and shame. Sure, I know Easter and Christmas have the reputation of being the times of the year when the "nominal" believers show up at a church service just to keep their Christian membership in good standing. But I think these holidays can also be times when God-seekers dare to venture out of the shadows, hoping to sample something supernatural.
What''s wrong with that, at least as a start? The spiritually curious are totally welcome at Elevation--at Easter or on any given Sunday. And we''ve been able to witness thousands of spiritually curious people become seriously devoted followers of Jesus during Easter worship experiences at Elevation. My wife, Holly, and I and the rest of our original team started Elevation Church with the belief that vast numbers of people in our world are hungry to experience God. Some are far away from him, and they know it, so they''re looking for a way to bridge the distance. Others have turned their lives over to Jesus, yet they real- ize their relationship with God isn''t all it could be. It isn''t growing. It doesn''t measure up to the hopes they had at one time. They know there''s got to be more to being in a relationship with God--but how? More of God.
M.O.G. That''s what people want--whether they know it or not. Because it''s what we all need. Do you feel that hunger too? If you do, that''s a good thing. That hunger is the starting place of being filled with God''s presence. But you don''t have to look for God on your own--wandering around aimlessly, frustrated and feeling like a failure.
Instead, you can take your first step on a proven path to meeting God and knowing him better and better. Let me warn you, however, this path isn''t an easy one. It''s riddled with difficulty and distress. But, if you''re willing to take this journey with Jesus as both your companion and your destination, you will experience God''s power in ways you didn''t even know were possible. And while knowing it''s going to be difficult may discourage you, don''t let it. Easy isn''t what you''re called to. On this journey, fulfillment can never be measured in units of convenience and comfort. This experience begins with both a map and a set of mile markers.
First, the map. You''ve got a seven-mile journey in front of you, my friend. Resurrected and on the Road Again Imagine you''re Jesus and it''s Resurrection Sunday. In the early morning, you have come back to life and left your tomb. To mark the soul-shaking importance of this event, an earthquake has shaken the land. An angel has rolled aside the stone blocking your tomb''s entrance, allowing some of your friends to peer in and see that you are gone. Meanwhile, perhaps you wander around the cemetery garden a bit all alone (the flowers smell great after you''ve been dead for three days!). But soon you show yourself to Mary Magdalene and, a little later, to some of your disciples to let them know the incredible news that you are back.
So far, so good. But what do you do next? Well, if you''re Jesus, you go for a walk. The story is told in Luke 24:13-35, and it provides us with our map--a template or pattern, if you will--for our spiritual journey in life. According to the story, two of Jesus''s followers heard early reports about the Resurrection but didn''t take them seriously enough to let these reports alter their plans to leave Jerusalem and travel to the nearby town of Emmaus. One of these two followers was a guy named Cleopas. Who was the other one? We don''t know because the story doesn''t give us his or her name. There''s a good chance, though, that this second person was Cleopas''s wife. Apparently, they had a house in Emmaus and were going home after spending the Passover holiday in Jerusalem.
Whoever these two were, at one time they''d no doubt had high hopes in Jesus. But after his death, it seemed like the show was over. They were still sure he''d been a great man, an outstanding prophet even, but his death seemed to have put an end to their hopes that he would turn out to be the long-promised Messiah who would rescue Israel. As for the reports that Jesus had risen from the dead, that was just bizarre. Come on, to do that--he''d have to be divine! These two didn''t really get Jesus. And he took their misunderstanding so seriously that he spent a big piece of his first day back from the dead making sure they did get him. He''d spent much of his ministry years traveling around Israel with his disciples, teaching them as he went, and now he went on the road again to show these two people who he was. Another motive for Jesus going to Emmaus with Cleopas and Unnamed Follower #2 probably was that he wanted to keep his people corralled in Jerusalem for the time being.
1 The departure of these two was the first sign that Jesus''s squad was starting to scatter. So he wanted to head the travelers off at the pass. He wanted to put them back on the path to knowing him, just as he wants to put us back on the same path when we''ve begun to stray. Luke, who narrates this story, informs us that the town of Emmaus was sixty stadia, or about seven miles, from Jerusalem. That makes for about a two-hour walk. Jesus appeared at the side of these two people and asked if he could tag along with them. Sure. Come along.
The strange thing is, Cleopas and his companion had no idea it was Jesus who joined them on their journey. Why weren''t these two followers of Jesus able to recognize him? Maybe because they weren''t expecting to see him. After all, in their minds he was a corpse. Or maybe they didn''t recognize him because he looked different after his resurrection. Maybe. But perhaps Jesus actually prevented them from recognizing him. Maybe he supernaturally interfered with the facial recognition software running in their brains--because he had a big reveal in store for them shortly. Let''s be clear that Jesus wasn''t just messing with the two travelers.
He had a reason for concealing his identity. Cleopas and his companion didn''t accept Jesus''s real identity as the Son of God and Messiah, despite the things they''d heard him say and the miracles they''d seen him perform, and so it fit perfectly that now they didn''t recognize his face either. They had eyes but failed to see, as Jesus described spiritual blindness on another occasion.2 So Jesus took over the conversation on the road, preaching a walking sermon and using the Hebrew Scriptures to explain that the Messiah had to die and be raised again. He started with Moses and ended with Malachi, putting the Word of God (at least so far as it related to himself) in a new light for them. As a preacher, I work hard to make sure the truths that I''ve discovered connect with people in meaningful ways. I love when I see that people are nodding along, shouting amen, or even crying, because these can be indications that God''s Word is connecting with their hearts. I''m in awe of the effect Jesus''s preaching had in his two followers because the story tells us that their hearts burned within them while Jesus explained what the Hebrew Scriptures foretold about him.
3 They felt like they were on fire inside! Jesus''s words burned up their old preconceived notions about the Messiah and lit a fire of hope and new understanding within them. They were catching on to God''s plan to redeem all things through the sacrifice of his Son, and it was amazing! These two were starting to get the picture of who Jesus really was. But they still didn''t connect it all with the man who was talking to them. At the end of their journey, the two travelers finally did realize who the man walking beside them was. I''m going to tell that part of the story when we get to Mile 7. But for now I want us to think about that journey as the pair gradually came to understand Jesus better, ending in a miraculous vision of the risen Lord. Why''s it important to us? Because this is the journey we need to take in our lives. Like those two people on the road that day, you and I have got to walk with Jesus, learning from him, observing his ways, and more and more seeing him in his greatness.
We''ve all got a seven-mile road of our own to travel. The Jesus Highway Jesus was a walker. Throughout his ministry years, Jesus gathered his team around him and then crisscrossed the country. Some- times he headed toward towns and villages where people needed his words and his touch. Sometimes he headed away from people, because he needed to get alone with his Father and pray. Some- times he stopped by Jerusalem for one of the big religious festivals. Sometimes he had strange appointments in out-of-the-way places that nobody else knew anything about (a woman of low morals in Samaria, a demon-possessed man in Gerasa, for instance). The disciples had to have wondered how Jesus came up with his iti.