SEEING THE UNSEEN CHRIST: REVEALING THE GOSPEL
Luke 24:13-35: LIFEWAY SPRING QUARTERLY 2021 SESSION 12
One of the biggest challenges and joys in raising children is training and teaching them. In the Ray household we had my Dad’s 28 years of US Air Force leadership, training and command to help us with that- whether my sister and I liked it or not! Like in the Air Force: teaching and training occurred around a 3-point educational and life axis: briefing, mission, and debriefing. Briefing was to prepare you for the mission/plan event ahead then came the center of it all- the mission itself and finally there was the debriefing where we went over the previous preparations for the mission, the objectives of the mission and how well or not well it all went and what that means for the future. The last number of weeks we have examined the heart of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus has “briefed” His disciples through discussing, fulfilling, and foretelling (forth-telling) His identity as Son of God, Son of Man, Messiah from the Old Testament and telling them everything that will happen from His betrayal, to His arrest, crucifixion, death and resurrection. Jesus prepared and briefed His disciples in the upper-room to the very last moment in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Then we had the very heart of the Gospel- Jesus’ Mission critical- His death and resurrection which the spiritually blinded world and enemies of Jesus (blinded in ignorance and unbelief) saw as the critical failure of His Gospel and a big success for themselves while the Bible and Jesus Himself was actually revealed victorious as the exalted and raised Son of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29, Heb 9:28) establishing the Gospel in time, history and purpose for our salvation forever. We have seen “briefly” (forgive the pun) the disciples and followers of Jesus despair and misunderstanding their unbelief (see Lk 23) and the “debriefing” done by the angels at the empty tomb. NOW we will see phase 1 of the ULTIMATE debriefing by the RISEN LORD Himself, walking, ministering, teaching, training, revealing and encouraging some frightened despairing disciples; helping them to see the UNSEEN CHRIST and revealing and connecting the Gospel from their minds to their very hearts so that they may go and tell an unbelieving World in the confidence of the TRUTH and with boldness!
C. Austin Miles wrote the beautiful hymn: In the Garden. He wrote it lying on his deathbed in the dead of a New Jersey winter from a dark basement room where he could only see the grey base of his dormant rose bushes that bloomed so beautifully in the other seasons of the year. The chorus goes: “And He walks with me and He talks with me. He tells me I am His own. And the joys we share as we tarry there none other has ever known.” This song beautifully reflects Luke’s story of the Road to Emmaus… It is Sunday, the day of the Resurrection. The women (who now believe) have reported to the other disciples the angel’s Gospel message that Jesus is alive to a still “slow to believe” and uncomprehending 11 and others (of which one of the larger group is Cleopas and possibly his wife v. 18). They are discussing the crucifixion and resurrection together and not understanding it in their despair…
Have you ever been in a situation like Cleopas, like these two? Have you been in the middle of despairing circumstances that don’t make sense to you? What do you do? The thing they did right was not to handle it alone but discuss it with each other- it helps when we face perplexing circumstances to face them and talk about them with other believers. What they had missed was they had forgotten to apply Jesus’ “briefing” (His teaching and forth-telling of His betrayal, arrest, death and resurrection and what it means to what they had witnessed. What Luke says Jesus “rebuked” them for was being “foolish and slow to believe”. Luke does not say they were “unbelieving” (apisteuo- see Lk 9:41) but “slow in heart to believe” (brad-ooce kardia pisteuo).
When you add an alpha “a” as a prefix to a Greek root word it changes it to the exact opposite of its original meaning, i.e.: (“Theism”- belief in a Sovereign God who has a plan of salvation for the world through personal and intimate involvement with His Creation- a belief/faith religious based system) to “atheism” (belief that there is no God hence no plan either- a unbelief/nonbelief religious based system). An aside, when you are sharing the Gospel with an atheist do not ask them why they DON’T believe in God (you will get a host of intellectual library arguments and “negative theory” on why God doesn’t exist), instead ask them to explain what they DO believe in and you will see the scarcity of their spiritual and emotional resources available in crisis. This is why pastoral care in trauma and crises is so difficult with atheists- they have few and spiritually impoverished resources in an overwhelming circumstance of life to depend upon (for things like death, cancer, disease, aging issues etc.).
These disciples were developing a base from belief in Jesus’ teachings but not in Jesus Himself as Messiah and Risen LORD. Jesus wanted them to know that wasn’t enough. They needed more than to simply recount the events and know them as eye witnesses- they had to connect what Jesus said about himself and what they witnessed to the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures and have it revealed to their hearts. The unseen Christ had to become the seen Christ!
However, if Jesus must and was needed to be seen by them, why didn’t He just appear and be recognized? Why the long Unseen Christ “walk and talk” fellowship and meal? Why was the In the Garden Experience necessary? There are several answers to this question but the most relevant is Jesus wanted to grow their faith, increase their confidence, and bring them to a complete saving knowledge that is based in the knowledge of His identity revealed in scripture brought to personal intimate lasting good spiritual soil and abundant fruit making Him real in their lives: real in mind, heart, soul, hands and feet! And as scripture teaches us: faith is not seen but comes by hearing and that hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). What a thought- the Word of God (the holy scriptures) were being nourished, taught, and trained into these disciples lives as they went down the road by and with the VERY ONE who spoke them before Creation! If Jesus had revealed Himself at first meeting they would have been so distracted by the miracle of what they saw that they would not have been able to listen, learn and believe! A good illustration of this is found in Acts 14:8-15 where a miracle is misunderstood by the Gentiles and the Gospel was initially hindered for them. This is why Jesus asks His Disciples: “Who do YOU say THAT I AM?” Revelation can be misinterpreted without proper guidance from an outside and sovereign, and superior source. Jesus is more than prophet, more than Elijah or Moses come back- He is the One and Only Son of God, and the perfect Son of Man who had to suffer and die for us (v.26). This spiritual Truth is vital and necessary for salvation and is the Truthful heart of the Gospel message of Jesus’ identity and mission.
There is a difference between Jesus being “Not Seen” at all and being “Unseen”. The disciples said their “hearts were burning” as they walked and Jesus opened the scriptures to them (v.32). They had to see the Unseen Christ but first they had to hear His Word and have what they heard revealed to their mind and connected to their heart and that is what the Garden experience was doing for them, what it did for C. Austin Miles, and what it does for us today! We all have times when God’s Word and what He is doing in our lives makes no sense to us. We are despairing and afraid. The Bible passage makes no sense, God seems silent and far away- BUT HE IS NOT! The unseen Christ walks with us and if you listen and quiet yourself before Him in the midst of the cold, grey mundane winters of our soul you will hear His still small voice, you will learn to trust Him more and like a rose ere’ blooming in spring and autumn the understanding/revelation- seeing the unseen will come by and by. Just don’t give up! Keep walking! The irony of the story is though Jesus is unseen by them on the walk, He sees them perfectly. Jesus sees them. Jesus knows them. Jesus walks with them. He heeds the mournful cry of the Psalmist- “Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior.” (Psalm 27:9 and see Romans 8:31-39). Jesus is gentle- He meets them and us where we are and loves us too much to leave us that way! He doesn’t want “regurgitated stale doctrine” in our lives (it was woefully inadequate that the disciples could rote repeat the Gospel events and have no understanding of what they meant) but wants a living personal intimate relationship with us from dawn in the Garden to our going out into the night of this world with the light of His love and the Word of His Truth. Our daily walking with Jesus is invaluable to our ability to proclaim His Truth and to our Christian testimony in this world. I am reminded of that every time I preach a Christian saint’s funeral- their funerals are the loudest clearest Gospel testimonies of their lives…
Having listened to the Unseen Christ and thus being taught, trained and connected to the Truth when prior they had been disconnected by their despair, Jesus reveals Himself to them and disappears! Why would Jesus disappear? Why wouldn’t He stay? Why leave now? Isn’t it REVIVAL time? Jesus reveals Himself to His followers that they might NOW reveal Him to the Lost by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within them! Phase 1 was Jesus the Risen LORD revealing Himself to the disciples- that was Jesus’ mission to enact and fulfill the Gospel. Phase 2 is even GREATER and continues today (Jn 14:12)- we now proclaim the revealed to us Gospel… We are reminded of the Gospel and led into all Truth by the Holy Spirit so that others may come to know Jesus and His Gospel (Jn 16:8, 13; 2 Peter 1:20-21). The Spirit came at Pentecost and has NEVER left (see Acts1- 2). The Gospel is now revealed, the Unseen Christ becomes seen by others through the Holy Spirit’s witness through us as Jesus’ followers as the Church! The now connected belief of the scriptures to Jesus in the hearts of His disciples results in witness and action- their Walk to Emmaus becomes their RUN to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples (a courageous and dangerous journey in the ink black night of ancient Palastine)!
Now how about you? Has God connected His Word from knowing “about Jesus” to knowing Him personally and intimately as Savior and LORD? Do you know personally what Jesus has done for you? What He has saved you from and what He has saved you for? Are you filled with joy as you walk with Him? Are you depending and trusting in Him daily? Are you growing and experiencing daily your NEW LIFE in Christ? Are you searching His Word and depending upon the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you? Are you sharing YOUR GOOD NEWS with others? My friends that is why we are still here. Jesus is in Heaven and His Spirit resides in our hearts and YOU are on this earth- hence your position is important! Our salvation is not an afterthought of our lives- it is our life now. We are here to glorify God by proclaiming His name in Word, deed, and life telling of what He has done and participating in what He is doing. We will never be happy, we will never know God’s peace, joy and power in great measure in our life; we will be weak, aimless, anxious, frightened, depressed, ineffective, and miserable until this- and the very love of Christ becomes our compelling and driving pathos (purpose) for all we are, all we do, and all we say. When we realize Jesus is walking with us then we too will see the Unseen Christ and confidently take- GO WITH His revealed Gospel to others and that will make all the difference- not just for you and me but for a lost world Jesus came to save! Love to you all, and all the best! Darrin.
