The Lord’s Message:  Resurrection:  Did It Really Happen?

The Lord’s Message:  Resurrection:  Did It Really Happen?
Date:  April 12, 2026
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Luke 24:13-35

            Can you believe it?  Last Sunday was Easter.  We celebrated Jesus rising from the grave, because He lives, we who believe in Jesus will also rise from our own graves to eternal life with God.  God really showed up last Sunday.  I was just blown away by the Holy Spirit.  I pray that you were as well.  I have to admit that I have been a little more tired than usual this week. 

            Let us pray.

            Have you ever had a big event, like a wedding or a birth of a new baby, you did all this planning and preparation ahead of time, then you wake up the next morning and wonder did it really happen or was it a dream?  Then you hear your spouse snoring or the baby crying, and you realize that it did really happen. 

            How do you think the disciples felt after all that had taken place during that Holy week?  Their emotions were all over the place. They were filled with exuberant joy with Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey and people all shouting, “Hosanna, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” They were scared to death with the arrest and sentence of crucifixion of Jesus.  Now, they are completely bewildered with news from the women that the tomb is empty, and two angels told the women that Jesus has risen from the dead.  Is that even possible? 

            We pick up the story in Luke on the evening of Jesus’ resurrection when two bewildered disciples decide to head for home at Emmaus.  Emmaus was seven miles either to the west or northwest of Jerusalem in the Judean Hill country.  To complete the journey would take about 2 to 3 hours of walking. A lot of time to think and talk about the events that the disciples had witnessed. That is what they are doing in verse 14. 

            Now, a strange occurrence happens to them.  As they are walking a man joins them, but they do not recognize that this man is Jesus.  In verses 15-16, the reason they do not recognize this man as Jesus is because of a supernatural covering, “but they were kept from recognizing Him.”  God is preventing them from recognizing Jesus. 

            God is preventing them from recognizing Jesus because these two disciples were like a lot of the people, they wanted a political leader, a king.  As a matter of fact, they told Jesus this in verse 21.  They were looking for an earthly king to drive out the Romans and set up the Davidic dynasty.  What were the people shouting when Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, “Hosanna, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”  The chief priests and teachers of the law try to hang this label on Jesus to have Jesus crucified by the Romans.  This is what Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”  Jesus replied in John 18:36.   This was the sentence to justify crucifying Jesus even though it was in error, Pilate had a sign placed at the top of the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”  Jesus has been fighting this label from that time on, even today.  Jesus does not want to be leader of any nation.  He only wants to be leader of those that surrender their lives to Him. 

            Spiritual blindness is necessary when our thinking is not open to what God wants us to understand.  The most important ideal that God needs to get across to us is for us to stop trusting in our knowledge, our belief, and our will, but to surrender what we know, what we believe, and what we want to God.  Examples found in the Bible of the working of spiritual blindness include Pharaoh, the Pharisees, and Saul of Tarsus. 

            Pharaoh believed that he was god.  Pharaohs were often called Ra, the sun god.  God sent 10 plagues in Egypt to spiritually blind Pharaoh.  Each one of these plagues attacked a specific Egyptian god and showed God’s sovereignty over all of them.  The last plague, the death of the first-born male, attacked Pharaoh directly and took away his son.  Until Pharaoh demanded that the Israelites leave Egypt immediately. 

            The Pharisees suffered from spiritual blindness because they believed in their self-righteousness, pride, personal power, and legalism of following their 613 religious laws.  Instead of accepting the son of God, Jesus, standing before them.  Jesus calls them out on this in Mark 4:12, Matthew 23:13-15, and John 9:39.

            Saul of Tarsus was spiritually blinded by God on the Road to Damascus.  This is found in Acts 9:1-9, 17-18.  God spiritually blinded Saul, so that Saul would see Jesus and turn his life over to Him.  God gave Saul a new name as evidence of the new conversion.  That name is Paul.  Paul would go on to write much of the New Testament as well as to begin many churches. 

            Jesus does not want these two disciples, or any of us, to be spiritually blinded.  Jesus wants us to know the truth and the truth will make us free.  Look what action Jesus takes to remove the spiritual blinders off of these two disciples and us.  In verses 25-27, Jesus opens the Bible to them.  Now, Jesus would have taught to them from the Old Testament, and not the New Testament.  The New Testament was being lived out before them.  It had not been written down. 

            We should read the Bible every day.  It is God’s love letter to us.  You may know the Bible stories by heart, but there are always some items that you may have missed the first time, or the thirtieth time, you read them.  The more you know the story then the more you are able to tell others the story. 

            Just a little food for thought.  I try to make it a point to tell JoAnn often that I love her.  She probably knows when I am going to say it.  She probably sighs and thinks “O well, I have heard that before.”  No, she wants to hear it from me, and she wants to hear it often from me.  How do you think God feels?  God wants us to read the Bible over and over again.  God wants to meet us in prayer.  God wants us to join with other Christians so that we can all grow closer to Him. 

            God wants to be with us.  Jesus joined these two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Even though they were spiritually blind for a time, Jesus lifts their spiritual blinders, so they can see.  Jesus does it in a way that we often do this in church, He had Holy Communion with them.  Look at verses 30 & 31. 

            Some of you may have observed I put a lot of emphasis and feeling when officiating Holy Communion.  To me, it is the most important sacrament for us to continue living our lives in relationship with Jesus here on earth.  I hope that you will celebrate this sacrament until Jesus calls us home. 

            These disciples experienced Jesus.  They said in verse 32.  My prayer for each one of us is that we will experience that “burning sensation” as we read our Bibles, pray, and join with other Christians in fellowship, that with these disciplines we may experience Jesus as well. 

            When we experience Jesus, we cannot simply keep Him in.  We have to tell others about the relationship that they can have with Jesus.  This is Good News.  We cannot keep it bottled in.  These disciples felt the same way.  In verses 33-35, they ran back to Jerusalem and told the other disciples how they had experienced the Resurrected Jesus by the hearing of the Word of God and in Holy Communion. 

            Did the Resurrection of Jesus really happen?  Yes, it did, just as God said it would.  There is no reason for us to be spiritually blind anymore.  Jesus does not want to be an earthly king, but the king of our hearts.  The evidence is confirmed in God’s Holy Word, and by practicing our spiritual disciplines. 

            So, let us continue to listen for God to speak, so we can do His will.  Amen.