Week 40 Luke 24
Two men – Cleopas & an unnamed man – were walking from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus. They had been followers of Jesus. But Jesus was dead & gone now.
Along the way they chanced on a stranger. They told him about Jesus:
He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.
That was it. The gospel from beginning to end. Jesus was a great teacher. He helped and consoled a lot of people. Generous. Kind. Gave wise advice. Great principles to live by. A big following…but powerful & murderous enemies too. So the story came to an abrupt end. Good guy. Good story. A lot of good memories.
But the stranger challenged their gospel story: wasn’t it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory?
Along the Emmaus Road Cleopas & his friend were having to rethink their gospel story (and they were flabbergasted to realize the stranger was actually Jesus).
The road trip had been an eye-opener for them. Their Short Gospel Story was a long way from being over.
Note: quotes from Luke 24:19-21 26 (NLT)
End-of-month reading report: 84% of reading completed in 75% of the year.