
Hope Rises
April 17, 2022
We cannot live without hope. All of life is wrapped up in hope. We hope that someone will love us. We hope our lives have significance. We hope to experience meaningful relationships. We hope to live out our dreams. And because we are so wired to hope – almost everything we do with our time, our money and our energy is in some way tied into seeing our hopes fulfilled. We cannot live without hope.
But we live in a world where our hopes are often shattered. Your spouse leaves you. You get passed over for a promotion. Your child refuses to reconcile. Failing health robs you of your dreams. When you open your news app you read of another atrocity in Ukraine; you cringe hearing of another senseless shooting; you shake your head at another attack on morality. Inflation keeps climbing, violence keeps erupting; morals keep declining. And you struggle holding onto hope. For the opposite of hope is despair. In a random, chaotic universe, it is easy to slip into despair believing there really is no purpose, no narrative shaping our destiny. You look at all the broken dreams, all the decimated marriages, our shaky financial recovery, a pandemic that never ends, and you find yourself wondering if God really cares, or begin to question if God’s really there. Is there hope in this darkness? Is there hope to hold onto when there seems to be dwindling hope?
Well, if you’re asking those questions this morning, you’re not the first one to struggle with shattered hopes. For if you’ve ever struggled to find hope in the midst of grief, or felt discouraged because of the chaos of life, or if you ever wondering where God is when your hopes slip away – then I invite you to enter a story of hope with me today. It’s the story of two men whose hopes were shattered – two men who were disappointed and discouraged. Two men who wondered if God was really there. Their story is found in the Gospel of Luke – and it takes place three days after the crucifixion of Jesus. It takes place the same day that some of their friends brought back a report that the grave of Jesus was empty. But upon hearing this report, there were no joyful celebrations, but only more confusion added to their grief and shattered dreams. If you brought a Bible with you today, their story is recorded for us in Luke’s Gospel. So let me encourage you to find Luke 24:13-35 where Luke shows us that even in our darkest moments God draws near to rekindle our hope. Let’s pick up the story in verse 13, where Luke tells us: Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. Luke 24:13-16
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” Luke 24:17-18
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. Luke 24:19-21
This is a picture of Hopes Dashed You hear their discouragement, their sadness. You feel their confusion. They had put their hopes in a person who they believed would change their future. They were perplexed. They believed Jesus had come from God. They believed he was a prophet. The evidence for this was his powerful teaching and miraculous works. He had to be from God. But the very religious leaders who taught about such things – these were the ones who turned on Him. They were the ones who had him crucified on a shameful and humiliating cross.
Now their hopes were shattered. They had hoped he was the One. They had hoped He was the One who would redeem Israel. The One who would overthrow Rome and set-up God’s kingdom. They believed he was the One who would rule in power and make everything right. The One who would bring peace and justice. The One who would make a life everyone hoped for! But now they can’t wrap their heads around why this happened. And on top of all this they say, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus. Luke 24:22-24 On top of this now, the tomb was empty, his body gone. Their despair was palatable. Their loss – devastating.
Isn’t that what happens when our hopes are dashed? We are left confused, grieving, unsure of what to do or where to turn. It’s like we’re treading water, but we’re drowning in our sorrow and despair. We’re lost. Ever been there? Ever not no where to turn when a dream is shattered or a hope crushed? Ever felt like God was absent or in the midst of your chaos?
That’s what we see here. These two men are so focused on their disappointments and discouragement that they we’re blind to see what God was up to. God seemed hidden, God seemed absent, and the darkness was overwhelming. But even though God seemed hidden from them that doesn’t mean He wasn’t there. In fact, it’s often in our darkest moments, when God brings light. It’s often when our dreams are shattered that God rekindles hope. And that’s what we see here: He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” Luke 24:25-26
These men made a natural human mistake. They tried to figure out the events of the day with their own reasoning and from their own experiences. But nothing made sense. It’s like they were blind to what the Bible had taught about the Messiah’s path to glory. So, Jesus rebukes them in order wake them from their grief-stricken fog. And begins to fan the flame of hope in their hearts with the light of God’s Word. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:27
Here is Hope Rekindled Jesus opens the Scriptures to them. Jesus explains to them how the whole Bible, the entire story of God points to Him and the events of the last few days. This book, the Bible is not a rule manual, not a bunch of fantastic and unrelated stories, but is a cohesive love story of God’s unrelenting passion to rescue fallen humanity and restore us to life with Him. And the hero of His story is Jesus:
In Genesis – He is the seed of the woman who crushes the head of the serpent In Exodus – He is the Passover Lamb who delivers His people from slavery
In Leviticus – He is Our High Priest and the Scapegoat who takes away our sin
In Numbers – He is the Cloud by day and Pillar of Fire by night who guides His people
In Deuteronomy – His is the Prophet like Moses
In Joshua – He is the Captain of our Salvation
In Judges – He is the Judge and Law giver
In Ruth – He is the Kinsman Redeemer who rescues us, loves us and takes up our cause
In 1 & 2 Samuel – He is the Trusted Prophet
In 1 & 2 Kings – 1 & 2 Chronicles – He is our Reigning King ;;
In Ezra – He is our Faithful Scribe
In Nehemiah – He is the rebuilder of broken walls – the rebuilder of shattered dreams
In Esther – He is the Unseen Hand who orchestrates the rescue of all His people
In Job – He is our Redeemer and the One who restores our fortunes far beyond what we could ask or imagine.
In Psalms – He is the Crucified Savior Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. Psalm 22:16-18
You know how I am scorned, disgraced, and shamed; all my enemies are before you. Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. Psalm 69:19-21
In Isaiah 53 – He is the Sheep led to Slaughter He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7
He is the Sinless Sacrifice For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53:8-9
He is the Suffering Servant Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days Isaiah 53:10
He is the Resurrected Savior! After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11
In Daniel – He is the Son of Man
In Hosea – He is the faithful Husband
In Amos – He is the Burden Bearer
In Obadiah – He is Mighty Savior
In Jonah – He is the Forgiving God
In Haggai – He is the Cleansing Fountain
In Zechariah – He is the Pierced Son
In Malachi – He is the Son of Righteousness with Healing in His Wings
All of God’s Word points to Jesus as our Savior, our redeemer, our healer and our God. Jesus is the theme of God’s Story, He’s the hero of God’s Story and He has come into our story to make a way for us to be made right with God. To give us hope. Jesus is hope in a person. And our hope is rooted in God’s Word. We have a Biblical faith. Our hope is anchored in the truths of God’s Word. We believe Jesus is our hope not simply out of a wishful longing, but because God’s Word predicted everything about Jesus and the redemption He accomplished at the cross. Jesus was crucified because that was God’s plan for our redemption. The tomb was empty, because God raised Jesus from the dead to defeat sin and death once and for all, and to give us this sure and certain hope of life with Him.
But amazingly, as Jesus explains the story of God and how his crucifixion and resurrection fulfills every prophecy recorded in God’s Word, these two men still do not recognize who He is. And even today, people are still blind to see the hope that’s found in Jesus. And I hope that’s not you this morning. I hope you respond to Jesus like these men did. For listening to Jesus sparked something in them. He rekindled their hope. For we see what happens next: As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” Luke 24:28-29
And so our story takes another turn, and it’s a good one. For here we now see Hope Revealed Luke writes:So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. Luke 24:30-31
They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32
Up to this moment, Jesus had been hidden to them. But now as they sit with Jesus at the table, He takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them, and their eyes are opened… God is no longer hidden. God is no longer absent. Their confusion over recent events is gone. Jesus’ presence has transformed their hearts from the heaviness of despair to the burning of hope.
They now knew that they had been in the presence of the resurrected Jesus. Whatever kept them from recognizing him before, had been removed. Now not only had their hope been rekindled, but in the breaking of the bread Jesus birthed a hope in them beyond their wildest dreams. The women’s story at the tomb was true. Jesus had risen from the dead. He was alive. No wonder their hearts had burned with hope.
And now with their hope was awakened, now that they recognized Jesus was alive, Hope Rises They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. Luke 24:33-35
No longer were they dismayed or discouraged. Now they were confident and courageous. Hearing the truth of Jesus’ place in God’s story witnessing His presence in the breaking of the bread resurrected their hope in Jesus. And they could not wait to share the hope of Jesus’ resurrection with others.
That’s the power of hope that is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s the message of Easter. When Jesus rose from the grave hope rose with Him. We cannot live without hope. All of life is wrapped up in hope. Have you ever wondered why? It’s because Jesus created you to have hope not just in this life, but for eternal life – to have hope in Him. That’s why every chapter of God’s Word points to Him. That’s why the story of God doesn’t end with the crucifixion, but really begins with the resurrection of Jesus!
This is our hope, and the hope of every Christ follower from that third day forward. Our hope rests on the truth that Jesus was crucified for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and on the third day, he rose from the grave according to the Scriptures. And now because He lives there is hope for anyone who trusts in Him.
With Jesus there is hope for forgiveness. You no longer have to be shackled by guilt, or shame or the fear of judgment. That’s the hope Jesus gives.
With Jesus there is hope for deliverance. His conquering sin and death makes it possible for you to be free from the power of sin and free from the fear of death, and free to become all God created you to become! That’s the hope Jesus gives.
With Jesus there is hope for relationship. You no longer have to go it alone, for Jesus not only promises to be with you in your darkest moments, but by his resurrection He made it possible for you to know your Father in heaven who has always loved you and wants only what’s best for you. That’s the hope the resurrection brings!
With Jesus there is hope for life. Now that Jesus has risen to life, He not only gives you eternal life, but promises to give you an abundant life with Him right now. For Jesus is our blessed hope.
This is what you were created for. Jesus rose from that grave on the third day to bring you hope. Now you can have hope. For Hope is alive. And His name is Jesus.
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