The Road to Belief – April 24, 2022

Luke 24:13-35, 36-49
April 24, 2022

I love this metaphor of a road.  When I think of a road, I think not just of a paved path, but of a journey!  We often find ourselves “on the road to” some place, or some thing.  A road implies a journey, a progression, a long, sometimes slow approach to a destination.

Today we have the story of the Road to Emmaus.  It’s a story that takes place on a physical road, with a physical destination.  But it also implies “a road to understanding,” or as I’m saying it today, “A Road to Belief.”

I think belief is like that.  Sometimes belief takes a while, doesn’t it?  Sometimes it takes a journey.  Something that is hard for us to believe at first sight, might take some time before we actually believe it.  And I think that’s the case with these disciples.

Last week, we read the Easter account from the beginning of this chapter.  It ended with these women coming to the disciples and telling them that they had seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive.  And do you remember Luke’s account of the disciples’ reaction.  They thought the women’s story to be “’an idle tale,’ and they did not believe them.”  Mark’s account of the Easter story ends even sooner.  He ends by saying, “The women went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them, and they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.”

In both cases, the road the road to belief started with unbelief.  And that road continued through Easter day and beyond.  In our reading for today, we started with the traditional story of the road to Emmaus, which ends at verse 35.  And remember, this happened “later that day” on Easter.  These grieving disciples were met by the “incognito Jesus.”  And as he walked with them, along the road, he explained to them how the Messiah must suffer and die, and then be resurrected.  Yet even then, even as their hearts “burned within them” as they listened, did they understand?  And did they believe?

I wanted to include this last part of the story, starting with verse 36.  Because this gives the bigger picture.  The two travelers returned to Jerusalem to tell the disciples what had happened.  And when they got there, they were told that Jesus had appeared to Simon.  And then they told their story, how he was with them, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.  And that’s usually where we end this reading.  (Because to go on risks reading “too many verses,” right!)  But this next part is the actual encounter with the risen Jesus.  While this exchange happened between these two travelers and the disciples, Jesus himself stood among them!

And what we find is that, even then, with Jesus standing before them, they still didn’t believe.  Here we have this line, that I love.  “And while they still disbelieved, for joy, and wonder, he said to them, ‘Do you have anything to eat?’” (Luke 24:41.)  (Eating was his proof to them that he was not a ghost.) In the NIV it says this.  “And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement…”

Think about that!  Jesus was actually with them!  And yet, they still did not believe it, even though they were filled with joy and amazement.  They still weren’t there yet!  And I wonder, can that happen with us?  Can we be amazed and joyful, and yet still not believe?”

That’s what I want you to think about today.  Where are we on the road to belief.  You know, some of us are not so young anymore.  Yet, there are some things about the faith that are still hard for us to believe, aren’t there?  And the resurrection of Jesus is sometimes one of those things.  And it’s perhaps the biggest thing!  Because it’s the most important thing in our faith!

I read a great article this past week that talked about the Resurrection.  It pointed out that an actual physical resurrection of Jesus is still hard for some to believe, even after all these years.  It said how some people over the years have tried to make the Resurrection out to be some kind of “spiritual return” of Jesus.  “Or worse yet,” the article said, “they make it simply a metaphor for the resurrected faith in Jesus’ disciples.”

But that’s not what those disciples believed!  Once they reached the end of their road to belief, they believed in the actual, physical resurrection of Jesus.  And it became the centerpiece of their faith.  The empty tomb, even more than the cross, became the main symbol of the Christianity in the early days of the Church.  And even decades after the fact, Paul wrote the words to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 15:14) that said, “if Christ is not raised, our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.”  “Make no mistake!” he would tell us.  “Without the Resurrection, there is no Christian faith!”

And no, I cannot explain it fully.  But seeing it as it is, the one, foundational tenet of the Christian faith, I have decided to believe it, even though I cannot explain it, and it does not jibe with my understanding of the physical universe.  A man dead for three days cannot come back to life by any scientific explanation I know.  And there are times I say, along with the man who was challenged to faith in the Jesus who stood before him, “Lord, I believe.  Help thou my unbelief.”

I have decided to believe it.  I have chosen to believe it!  So, how about you?  Sometimes we in the church assume that everybody believes everything.  We assume that everybody is at the same place along the road to belief.  We assume that doubts are no longer a factor, when, in reality, they really are – for all of us – from time to time.

So, what do we do?  What do we do when we feel those rise doubts within us?  Well, one of the things we do is, we decide!  We decide we are going to believe.  We decide it is worth believing!  And we act on our beliefs, and we trust that the actual belief will follow.  We recognize that doubts are part of the human picture, and that we are not alone in our doubts.  But we know that our doubts will ebb and flow.  They will come and go.  And our faith should not be based on, or judged on, where we might be along that road to belief.  And we’re always moving along that road – hopefully forward!  But sometimes not.  Sometimes we need to retrace our steps, we need to remember how we believed, and make our way back to that belief.

But we also need to know, that wherever we are on that road, we can decide that we can rely on the promises of Jesus.  And one of his greatest promises is that he will be with us always, regardless of where we might be, at any particular time, on the road to belief.

“I will be with you always,” he said.  Not, “I will be with you when you believe fully, when you have no doubts,” but “Always!”  “Even in your darkest times, when your faith is faltering, when aren’t as sure.  I will be with you always!”

Prayer

Lord, we believe.  Help thou our unbelief.  We know that we are weak sometimes, and that our doubts do get the best of us.  We know we have your treasure within us, but sometimes we’re very aware that it’s treasure in earthen vessels.  But we also know – and we rely on the promise – that the transcendent power belongs to you, and not to us.  And so, we seek the indwelling of your Spirit, that we may have peace with you, in whatever the circumstances of our life, and wherever we are on the road to faith.  We thank you, and we praise you, and we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.