Two men walk together to a village named Emmaus. Soon, a third man joins them. They talk, discuss, and debate the events of the past week. As they walk, their faces betray the sadness and gloominess they feel inside.

The two men explain to the third that they had considered Jesus to be a mighty prophet in deed and word.

He had to be a prophet at the very least! Jesus “taught the people as one with authority and not as the scribes.” His Word bore the authority of God. He didn’t speak in a wishy-washy sort of way. Even if His words received criticism, Jesus spoke them without fear.

The two men heard about—likely even saw some of—the things Jesus did. He walked on water. He cured the lepers. He made the blind to see. He drove out demons. Even though Lazarus had been dead for four days and a bad odor set in, Jesus called him to life. That sealed Jesus’ fate in the eyes of those who hated him.

The Sanhedrin convened and sentenced Jesus to death, using the Romans to carry out the condemnation by crucifixion. The man that the two men headed to Emmaus had followed is dead.

The two men going to Emmaus confess that they had hoped Jesus would redeem Israel. Had hoped. Had. Hoped. Their hopes shattered.

They had high expectations of Jesus. They believed Him to be the Messiah. They had very specific ideas in mind of what the promised Messiah would do.

They expected Jesus (as the Messiah) to usher in God’s rule and might. They expected that He would redeem Israel from Rome. They put their hope in THIS redemption.

So, you can imagine how much Jesus’ death shattered those expectations. The moment He died, so did their hope, because their expectations weren’t met.

Their expectations were misplaced. The hope that flowed from their expectations wasn’t firmly planted in the words and promises of God, because the things they expected didn’t come from the words and promises of God. Their hope and expectations were a figment of their own imagination. The Lord never promised to restore the earthly kingdom of Israel to its former glory. In fact, Jesus firmly declared, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

But the men on the road to Emmaus aren’t alone. We fallen creatures very easily (in foolishness and slowness of heart) place hope in our own expectations of how things should go.

What is it that you have expected the Lord to redeem you from and in which you have put your hope? We also have high expectations and specific ideas in mind for what we want the Lord to do for us as the Messiah.

Many people expect that when they become a Christian, life should get better and better. The temptation is to think glory has arrived and there will be no trials or tribulations. But seasoned Christians can teach baby Christians about all the trials and tribulations that they can expect because they believe in Jesus.

The sufferings we experience—disease, injury, sickness, financial troubles, family strife, unbelieving family members, death. Christians express shock and dismay at the level of violence and moral depravity happening in our lifetimes. All of these sufferings and more shatter our expectations for the Messiah, and threaten to destroy faith in Christ.

Our expectations are misplaced. Like the men walking to Emmaus, our own hope flowing from our expectations isn’t always firmly planted in the words and promises of God, because things we may expect to happen don’t always come from the words and promises of God. God never promised things would get better and better. In fact, Scripture firmly declares that things in the world get worse before the Last Day. The Lord never promises to heal us of everything here and now. He never promises to keep us from all suffering. Quite the opposite. We are to “rejoice as we share in Christ’s sufferings.”

When our expectations are misplaced, here’s what’s happening: We are ignoring God’s Word and we are committing the sin of idolatry. When we invent expectations different from God’s expectations, we invent a new message to replace God’s Word, and since God’s Word is an extension of Him, we try to replace God. We are tempted to believe whatever we want to believe with no regard to truth. No wonder Jesus refers to “foolish ones” who are “slow of heart to believe”!

Thankfully, Jesus didn’t tell the men walking to Emmaus to get lost. And neither does He tell you to get lost. In grace and mercy, He opens your minds to understand the Scriptures.

CHRIST’S NECESSARY SUFFERING, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION IS THE REDEPMTION OF ISRAEL, THE WORLD, AND YOU

Did you catch Christ Jesus’ words? “Was it not necessary?” It was necessary. It was a must. It had to happen that Jesus suffered, died, and rose again. 

There was no other plan. There was no expectation of the Lord, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, except for Jesus to suffer, die upon the cross, and rise from death. This is how Jesus enters into His glory as the ascended Lord who redeems Israel. The redemption of Christ’s cross and resurrection is the greatest redemption of all. The redemption of Christ’s cross and resurrection is the foundation of our hope, our faith, and every good and perfect gift that come from the Lord.

The redemption that the men walking to Emmaus were hoping for (the redemption that we often hope for) is often short sighted. The redemption of Christ’s cross and resurrection means more than the redemption of a nation. It means the redemption of body and soul for eternity. The redemption of Christ’s cross and resurrection means more than redemption in our lives from whatever temporary earthly thing ails us. It means the redemption of our body and soul forever.

The redemption of Christ’s cross and resurrection is nothing less than the forgiveness of sins and salvation from sin, death, the devil, and hell. There can be nothing more. If you have forgiveness and salvation in Christ, then you already have everything there is to have.

For example, when I bring communion to the homebound, one of the prayers I often say after communion ends like this: “Grant that this heavenly food which we have received will strengthen our faith that we may bear all crosses, sickness, and trials with patience and trust until you grant us deliverance, peace, and health.” That “deliverance, peace, and health” may come in this life… until it doesn’t. But the eternal deliverance, peace, and health is a sure thing through the redemption—the forgiveness of ours sins—that is in Christ Jesus through His death and resurrection.

If you have the peace that comes with the forgiveness of sins through Jesus, you can weather any earthly strife. If you don’t have that peace, then whatever peace this world has to offer won’t be able to calm your troubled heart. That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is the true hope of redemption in Jesus.

Jesus refocuses our expectations to rightly believe and understand His redemption. The Scriptures—from beginning to end, from Genesis’ first promise of the Gospel and the animal skins that covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve to the Lamb who clothes us with white robes in Revelation—all of Scripture concerns Christ Jesus crucified and raised for the redemption of sinners from sin, death, the devil, and hell unto forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation with our Lord in His blessed kingdom.

He opens our hearts with a burning desire to deny ourselves (to deny our own self-invented expectations) and to hear and understand His Word of redemption. This burning desire, worked by the Lord, fills us with the fiery warmth of hope, comfort, peace, and joy in Jesus. Our enlivened hearts crave to listen less to our own expectations and hear more of the Lord’s realities. Our enlivened hearts crave to know Him more—through His Word—even as we are known by our Lord Jesus, who calls us by name. 

At the table with the two men at Emmaus, Jesus fulfills the roll of host. Notice what happens once Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them (just as He did at the Last Supper). He vanishes from sight. He reveals Himself, and He reveals that He will be just as present with His Church in a new way—a different way. Now, the crucified and risen Lord is recognized in the proclamation of His saving Word and the breaking of Bread. 

The Lord also opens our eyes to see Him by faith. I’m not sure we grasp this reality. In His Word and Sacrament, the Lord Jesus really is with us every bit as much (and even moreso!) than when He walked on earth. As host of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus opens our eyes to see who He is in His body and blood given and shed for us to eat and to drink, forgiving us and strengthening the faith of our hearts.

After the Lord vanishes from their presence, within the hour, the two men are already running back to Jerusalem, to tell Jesus’ followers exactly what they had heard and seen. With the joy of these two men, we also spread the Good News of Jesus’ blessed redemption to others, so that they also may be filled with the same hope and expectation of forgiveness, life, and salvation that fills us. Amen.