It’s one thing to know about Jesus, even to understand how all the pieces of Scripture fit together. The evidence is important, but it’s never enough. At some point, you need that moment in which not only do you see, but you really see and you believe.

Big Idea: Move beyond not understanding to understanding the storyline of Scripture, to gaining spiritual eyesight so you can see.

It’s not hard to understand events, even important events. What’s really hard is understanding what they mean.

For instance: We all understand that a virus broke out in Wuhan sometime late last year. A lot of us knew that event back at the beginning of this year, but few of us understood its meaning. But some people were wise enough that they were able to not only understand the event but the meaning of that event and were sounding the alarm about its consequences very early. Some understood the event only; others understood what it meant and were much better prepared to respond.

It’s the same with what we’re celebrating today. It’s not hard to understand the event. The passage that was just read for us does a good job of describing the actual events in verses 19 to 25:

• Jesus of Nazareth was known as a prophet for what he did and said.
• The chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned, and they crucified him.
• This disappointed a lot of people, who were hoping that Jesus would save Israel.
• On the Sunday after Jesus was killed, women found an empty tomb and saw angels who told them that Jesus was alive.
• Others verified the women’s story and confirmed that the tomb was empty.

Those are the bare facts. No matter who you are — believer or skeptic — those are the facts that you need to wrestle with. The historic evidence is there. There’s very little doubt that these facts are true whether you’re a believer or not.

The trick is what to make of them. And this story leads us through three possible reactions to these bare facts and the conclusions we can make.

Option One: Don’t Understand

The first option is confusion. It’s where things start out in this passage as we meet two men walking to Emmaus, a village seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked they were discussing what to make of the facts I just mentioned above, because it seemed to make no sense to them at all.

There are a couple of kinds of confusion. One may be that you doubt that these events even happened. That’s not what the two people in the story experienced, but it may be what some of you face. If that’s you, then I encourage you to take a closer look. Look at the historic evidence. The vacant tomb of Jesus is a historic reality, and it’s pretty hard to discount. So take an honest look. I think you’ll discover that there’s no need to be confused about the actual facts. I encourage you to investigate them for your self.

Okay, there’s another kind of confusion, and it’s the kind that the two men in this story faced. They were devastated because they didn’t understand how Jesus’ death fit with who they expected him to be. They were so disappointed. They had expected Jesus to save Israel, and instead, he was killed. They were shattered.

Even though they had heard about the empty tomb, they couldn’t explain it. They were leaving Jerusalem; they’re not sticking around with any sort of hope that something world-changing has happened. They’re going home. They were talking and discussing. They were trying to make sense of everything that’s happened.

Verse 17 even says they looked sad. This was something that really hit them. They had hopes for this Jesus, and their hopes had been crushed. And even though they had heard about the empty tomb, they weren’t ready to believe that this could mean Jesus was alive again. They had doubts. They couldn’t make sense of it all.

There are a lot of people in this category. Maybe they don’t understand the facts as they happened. Or maybe you just don’t know what to make about Jesus. Maybe the story doesn’t make sense to you.

If that’s you, I love that you’re here. This church was built for people like you. Easter is perfect for people like you.

I really encourage you to investigate further. I’d be happy to give you books that could help you.

This is one way to respond to the story of Jesus, and it’s where the two guys in this story started. We all start here. Christianity welcomes skeptics and doubters. So start here, but I encourage you not to stop here. It’s not the best option.

So let’s look at option two in this story.

Option Two: Understand the Storyline

A strange thing happened in this story. The two men started out not understanding Jesus and what happened to him. They didn’t realize that Jesus himself showed up to explain things to them. We read in verses 25 to 27:

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

That is one conversation I would have loved to have heard. There are a lot of moments in the Bible I would have liked to have witnessed, but this one might be in the top three. Can you imagine Jesus walking you through the whole story of the Bible and explaining how it all gets tied up with him? That would have been incredible.

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