Well, hey everybody, I'm Adam Schell, the pastor of Albert Heitzen. Welcome to our sermon podcast. And I just want to start out by thanking you for spending part of your day with us. And if you're blessed during our time together today, let me invite you to come and worship with us live on Sunday mornings at 10.30am Eastern Time.
You can worship with us live on our church website at mhbcleuoval.com slash live, or if you're in the Louisville, Kentucky area, we would love to have you come and join us in person. With that, let's get right into this episode, sermon. Well today is Easter Sunday. And if you've ever really been around a church on Easter Sunday before, have a pretty good idea of what that means.
And Easter Sunday, the parking lot's supposed to be a little bit fuller, and it may take you another moment or two to find a place to sit inside of the sanctuary. On Easter Sunday, everyone tends to dress a little bit nicer. I actually think that we set a record today for the number of people wearing a tie at Melbourne Heights since we moved into our new place. And even I break out a suit and tie when it's Easter Sunday.
Easter Sunday is also supposed to be a day where the church that you're in pulls out all the stops to put together a worship service that you'll remember. And the preacher tries to preach a sermon you won't soon forget. We'll see how that goes. But why do we do all this?
On Easter Sunday? Well, we do it because today's the day that we celebrate the good news that Jesus isn't dead and buried in a tomb halfway around the world. Today's the day we hear the good news that Jesus is alive. But even though today's the day that we hear the good news that Jesus is alive, it may not mean that you actually feel like celebrating today.
Because the thing about Easter is that Easter doesn't exist in a vacuum. It doesn't happen in a perfect world. Easter happens in the real world. And when you think about everything that's happening in the real world right now, it may not make you feel like celebrating when you turn on the evening news.
Every night it feels like we see more videos or images from wars that are being fought around the world. And some of these wars feel like they have been going on forever. The war in Ukraine has already been going on for more than four years. And during those four years, more than half a million people have died.
Cities have been completely destroyed. Families have been displaced. And even though numerous ceasefire agreements have been reached, none of them seem to last very long at all. That's just what's happening in Ukraine.
The war in Gaza has been going on for over two years. The United States has already been at war and I ran for more than a month. And even though all of these wars are happening thousands of miles from here, they can still weigh us down. Or when you pull out your phone and you start scrolling through social media just to try to unwind and relax a little bit.
It feels like it never takes long before you run across a post by some. It would be social media influencer who wants to talk about an act of violence or some of the civil unrest that may be happening in our country around the world. But instead of just talking about the facts, what they really want to do is fan the flames to make you as outraged as possible about these things. Because they know.
You're the more likely you are to keep engaging with your content. On top of all of this, we're also just a few weeks away from a primary election. So even if you have somehow been able to avoid stories of violence in war, you haven't been able to avoid all of the political ads that are going around right now, where one politician after never continues to tell you how horrible their opponents are. So by the time that you walk in to cash your ballot on election day, you're sitting there scratching your head wondering why you would want to put any of these people in positions of power.
And those are just some of the things that are happening out there in the world around us. The chances are that you have things that are happening much closer to home, maybe even in your own life, that keep you from feeling like celebrating today. You might be struggling financially this morning, because let's just be honest here, the cost of everything from gas to groceries to our utilities just seemed to keep getting higher and higher. So just about all of us end up feeling like our bills end up stretching further than our money does every single month.
And that means that you have to postpone plans. You put off repairs that need to be done and you just keep praying that maybe something will change. Even if you're not worried about what's happening in the headlines or what's happening with your finances, there are other things that you may be worried about today. You might be worried about your health.
You might be worried about your job. You might be worried about somebody that you love. So when you think about all of these things that are happening in the world right now, it can feel like God is absent, even though today's the day that we celebrate the good news that Jesus is alive. And we need to be honest about that.
It can feel like God is absent even though today's the day that we celebrate the good news that Jesus is alive. So that's how you're feeling right now. If you're feeling like God may be absent, if you don't feel up to celebrating this Easter, I want you to know that you're not alone. You're not the first person who's ever looked at everything that is happening in the world around us and wondered where God is in it all.
The truth is they were plenty of people who felt that exact same way, the very first Easter Sunday. I mean, just stop and think about it for just a second. What do you think Jesus's disciples, his followers, his friends, the people who loved him, what do they feel like that first Easter Sunday morning? When they woke up that morning, it had been two days since Jesus had been arrested and executed.
And over the course of those two days, his friends, his followers, they had scattered all over the place. Some of them were hiding behind locked doors because they were afraid that the same people who had arrested and killed Jesus were going to come looking for them too. So how do you think they felt that first Easter? Do you think they felt like celebrating when they woke up that morning?
No. They were scared. They were grieving. They were trying to figure out what to do next.
Now the person that they had given up, everything to follow was gone. So today I want us to take a closer look at another story that happens that very first Easter. So if you've got a Bible close by or a Bible app on your phone, I encourage you to go ahead and open it to Luke 24. Luke 24, this is where we find the story.
But as you're finding, I'm going to go ahead and point out, do you? We're not going to be talking about the stories that we typically talk about on Easter Sunday. We're not going to be talking about the stories of the women coming to the tomb or anything along those lines and finding it empty because we need to realize as we're thinking about the story that we're going to be taking a look at today, everything that was happening in the world around us and in the world for the disciples because that morning, that first Easter Sunday when they woke up, even though it wasn't going to be long before some of the women from this group of followers of Jesus go out to the tomb and find it empty, even though it's not going to be long before they come running back to the disciples to tell them about the fact that they had found a tomb empty. The Gospel Luke reminds us of how people still felt because Luke will tell us that when the women were telling them about what they had found that the tomb was empty, the disciples thought it all sounded a little bit like nonsense to them.
So instead of revisiting those stories, we need to think about what happens next and we need to realize that even on that first Easter Sunday, even after the news had started to spread, the tomb was empty, that many of the people who were following Jesus still weren't ready to celebrate. They were still overwhelmed by what had been happening in the world and they were trying to figure out where God was and it all. And that's the story I want us to look at today. It's a story that happens.
It's two people are traveling away from Jerusalem at first Easter afternoon, heading toward a village called Amaeus. So let's take a closer look at this story and see what happens for these two followers of Jesus. And Luke 24 verse 13, this is what Luke tells us. He says, on that same day, two disciples were traveling to a village called Amaeus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.
And they were talking to each other about everything that had happened. A couple of verses later in verse 17, Luke's going to tell us that they were downcast as they were talking about everything that had happened. But how else were they supposed to feel? I mean, remember, it was just one week earlier that Jesus had arrived and the same day, and the city of Jerusalem.
And when he arrived in Jerusalem, he was treated like a conquering king. But a few days later, it felt like the whole world had turned against him. And by good Friday, he was crucified like a common criminal. So of course, these two disciples felt downcast as they were walking away from the city.
They had simply seen too much. They had felt too much and they were completely overwhelmed by it all. So as they are walking away from the city of Jerusalem, going to the village of Amaeus, they don't know how to feel. They don't really know how to act.
Of course, they're going to be downcast because in these moments, so much had gone on, but they were struggling to see where God was in it all. Then picking back up in the story in verse 15, Luke tells us this. It says, while they were discussing these things, Jesus himself arrived and joined them on their journey. Now I want to read that again to make sure that you don't miss what happens in the story.
Luke tells us that while they were discussing these things, Jesus himself arrived and he joined them on their journey. And while these two disciples were talking about everything that had happened, Jesus shows up. While they were still overwhelmed by the events of the last week, Jesus shows up. While they were still grieving, Jesus' crucifixion, Jesus shows up.
While God still seemed absent, Jesus shows up. That's part of what the message of Easter is. While God still seemed absent, Jesus shows up. This isn't just something that Jesus does for these two disciples.
They're walking away from Jerusalem and headed toward Emmaus. Something Jesus does for us too. Because if Jesus shows up, while these disciples are feeling overwhelmed, while they're grieving, while they're looking around trying to figure out where God is and it all, then God also shows up when we're feeling overwhelmed, when we're grieving, when we feel like God is a million miles away. So no matter what is happening in your life or in the world around us, right now we can cling to this hope.
No matter how bad things may seem, Jesus is here. Jesus is present. Jesus is walking with you the same way that he was walking with those two disciples as they were headed toward Emmaus. And it's all because Jesus is alive.
But in verse 16 Luke tells this. He says, they were prevented from recognizing him. So Jesus is there. Jesus is with these two disciples.
He is walking with them. He is talking with them. He is asking them questions, answering their questions. He is with them in this moment.
But they don't recognize him. And I think the exact same thing happens to us sometimes too. I think there are times when we are going through difficult spots in our life and Jesus is right there walking beside us and we just don't recognize it. I think there are times when God is at work in the middle of some of the crazy things that are happening in the world all around us and we just don't see him.
And that doesn't happen because we're horrible people. It doesn't happen because we have too little a faith. It happens because we're so overwhelmed by what can be happening in our lives or in our world that we just can't see anything else. And I think that's what was happening for these two disciples too.
Because as they'll explain themselves in verse 21, they say, we had hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel. Even though this story takes place 2,000 years ago, I think a lot of us could say the exact same thing in Easter this year. We could say that when we woke up this Easter Sunday morning that we had hoped, we had hoped that by now we would have listened and learned from President Jimmy Carter when he famously said, there may be times when war is a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary it may be, it is always an evil and never a good.
But even though President Carter first made that statement 25 years ago when he was receiving a Nobel Peace Prize, we can look back over the last 25 years and count on less than one hand the number of years that our nation hasn't been involved in a war. Today we could say that we had hoped that after more than a decade of being divided by partisanship and politics that we had hoped that something would have come and brought us closer together. But the cable news ratings and the social media algorithms continue to reward those people who want to drive us farther and farther apart. Today we could say that we had hoped that after living through years of supply chain shortages and rising inflation that we had hoped the cost of something would have gone down.
But most of us still end up with too much money at the end of our money and it's not getting any better. And we could keep going. We could say that we had hoped that by changing our diet, by exercising more, by taking a new medication, we hoped that we would feel better. We had hoped that our new boss might appreciate us at least a little bit more than our old one did.
We had hoped that when our kids got a little bit older that life would get a little bit easier, we had hoped, we had hoped, and we had hoped. But in spite of how much we have hoped for the world around us to change, for our own lives to change, there's still so much that goes on that leaves us feeling overwhelmed. But when we're having these moments, we have to understand that when these two disciples said this, when they had talked about what they had hoped for, that Jesus was right there with them the whole time. And how do you think Jesus responded after he heard these disciples talking about what it is that they had hoped for?
You think Jesus pats them on the back and tells them everything's gonna be okay? You think he offers them some platitude and says, I know that you have hoped for all of these things and they haven't happened, but don't worry, God has a plan. You think that Jesus jumped out in the path in front of him and said, hey guys, it's me, it's Jesus, all those things to do and hope for, they can still happen. Jesus doesn't do any of those things.
In sight picking back up in verse 25, this is what Luke tells us. It says, then Jesus said to them, you foolish people, your dull minds keep you from believing all that the prophets talked about. Wasn't it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then enter into his glory, and then he interpreted for them the things written about himself and all the scriptures, living with Moses and going through all the prophets. So after these two disciples to talk about what they had hoped for, Luke tells us that Jesus starts telling them about Moses and he walks them all the way through the prophets, which means that what Jesus does is he reminds these two, he shows these two how God had always been at work throughout the history of their people.
And if you were at all familiar with the history of Israel, you know there were plenty of times in their history when they would have felt like God was absent. People of Israel spent 400 years enslaved in Egypt. Their entire nation was conquered by the Babylonian Empire. They lived under Persian rule.
Even as these two disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the people of Israel were living under Roman oppression. And if you had stopped and you had asked any of the people living through any of these different times how they felt those days, they would have said the same thing that those two followers would have said when they woke up on Easter morning. They would have said, we're afraid? They would have said, we're heartbroken.
They would have said, we've lost all hope. They would have said, we're not sure where God is. But while all of this was happening, God was at work. Even when they couldn't see it, God was still at work.
Even when hope felt like it was just a distant memory, God was still at work. Even when they felt like God wasn't there, God was still at work. And that's what Jesus wanted these two followers, just what Jesus wants all of us to realize too. Jesus wants us to realize that God isn't just with us when everything is going well in our lives.
And Jesus wants us to realize that when things start going bad, that doesn't mean that God has given up on us and abandoned us. Jesus wants us to realize that God is still present and God is still active even when we're struggling. Jesus wanted those two disciples to realize, he wanted us to realize that even when it doesn't feel like it, God is always with us. Even when it doesn't feel like it, God is always with us.
And after Jesus finished talking with them about Moses, working all the way through the prophets, that's when they finally arrived in the village of Emmaus. And these two disciples, they asked Jesus to stay and have dinner with them. And while they're eating dinner, Jesus is going to do something that takes the abstract things that he had just talked with them about as they were walking to Emmaus and he's going to make it far more concrete. Because in Luke 24 verse 30, Luke tells us that while they were sitting at a table, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, and broke it, and he gave it to them.
That's the exact same thing that Jesus had done just a couple of days earlier when he shared his last supper with his disciples. He had taken bread, he blessed it, he broke it. And he told them, this is my body. And when Jesus did this, while he was sitting down and sharing dinner with those two disciples, now that they had arrived in Emmaus, that's when they recognized who Jesus is.
And as soon as they recognize who Jesus is, it changes everything for them. Because remember, where they started that day, they started that day knowing that Jesus was dead and buried in a tomb. They started that day so overwhelmed by everything that had happened in their lives and in the world over the last week. But the only thing they could think to do that afternoon was to walk away from Jerusalem, to walk away from the place where all of these bad things had happened.
But once they recognized who Jesus is, Luke tells us this. He tells us they got up right then and returned to Jerusalem. They found the 11 and their companions gathered there and they were saying to each other, the Lord really has risen. He appeared to Simon.
Then the two disciples described what had happened along the road and how Jesus was made known to them is he broke the bread. And these two disciples realized that Jesus was with them and that he had always been with them. They go back to Jerusalem, the same place where all of these overwhelming events had happened that made them wonder where God was. They go back to the place where Jesus was arrested, put on trial, convicted and executed.
They go back to the place that was the last place. They saw Jesus before he was crucified. They go back to this place where all these bad things had happened that made them question and wonder if God was there. Because they realized that God was.
God was there. God had been with them all along. So they couldn't help but run back to where all these things had happened to share that good news. It's been 2000 years since this happened.
But we still do the same thing on Easter Sunday today. We still come running back into the midst of all of our pain, all of our suffering, all of our hurts, all of those times where we feel overwhelmed and have wondered if God is there. Because on Easter Sunday we get to confess that God has always been there and will always be there. No matter how overwhelming things may seem.
We come back in this place on Easter Sunday every year. No matter what has happened in the world around us. Because on Easter Sunday we get to say, Jesus isn't absent. Jesus is alive.
No matter what has happened in your life over the last week or the last year, Jesus isn't absent. Jesus is alive. No matter how bad things may seem for you right now, Jesus isn't absent. Jesus is alive.
No matter how distant God may seem when you look around because you don't recognize Him. Jesus isn't absent. Jesus is alive. And sometimes we all need that reminder.
Just like those two disciples as they were walking from Jerusalem to Amaze. They needed to have their eyes opened again to recognize and realize that Jesus had been there with them every step of the way. So no matter where you're at right now, no matter what life was like when you woke up this Easter Sunday, no matter how overwhelming things may be for you when you look at what's happening in the world around us or in your own life. Notice if you came into this place today and you didn't feel like celebrating, if you came into this place today wondering where God is, that God is with you.
So go from this place knowing that you do not go alone. Because no matter what you face in this world, we can tell you with confidence and certain certainty that God is always with you because Jesus is alive. Let's pray together. God, there may be no more powerful message than the message that we get to hear and proclaim on Easter Sunday.
The message that Jesus is alive. And God, this is a message that we all need to hear because there are times when things are happening in our lives, when things are happening in the world around us, where we look around and we just can't see you. But God, even on that first Easter Sunday, when Jesus's friends and his followers were completely overwhelmed by what happened on Good Friday, Jesus was there. And walking with them every step of the way.
And the same thing is true for us today. God, you are here with us, walking with us every step that we take. So open our eyes and help us to see you, God. Because you know there is so much that's happening right now in our world and in our lives that can cause us to miss you.
We don't want to do that. Help us see you. Help us cling to this promise that Jesus is alive and because Jesus is alive, we know that you are always with us. We can pray all this in His name.
Amen. I'll play it's Adam again. And I just want to thank you for tuning in to this episode of Our Sermon Podcast. And I hope that you've been blessed during our time together.
If that's happened, once again, I want to invite you to come and worship with us live on Sunday mornings at 10.30 AM Eastern Time. You can do that by joining us on our church website at mhbcluable.com slash live. Or if you're in the Louisville Kentucky area, you can also worship with us in person. And that's going to do it for this episode of our sermon podcast.
But I want to invite you to come back and join us again when our next episode drops next week. But until then, I'll be praying for you. I hope that you have a great week and we'll see you back here soon for another sermon podcast.