The Second Sunday After Easter
The Second Sunday After Easter
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Reverend Michael J. Moffitt
April 19, 2026
The Emmaus Turnaround
Text: Luke 24:13–35
One of my favorite stories in the Gospels is found in Luke 24:13–35 that we just had read to us. It’s actually one of several that happened on the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The stories seem to always be about Jesus, the creator of the universe, now the resurrected Lord, appearing to ordinary people who believed that he was the Messiah.
On Easter morning I preached from Matthew 28:1–10, his account of Mary Magdelene and Mary the mother of James rising early to go to the tomb to finish the burial ritual on the lifeless body of Jesus Christ. Of course instead of seeing the body of their Master they encountered an angel informing them that Jesus wasn’t there, He had risen just like he told them he would. They were to go and tell his disciples that he had risen from the dead and was going before them to Galilee. As the women hurried back to tell the disciples Jesus revealed himself to them first. They fell at his feet and worshipped him. In meeting the women along the way I believe that Jesus revealed two very important things to them and to us today.
1. They were honored to be the first eyewitnesses to the resurrected Lord which would add weight to the message the angel gave them. All four gospels agree on this.
2. Jesus showed them how important they were to him, especially Mary Magdelene from whom he had cast out seven demons. In that culture the testimony of women didn’t receive much respect. Jesus let them know that he saw them and He loved them. He understood their pain as they watched him die upon the cross. Now he would appear to them that they may be full of joy at seeing the he had overcome sin and the grave. That was such a loving gesture especially coming from the King of kings, Lord of lords. Luke’s resurrection story on the road to Emmaus begins with two disciples, obviously not of the remaining 11, walking away from Jerusalem on the very day the tomb is found empty.
These are not bold witnesses but rather people who were wounded trying to process the events of the last week. Luke doesn’t tell us why they were returning back home but I can venture to guess that it was bound up in their statement, “we had hoped.” That would imply that now they had lost hope. It was no longer possible because the one they hoped in had been murdered, crucified on a Roman cross. All this happened because the religious leaders, those who should have embraced the Messiah, instead removed him out of the way. They had lied about Jesus and paid false witnesses to testify against him. They had stirred up the crowds gathered before Pontius Pilate to demand that Jesus be crucified.
So what were the Christ followers supposed to do now? Who could they trust?
They had hoped Jesus was the Messiah who would redeem Israel, but His crucifixion has left them disoriented. Going home seemed like a wise decision for now. The fact they had been following Jesus could make it dangerous for them to speak of Jesus. He was gone. What would there be to say?
Just 5–6 days ago they had left their town and headed to Jerusalem full of excitement and hope but that was gone. How could they make any decision about what would happen next?
The truth is they were heading in the wrong direction. The pair leaves the center of power where God’s greatest work has unfolded—they just can’t see it yet. You’ll notice that Jesus doesn’t just shake his head and wait until they head back in the right direction.
Instead Jesus meets them in their time of grief, demonstrating something important about grace. It meets us where we are even when we are heading in the wrong direction.
It’s important that we see this because these two, one named Cleopas and the other unknown are never mentioned again in the scriptures, show that Jesus comes to them. The truth is that Jesus saw them, too. He had known them before the foundations of the earth were laid.
The more we understand the nature and identity of our Lord, (who he is really) the more his overtures of love and grace seem extravagant. Certainly, God’s love and mercy towards his people far exceeds anything we bring to him. How can we adequately explain such love?
Charles Spurgeon wrote concerning the example of these two walking together,
When two saints are talking together, Jesus is very likely to come and make the third one in the company. Talk of him, and you will soon talk with him.
Jesus appears by walking up and beginning a conversation with them. They are prevented for a while from seeing Jesus not because they are physically blind but because their hearts are wounded and anyway as far as they knew Jesus was dead. Only Jesus could bring healing and restore their joy. As I considered the grace and mercy of God I remembered Psalm 30:11–12,
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Jesus was/is a wise and patient teacher in that before he taught he listened and He asked the simplest question, “What are you discussing as you walk together.”
They’re stunned that this stranger wouldn’t know the most important topic being discussed in Jerusalem the past week. So they explain about the man named Jesus of Nazareth who was a mighty prophet in what he taught and in amazing miracles of healing the blind, the deaf, the lame and he went about restoring bodies irreparably broken, healing the worst of the diseases and even raising the dead.
Of course, “we had hoped”—this was the long-awaited Messiah who had come to redeem Israel but instead he was crucified upon a cross.
I can picture them with tears streaming down their faces unable to control this level of grief and sorrow. Then they continue with the explanation of what happened that morning.
Listen to Luke 24: 22–24,
Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.
This is a great lesson to us about grief and disappointment. It changes our perspective on what has happened. You might have some experience with this way of seeing. I know I do. They told the facts as they saw them. They told about what had ended and what God didn’t do. See how this changes you? You talk until the wound becomes the whole story. “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”
Then Jesus tells another view of the story as he begins to explain how the entire Old Testament pointed towards the Messiah’s suffering and glory, showing that the cross was not a failure but the plan of God.
It was true that the cross was a symbol of suffering and shame, but it was not where their hope collapsed but that place where God fulfilled his greatest promise. They had hoped for redemption, and they should have if they understood the scriptures. They weren’t wrong to hope but they were wrong about the way it would be fulfilled.
As they reach their home they invite Jesus to stay with them as it was evening. As they sat down for a meal Jesus took the bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Then he vanished from their sight.
As they would later tell the disciples this story they would be reminded of how Jesus had reinterpreted the Passover meal the night of his arrest. It was in the breaking of the bread that Jesus spoke the words at the Last Supper in Luke 22:19, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
The moment of revelation didn’t come through Jesus’ teaching about Himself, but through the breaking of the bread—a sacramental and intimate act that opens their eyes and transforms them. They didn’t yet see what Jesus was pointing to. It was from this simple gesture of breaking the bread and handing it to them that their eyes were opened. The confusion was gone as clarity sets in. As they sit down for a meal I’m quite sure that they were probably hungry, but when Jesus breaks the bread, their eyes are suddenly opened, and their hearts are set on fire with hope and recognition.
In that moment they recognized just how hungry they really were. Not just for their physical body but their souls. Once they recognize Him, they change direction and run back to Jerusalem to tell the others: “He is risen!”—moving from isolation and doubt to bold witness
Why does this matter to us today? Luke’s story suggest that Jesus walks with us as we question and debate, honoring us as our faith seeks understanding—even when we feel lost, wounded, or walking in the wrong direction.
That night the two disciples with burning hearts and restored hope rush back to Jerusalem to share the good news (Gospel) that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. This changed everything and showed that resurrection faith isn’t abstract belief—it transforms broken hearts, clouded vision, and hopeless disciples into witnesses who cannot help but speak what they have seen.
The Apostle Peter spoke of this transformation in our Epistle reading this morning from 1 Peter 1:13–25.
In closing listen again to 1 Peter 1: 13–16,
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
