Luke 24: 13-35
Offered to the United Presbyterian Church of Alpha, NJ on April 19, 2026
Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA
We have here in Luke’s Gospel what Bible Scholar William Barclay calls one of the more extraordinary and immortal short stories of the Bible.
In the Contemporary English Version, Chapter 24 of Luke’s Gospel is subtitled “Jesus Is Alive”. We know it as our resurrection and salvation story, and we celebrate the victory won for us over sin’s death by Jesus. However, what we also have here in Luke’s narration is a story of bewilderment, confusion, and doubt. Today, I want to look at both sides of Luke’s Resurrection story.
Previously Luke has already told us, some women had gone to the tomb where Jesus was laid to rest. They wanted to properly complete the task of preparing his body for final burial. You will recall after Jesus was certified as having died, he was hurriedly taken down to be entombed before the start of the Sabbath. But Luke tells us that when the women arrived, they found the stone at the entrance of the tomb had already been rolled away and that when they entered the tomb, they did not find Jesus’ body there. Luke says, “they did not know what to think.”
Then suddenly, we are told, they see two men in shinning white garments standing beside them. Bewilderment.
They asked the women, “Why are you looking in the place of the dead – for the living?” [As an aside, I will remark to you that understanding that question is the key to understanding Luke’s story.] The men continue, “Jesus isn’t here. He has been raised from the dead.”
They go on, “Remember … he told you, the Son of Man would be handed over to sinners who would nail him to a cross. But that in three days he would rise again to life.”
Yes, Jesus had said these things, but they didn’t understand any of it then and they aren’t sure about what it means now. So now add to their bewilderment, confusion.
This is an underlying theme that of course we see in the Gospels time and again. It is that Jesus’ disciples really had no firm idea of who he was and what he was about. And when he spoke of what was coming, they didn’t understand what would happen or after the fact what had happened. He was their teacher, their Lord. They even spoke in whispers of him being the Messiah. But if he was dead, what did any of it mean now? More confusion.
Let’s look at what the women were doing. They were going to the tomb where they believed Jesus’ dead body lay.
Now to understand what Luke is describing here we need to take note of the fact that the women were going to a place of death. Despite being told by Jesus what would happen – that he would be crucified and that he would rise again to life, they were still searching for him amongst the dead. Maybe now add doubt to their confusion and bewilderment. Did they really believe what he was teaching them or did they harbor more doubt than belief?
What follows is that the women run to the disciples to tell them what they had just witnessed – that the tomb was empty and of their encounter with those strange men in shinning white garments.
What was the reaction of Jesus’ inner circle? Luke tells us, they thought it was nonsense and they did not believe. More doubt.
Even after Peter and John run to the tomb and verify what the women found, they do not understand or know what to believe. They return to that locked room to hide away. They locked themselves in a place of darkness – in a place where they believed death still ruled the day.
Eventually, the group of Jesus’ followers begins to break up and two – at least – are returning to their homes in the village of Emmaus which lay west of Jerusalem. They are walking along the road, and they are talking and thinking – trying to understand what had happened in Jerusalem during this Passover celebration. Luke describes them as sad and gloomy.
Bible Scholar William Barclay points out that they were walking to the west towards the setting sun. This is important imagery. Barclay suggests that Christians should always walk towards the rising sun, that is the dawning of the new covenant, that is towards the Risen Christ. These men were walking to the setting sun not towards the Risen Christ. Perhaps that is why in their sorrow and gloom they did not recognize their Risen Lord when he came to walk alongside them.
They probably had been following Jesus from Galilee to Bethany where he resurrected Lazarus from the grave and then they probably had joined with his disciples in an awe inspiring, jaw dropping and triumphant entry by Jesus into the Holy City. They probably ran along the side of the road waving palms and singing Hosanna, “Save Us”. They like so many others thought he was the Messiah coming to free Israel. Jesus was entering the city like a king, and they probably were convinced that he would take charge of the City and drive out the Romans.
Hosannah! Save us!
As they walked along the road that evening, they were still confused. They didn’t get it.
Jesus did not drive out the Romans. Moreover, Jesus had been crucified by the Romans and was lying dead in a tomb or so they thought. They didn’t understand anything of what the women had witnessed or what the two strange men in shinning white garments had told them. Bewilderment, confusion and doubt.
Then what happens?
Luke tells Jesus comes near and begins to walk alongside them. And this is the thing. Make note of this. They don’t recognize him. In John’s Gospel, we hear the Mary encounters Jesus at the tomb and takes him for a gardener. She doesn’t recognize him until she hears his voice. When Jesus appears to his disciples in the locked room, they don’t recognize him until he shows them his wounds. There was something about the risen Christ that was different from the Jesus that they knew. Eventually, when Jesus reveals himself, they can see him but before that, they are confused and not sure.
So now, Jesus comes near to these two men walking home to Emmaus, listens to their conversation and asks them, “Hey guys, what’s up?” Casually. Nonchalantly. Hey guys, what are you talking about?
They look at this man who has interrupted their walk as is he has a multiplicity of heads. One of them, Cleopas looks at him and asks, Hey Dude, are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what has just happened there?
Jesus plays dumb. “No. What do you mean?”
It’s almost as if he is waiting for them to tell him of the good news of the empty tomb and they found out that their Rabbi, God’s Messiah who had entered the Holy City on Passover, but who had been crucified by the religious leaders and the Romans had stunned the world by rising from and conquering death. Jesus is waiting for them to tell him that despite everything the Jewish authorities had tried to do the thwart God’s plan – that Jesus had flipped the script on them and walked out of the tomb. He had risen and was alive.
Hurrah! Right?
No! Instead, they recount only the horrifying events leading up to Jesus being placed into the tomb. They throw out that some women went to the tomb and said they could not find the body and that some angels told them he was alive, but still they did not understand.
What is it that Jesus next says to his followers? It is right there in verse 25.
“Why can’t you understand? How can you be so slow to believe all that the prophets have said?” Can you just hear and even feel the exasperation, the disappointment and even some sarcasm dripping from Jesus’ voice?
“Why can’t you understand?”
Even with Jesus standing before them, they could not see or understand. Remember I had said to you, there was something different about Jesus’ appearance. Mary didn’t recognize him. His own disciples don’t recognize him. These two men don’t recognize him. There was something different about him. I wasn’t there, so I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but I believe there was something different about Jesus that these witnesses could not fathom. All I can surmise is that they were still looking backwards into the darkness of sin’s death. They had not yet come into the Light.
So, Jesus, begins to teach them again the whole that Scripture had said about him from Moses through all the Books of the Prophets. They listen to him as they walk along. But they still did not see.
As they approach the village it is beginning to draw to the end of the day, so they ask this amiable fellow who they had been chatting with for at least a couple of hours to come and stay with them. As good hosts, a dinner is spread out for this guest.
What happens next? Jesus takes the bread from the table. He raises it in thanks to God blessing it and giving honor and praise to God’s Holy name. Now this is something they have seen before. Then Jesus breaks the bread and gives it over to them. What happens next?
THEN! THEN! Their eyes were opened, and they recognize him. It was like a “mike drop” moment. In an instant now they recognize Jesus and then – he disappears from their midst.
What do we have now? Still bewilderment and confusion.
These two men get up from the table, leave their homes and rush back to Jerusalem. They run to the room to find the other disciples, and they tell them of this extraordinary experience. But when they begin to tell their story, they find out that Jesus had already appeared to Peter [and the rest]. They conclude finally, it must have been the Lord. They recognized him when he broke the bread. The disciples recognized him when he showed them the nail holes in his hands.
So, these stories of how Jesus reveals himself as the risen Lord all have a common underlying theme running through them, as I had suggested earlier.
First Mary at the tomb. Bewilderment.
After she tells the disciples that the tomb was empty. After Peter and John run to verify her story, they return to their locked room. Confusion.
Mary is left sitting in tears left behind at the tomb staring into the emptiness where death lay. She is looking into the darkness of the tomb unable to see the light of the Risen Lord. Doubt.
Those two fellows walking on the road in their somber gloom were still facing the setting sun. They had been talking with Jesus for a couple of hours. Still, they didn’t recognize him until he broke the bread and gave it to them. And then finally, they recognized him. Finally, the Light that had come into the world was beginning to shine upon them and come into focus.
The disciples in the locked room didn’t recognize him until he showed him the wounds in his hands and side. And he then said, “give me something to eat. I’m hungry.” Finally, the darkness of that locked room was flooded with the Light so that they could see the risen Lord.
All of this doubt, confusion and bewilderment was finally giving way to the Light of the Christ shining on them. It’s an amazing story.
It is an amazing story, and it is our amazing story of both bewilderment, confusion and doubt and then a sudden flooding of our reality with the shining Light of the Risen Christ.
My friends, this story of how our God stopped the world so that God could enter into our time, space and reality is a mike dropping event.
The notion that God, the immortal creator of the cosmos, would stop everything and enter into our time, space and reality just to keep a covenant promise is bewildering to some. They read through our scriptures looking for scientific proof and find only confusion. Others, who even if they want to believe, still have their doubts. And all of that is OK. It is all a part of our collective faith journey.
And this is the thing; it is OK to be bewildered by the awesome nature of our God. It is OK that when you read these stories you are somewhat confused. And it is OK to doubt that God would want to repair the brokenness of creation by taking up God’s hand and personally becoming a part of it.
Yes, it’s OK. Jesus and God understand you because they have seen it before. And they will help you deal with your bewilderment, confusion and doubt in the same way they helped the women standing at the door of the tomb, in the same way they helped the disciples hiding in that locked room, in the same way they helped those two men walking towards the setting sun on the road to Emmaus. They will send God’s Holy Spirit to nurture and guide you; to help to turn you away from the darkness of sin’s dark tomb and help you to turn and walk toward the Light of the Risen Lord.
My friends, it is OK that bewilderment, confusion and doubt are a part of our faith journeys. In fact, we might pray that it be so. Let us pray, Creator God fill us with bewilderment when we hear the story of your amazing love and mercies. And then, when we are confused and doubt that you can love us in this way, let your Holy Spirit shine your Light upon us to show us your way.
