Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
All right well welcome to the Bible guys my name is Chris. This is Jeff and we are your hosts for this excuse me, this podcast.

Jeff:
And we have a great episode today. We’re talking one of my favorite resurrection stories is when Jesus appears to these two travelers, these two disciples who don’t recognize him. So I love it. The road to Emmaus. Yes. One of my favorite stories. Yes. But before we get into that, it’s time for everybody’s favorite segment. We’ve missed it the last couple of weeks, right?

Chris:
It doesn’t happen every Friday. It sprinkles in every couple of Fridays.

Jeff:
I know, but people love it, and that is, if you’re new to the podcast, Chris has very strong, passionate opinions about almost everything. That’s not true. That is true. I said that’s not true! And so the question that we love asking, and everybody’s favorite segment is, what made Chris mad this week? And so for our listeners, just so you know, Chris isn’t mad for himself. This is what he wants you to know. He wants you to know that he’s mad on behalf of all of humanity. He’s vicariously angry for the rest of us.

Chris:
I honestly don’t believe that I discovered that about myself until we were doing this segment. Yeah. Because what I realized is most of the time, most of the time when my family’s with me and I get mad, that’s the missing link.

Jeff:
It couldn’t possibly be that you’re mad about a thing and you’re projecting it for everybody else, assuming they’re also mad about the same thing. It depends. Projection. Your vicarious anger couldn’t just be projection.

Chris:
I know you’re just doing this to get a rise out of me. But I’m going to answer you honestly, which is, which is the answer to that question is I have to really truly ask myself that hard question. Yes. And I’m telling you my righteous indignation almost immediately goes for the fact that it’s for everybody else. Like, like, like if I have a bad server or restaurant experience.

Jeff:
It certainly makes it more noble.

Chris:
No, no, no. I’m telling you, if I have a bad restaurant experience, I’m angry that that server is destroying that business and that guy has hired her and future people. And so if I don’t say anything, you know, that kind of thing. So, so anyway, uh, here is what I was thinking. What got me mad this week.

Jeff:
So what made you mad this week?

Chris:
So actually it was last week. Cause today is what is today?

Jeff:
Today’s Thursday.

Chris:
So this would have been last. Thursday. Yes. So it’s still within a week. I know what you’re going to talk about. Yeah. So you and I had traveled on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. That’s correct. We were going there to check out a potential ministry partner, a global partner. So we were trapped in a, cause it was on the Virgin islands and we were trapped in St. Thomas airport.

Jeff:
That’s correct. So we had flown down to St. Croix first for some meetings with some pastors. Yes. And then we were trying to get to the Dominican Republic.

Chris:
And so we had a whole bunch of flights. We were going there by way of St. Thomas.

Jeff:
We flew on a float plane. Yes. Yeah. That was the first time, right? On a seaplane. Yeah. That’s really neat where we landed out in the water. Super cool. So anyways, but we’re in St. Thomas and we get trapped. Yeah, we get trapped. Because our pilot couldn’t see the runway when it was raining.

Chris:
Which, by the way, I found out is a thing. It is a thing. Because my future son-in-law is a pilot.

Jeff:
So he flew around the island a couple times and went back to Puerto Rico. Yes. So I don’t want to fly with a guy who can’t see the runway. Yes, that’s correct. That’s one of my opinions. Yes.

Chris:
So even though, by the way, side note, the other airlines had multiple planes landing in the same time, in that same time.

Jeff:
Yes. Anyways. Anyways. So that’s what made me mad. But we wound up having, we got stuck at the airport.

Chris:
And the indicator should have been the fact that you chose an airline that number one, nobody’s ever heard of, not you, but Chad did. And number two, all the other big airlines had these big, huge desks, right? Like American Airlines has this massive desk and then, you know, Delta and JetBlue.

Jeff:
All branded really well.

Chris:
Spirit is this huge, you know, go up to the information table and literally our airline, who I’m not going to name because that’d be rude, but it’s called Silver Airlines. Okay. They, they wheel out this little desk. It’s like a rolling podium. And I mean, it’s, it’s not even up to your chest or up to your, up to your, uh, like, like waistline.

Jeff:
Right.

Chris:
It’s so small. And then, and then the sign was a piece of cardboard. It was a piece of cardboard. I’m like, what kind of,

Jeff:
Yes. And so this is the airline we chose. So you and I, we determined with Chad, no more silver. No. Right. So who names your airline? So we’re second best. Right. We’re going, we’re shooting for mediocre people. Right. Let’s get gold.

Chris:
Let’s get gold. So my complaint isn’t about silver, although that was terrible. It was actually the airport restaurant. Yes. So TSA shuts down at six o’clock. The airport’s extremely little. We’re there for probably what, four hours?

Jeff:
Oh, four or five hours.

Chris:
Four or five hours. We’re the only ones there. It’s just us three plus like 12 other people. The only people on this flight. Everybody’s gone home. Right. And there’s only one restaurant in the whole thing. So we were like, oh, we have to go and get in. By the way, they even closed early. Right. So we go in there and we we order food. And we ordered, people listen to this right now, we’re not talking about different… Ooh, Chris is about to go off. Okay, we’re not talking about different monetary payment here, we’re talking about U.S. dollars.

Jeff:
Right, and we didn’t sit down and have steak and… No.

Chris:
Right. We ordered three white bread tuna fish sandwiches. They were literally two pieces of white bread with tuna fish, which by the way, Can you get a cheaper sandwich than tuna fish?

Jeff:
Especially on an island in the middle of the ocean.

Chris:
Right. Tuna fish has to be the cheapest thing you could buy. Just about. With a bag of chips, a normal bag of chips and a soft drink. That’s correct. Okay. That’s it.

Jeff:
And then I got a little chocolate cake. You get a little chocolate brownie. I got a little Debbie brownie thing.

Chris:
Okay. So three tuna fish sandwiches, three bags of chips, three soft drinks with a Debbie brownie. Okay. And the total is… It doesn’t matter what you’re thinking, people. It’s going to be higher. It is. It was $88.10. And that made me so mad because it is a thing where they got you. Yeah. They, they know you can’t go anywhere else. Yeah. We were stuck. And that’s often the case, right? The theater has you with, with their concessions, right? They’re going to jack at the prices, but even a theater wouldn’t, this was triple the amount of theater would have charged.

Jeff:
$88 for two or for, for tuna fish sandwiches, chips. Yeah. And it was, it was like one of those little tiny bags. It was like 85% air. Right. Right. You got like 11 chips on the bottom of the bag.

Chris:
Dude, that meal.

Jeff:
And a medium sized Coke.

Chris:
That meal cost, it should have cost $2 a meal. Yeah. Right. Maybe $5.

Jeff:
Retail probably even $10, $10 a meal would have been, been more than fair.

Chris:
Right. $10 a meal is $30. Right. We paid $88, almost $90. Right. Yeah. It was, I was so irate. I wanted to torch the place.

Jeff:
And I didn’t remember seeing any signs. No. I just walked up. The only thing that they had was sandwiches. So you just grab it, the sandwich. Right. Right. And then chips. How much is chips? Right. Even expensive chips would be like three bucks, four bucks. Right. Right. Right. And that’s what and then, oh, yeah, I’ll just take one of those little 20 ounce Cokes. And yeah, next thing you know, it’s eighty eight dollars. OK, I’m going to agree with you on that one.

Chris:
Yeah. And so here’s here’s my anger. My righteous designation goes toward any business that has you. If they got you, you got to pay their prices. They trapped you. Here’s an idea. Don’t take advantage of that to the point to where it is grotesque. Right. Egregious. Right. Right. That was just beyond. And it’s just, it’s gross.

Jeff:
Well, thank you for being angry for us, Chris. We appreciate it. And keep up the good work.

Chris:
Keep up the good work.

Jeff:
Okay. So, at the roll-in, I mentioned that this is… Hey, by the way, I didn’t want to torch the place.

Chris:
I wasn’t that angry.

Jeff:
I was going to say, don’t say that because TSA is never going to let you fly again. No, that’s right. That’s right. They’ve got you now. And you know, you have a very distinctive voice. It’s going to be hard to prove it wasn’t you. That’s true. Okay. So I mentioned at the roll-in that this is one of my favorite stories. I love this. It’s the two disciples on the way to Emmaus and it says this in Mark chapter 16. That same day, two of Jesus, Luke chapter 24, says the same story, only goes further. It says, that same day, two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them, what are you discussing so intently as you walk along? And they stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, you must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days. What things, Jesus asked. The things that happened to us, to Jesus, the man from Nazareth, they said. He was a prophet who did powerful miracles and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. but our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who’d come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning. And this is Luke. You shifted into Luke. I am in Luke. Thank you. Oh, my bad. Yeah, no, no, no worries. No, my bad. I made Jeff mad this week.

Chris:
Yeah. Chris interrupted you. Don’t interrupt me.

Jeff:
Then some, they said, then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing and they’d seen angels who told them Jesus is alive. Some of our men ran out to see and sure enough his body was gone, just as the women had said. Then Jesus said to them, you foolish people, you find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory? Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the scriptures the things concerning himself. By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, stay the night with us since it’s getting late. So he went home with them and as they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. And suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared. And they said to each other, didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us? And within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, the Lord has really risen. He appeared to Peter. Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. Isn’t that great? I love that story.

Chris:
It’s so good. It says they appeared to Peter and then there’s an asterisk there.

Jeff:
What is the asterisk? Mark’s… what is it, Luke?

Chris:
Yeah. So it’s just, Oh, it’s just, it’s just explaining as they reclined. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff:
So, um, or Simon Luke 24, 34, it’s a Peter, but the word there in the Greek was Simon.

Chris:
Same guy. Gotcha. So, um, this is an amazing story. And I think the best part about it for me, well, obviously the best part about it is he’s risen, but, uh, but the, but the, but the best part about the dialogue is even, it even says that Jesus acted as if he was going to go on.

Jeff:
Yeah.

Chris:
But then they said, please stay with us. So he did. In other words, the scripture is telling us that Jesus had no intention to go on. So there’s a ruse that Jesus is, he’s obviously clearly hiding his identity, right? Right. So he made it to where their eyes were opened when he broke the bread. That’s right. So that means the entire time he was knowing, that he was pretending, he was acting, Oh, so, so tell me what, what about this Jesus go on. Right. And then he pretends to be this educator of the scriptures. Uh, you know, just, just trying to be somebody who would have been like a supporter or follower believer of Jesus. And then all of a sudden he opens his eyes, he opens their eyes. Right. And so anyway, it’s just, there’s, there’s a clear intentional deception, harmless deception of, of Jesus, uh, having fun, I guess.

Jeff:
Yeah, I don’t think he’s deceiving them. I think that he’s leading them on a journey of discovery. That’s what he’s doing there, I think, but yeah.

Chris:
Well, deception not in the negative way, but just in its… He’s allowing them to still stay ignorant of who he was.

Jeff:
They didn’t recognize him and he didn’t expose who he was. Yeah. But I love the phrase, didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us. Because the Bible says that Jesus, he’s walking, what are you guys grieving? Oh, didn’t you hear? How in the world have you been in Jerusalem and not hear all the when I happen, right? Are you guys, are you serious, dude? Yeah, you’re the only guy. Are you the only person who has no idea? And then they’re giving him new news. And today, some of our women said, they went to the tomb, he’s gone. Right? So that’s stuff that this guy wouldn’t have known. Some stranger that walked down the street wouldn’t know that the insiders all knew Jesus was gone. So this is really neat because this is not one of the 11. Right? These two aren’t ones of the 11. Which means Jesus had other disciples, he had other followers, right? And we know that, that there were a lot of people who truly followed. This Cleopas may have been the husband of one of the Marys, remember, when it talks about that? We’re not sure, but it could have been. There’s all kinds of questions as to who these guys were, but the reality was Jesus had other followers that weren’t one of the, you know, the 12 disciples and that’s a really cool thing that, you know, you don’t have to be one of the insiders for Jesus to want to come and spend time with you too, right? So he comes and he’s with them and he begins to unpack it, but the Bible says, and this is the part I love, it says that, he says, Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory? And then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So he begins to unpack that Jesus was all throughout the Bible. The whole theme of the Bible is that. Have you ever heard anybody go through the list of Jesus in every book of the Bible? No, what do you mean? No. So let me do this for you. In Genesis, Jesus is the Word of God. He’s creating the heavens and the earth, right? He’s the promised seed of the woman. I’m actually saying this, by the way. In Exodus, Jesus is the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, Jesus is the high priest and the representative of the tabernacle. He’s the lampstand. He’s the showbread. He’s the sacrifice on the altar. In Numbers, Jesus is the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, the smitten rock that gives living water. In Deuteronomy, Jesus is the prophet that’s greater than Moses. In Joshua, Jesus is the commander of the army of the Lord, leading his people into the promised land. In Judges, Jesus is the true and final judge. In Ruth, Jesus is the kinsman redeemer. In 1 and 2 Samuel, Jesus is the anointed shepherd king who slays the giant. In 1 and 2 Kings, Jesus is the righteous king of kings and the Lord of lords. In 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Jesus is the faithful restorer of the kingdom. In Ezra, Jesus is the faithful restorer of the temple. In Nehemiah, Jesus is the redeeming rebuilder of the walls. In Esther, Jesus is the sovereign protector of his people. In Job, Jesus is the living redeemer and our true comforter. In Psalms, Jesus is the good shepherd who hears our cries. In Proverbs, Jesus is wisdom. Ecclesiastes, he’s the meaning of life. In Song of Solomon, Jesus is the loving bridegroom coming for his bride. In Isaiah, Jesus is the promised Messiah, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. He’s the suffering servant, wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities. In Jeremiah, Jesus is the potter and the righteous branch. In Lamentations, Jesus is the weeping prophet. In Ezekiel, Jesus is the river of life bringing healing to the nations. In Daniel, Jesus is the fourth man in the fiery furnace. In Hosea, Jesus is the ever faithful husband pursuing his faithful bride. In Joel, Jesus is the restorer of what the locusts have eaten and the one who will pour his spirit on his people. In Amos, Jesus is the burden bearer and the true restoration. Obadiah, Jesus is the judge of all the earth and the mighty to save. In Jonah, Jesus is the salvation of all the lands and the prophet cast out in the storm who spent three days in the depths. In Micah, Jesus is the promised Messiah born in Bethlehem. Nahum, Jesus is the avenger of God’s elect. In Habakkuk, Jesus is the reason for rejoicing in our strength, even when the fields are empty. In Zephaniah, Jesus is the preserver and restorer of his remnant and kingdom. Haggai, Jesus is the desire of all the nations. Zechariah, Jesus is the cleansing fountain and the pierced sun whom every eye on earth will one day behold. And in Malachi, Jesus is the son of righteousness, rising with healing in his wings, and he’s the refiner’s fire. Those are the ones. Now, you can go on, we can go on Matthew through Revelation too, but those are the, he went through through Moses and all the prophets, and he declared all of the scriptures about him to these guys. And then they said, didn’t our hearts just burn within us when he was talking?

Chris:
So when you were reading that, I realized, I didn’t know what you meant when you said it, but as soon as you started reading it, I got it. So me and my really good friend Reed, we did a duet uh, in my first church I was a part of, and this is one of the songs that we sang. Sure. And, uh, it’s, it’s almost like verbatim. Sure. That. And so you say Genesis, he’s the Exodus. Okay. So we went through the whole thing. Right. And it’s a pretty long song. I think it’s like a five minute song. Right. And so, you know, and people follow along and as long as like, you know, that was long, even to read for you. Right. So imagine stretching out to a song when you sing it. And so we finally got to Zechariah and Malachi, and then we went into this big chorus, you know, this big, you know, sort of bridge kind of a thing, right? And then we said, in Matthew, and we started going, Matthew, and you could just see the whole audience going, oh. Yeah. Like there’s 26 more, you know, because that’s a long song, you know. And I’ve had people tell me that they’re like, we thought you were done after that’s a relic.

Jeff:
So Jesus is the central figure of the entire Bible. Every book of the Bible, you can find Jesus in. Right. And so that’s the idea here is that he went through the entire scriptures, all of the scriptures that spoke of him, he says. And they said our hearts just burned within us. And so a lot of times people view the Old Testament and New Testament as separate books. They don’t really know how the Old Testament connects to the New Testament. But Jesus recognized that the Old Testament pointed to him. That’s the only Bible they had. When these two men walked down the road to Emmaus, they didn’t have the Gospels. They didn’t have all of Paul’s writings and Peter, James, and John’s writings, right? And Jude’s writings. They only had the Old Testament, what we would view as the Old Testament. And Jesus was clearly articulated through every book in the Old Testament as well. And so, you know, there’s value, great value in digging into the Old Testament. In fact, when we’re done with these 250 events in the life of Jesus, you and I are going to go back and we’re going to take the highlights, like 180 highlights in the Old Testament, tying it all back to, we’re going to tell the main stories, but it all ties back to Jesus. And so we’re going to talk about that, but that’s exactly what Jesus did with these guys on the road to Emmaus. Yeah.

Chris:
And I love it. I look forward to that series. Oh, it’s going to be great. And it’s going to take the Bible guys all the way through to the end of 2024. That’s correct. Yeah. Which is going to be really cool.

Jeff:
So we’re kind of picking up with this story. Yeah. We’re going to do the same thing. We’re just going to take the big ideas of the Old Testament, 180 of the key passages, and all of it points to Jesus. Yeah.

Chris:
We’re going to try to connect the dots.

Jeff:
Yep. Yep. It’ll be fun.

Chris:
Which is really, really fun. So one more thing, and that is, it says that when he broke the bread, their eyes were opened and then he disappeared. And so my movie self has him like breaking the bread. You know, remember the monkey who breaks the fruit above Mufasa’s or above Simba’s head, right? And he reaches up, he breaks the little, and the juice comes out, right? Obviously Jesus probably didn’t do that. But I’m picturing like him holding up the bread and going, and then breaking it. doing a magician, and then he’s gone, right?

Jeff:
Yeah, I doubt that.

Chris:
I doubt all that, but that’s the way I see it in my head, right? But the bottom line is- He’s so weird. He disappears. Well, you want to hear how weird I was? You know, here’s how weird I am. You said a minute ago, you’re like, Hey, these guys weren’t, these guys weren’t ding-dongs. Oh, right. And it took me like 30 seconds to stop singing ding-dong, the witch is dead. or hearing songs in my brain. It’s a ding dong. And I was like, I was like, why do you have to say ding dong? I’m sorry. Yeah. I have ADHD. So, um, anyway, but the, the fact that he, uh, the fact that he broke the bread and then their eyes were open and then he disappeared. Okay. So obviously I’m having fun with the dramatic piece of the movie piece, but my point of that whole moment is the fact that Jesus knew that was the moment that they got it. Right. Like, like Jesus knew and he disappeared.

Jeff:
And then he had other work. He had other work to do.

Chris:
Right. And, but yet he spent so much time all the way till evening. Yes. He spent time with them. And so, again, this is just another example, just as he appeared to Mary in the garden, where he wanted to walk them through, and he cared about their doubts and their concerns, and he wanted to walk them through, and he wanted to say, let me take the time to connect all the dots for you. And it says he talked all the way on the road to Emmaus, right? And it wasn’t thousands of people.

Jeff:
It was two people. So this brings up another thing, by the way. They had this incredible encounter with Jesus and so does every believer. And then a lot of times we just feel like if Jesus could just stay and teach us, if Jesus could just come and stay. Jesus left them as soon as they understood, he moved on. But what did he leave with them?

Chris:
The message to tell others.

Jeff:
And the scriptures, what he just taught them. Did not our hearts burn within us when he explained to us the scriptures? He left them with his word and then he went on. And so you don’t need, you have currently, you don’t have to have a mountaintop experience all day every day when you’re walking with Jesus to really have the power of God. He left you with the Holy Spirit. We’re going to read about that, right, coming up. and he’s left you with his word. You have everything you need to do to keep moving forward. And so what they do, they run back and they tell everybody else what just happened. And it’s the same. So it’s not always mountaintop experiences and not always these intimate walks with Jesus. It’s also the fact that he left us with his word and that’s enough. Spend time in his word and you’ve got everything you need. That’s great. Yeah.

Chris:
Well, hey, that is a great place to end. And so we will pick it up on Monday. Hopefully you’ll join us and we’ll see you then on The Bible Guys.