Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Luke 24 and Psalm 40

(T)hey crucified Him; ²¹ but we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

For a moment, imagine this conversation on the road to Emmaus from Jesus’ perspective. He had just lived an entire human life sinlessly. He had resisted every temptation for 33 years and had poured out blood, sweat and tears to resist the urge to escape the cross. He been through the absolute agony of crucifixion, and even through death, to make the redemption of all humanity possible. Now, because of His death and resurrection, sin and death had been defeated, and everyone who repented of their sins and believed in Him could be redeemed from slavery to sin and death, and receive the free gift of eternal life. His mission had been wondrously accomplished! Yet these two men announced to Him that Jesus of Nazareth had failed miserably in His mission to “redeem Israel”. They had put their hope in Him, but their hope had been disappointed!

This would be like dejected fans greeting the world-cup winning Springbok Rugby team with the words, “We really hoped you were going to win the football world cup (sigh)!” But they never set out to do that! The fans’ disappointment would be completely misguided and you can imagine the bemused looks on the rugby players’ faces.

Jesus’ response to the disciples’ misguided disappointment is not at all surprising then, and He explains to them remarkably patiently how His death and resurrection had been God’s plan all along:

²⁵ (Jesus) said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Ultimately, it took a moment of divine revelation for the two men to finally have their eyes opened to recognise Jesus and to understand the wonder of what He had accomplished.

Life application: Have you ever been deeply disappointed and felt that the Lord has failed to accomplish what you had hoped He would? If you ever do, please remember this scene and ask the Lord to open your eyes to see what He was actually accomplishing in that situation. He never fails in His purposes and plans. It’s just that we don’t always understand His mission in our lives. To phrase it slightly differently, we’re not always sure “which world cup He is competing in”.