The Journey Just Started

Luke 24:13-21

In 1929, Georgia Tech played against UCLA in the Rose Bowl. There was a young player Roy Riegels, who made a very big mistake. Roy picked up a fumble ball, and instead of running towards the goal, he ran in the opposite direction, towards the wrong goal line. Everyone was upset.

During half time, everyone was silent in the dressing room. Roy was sitting in the corner of the room face down. The coach was quiet, too. When the timekeeper came and announced it was time to start the game, the coach said, “Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second.”

Everyone except Roy moved out to start the game. The coach looked at Roy and said, “Roy, didn’t you hear me? The same team will play…”

Roy did not want to play. He said his mistake was too big to go out again.

I love the coach’s response. He said, “Roy, get up and go back. The game is only half over.” ¹

The Armenian Church calls this Sunday the New Sunday. It is the Sunday following the resurrection. “CACC, get up and move on, the game is not over.” The journey that we started with Jesus did not end. In fact, the journey just started. And this morning we meet two new men. They are not listed among the twelve, but they were followers of Jesus. Moreover, they were even called disciples, meaning they walked with, associated with and learned from Jesus and the twelve. These two were very disappointed from the death of Jesus. Their faces were downcast (17). Apparently, they gave up from Jerusalem and it was time to go to their normal lives. They were going to Emmaus, a seven-mile walk on a hot day. We read that they were talking and discussing. The word that used for “discussion” in Greek is syzetein, which means hot discussion. They were debating and most likely their voices were loud. Jesus moves into the picture. They do not recognize him. Jesus walks with them all the way to their destination and they do not recognize him.

Why? Some say Emmaus being on the west side of Jerusalem, the men would be walking with the sun in their faces. Therefore, they could not see very well. Maybe.

Others say they were very disappointed from the past events. Their dreams of a Messiah were shattered. “But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel...” (21). They were in a hot discussion. They had also heard something about the empty tomb. They had difficulty in believing. They were not in the “second half” because for them the game was over. The strange thing was that Jesus walking with them, talking with them, even teaching them, but they did not recognize him.

The question that comes to my mind is, “Do we have moments in our lives when Jesus was next to us and we did not see Him? Did we become so hot in our discussions that we missed the chance to recognize God’s presence next to us?”

Let me tell you some similar stories from the Bible where the disciples or other characters did not recognize Jesus or did not realize the presence of God with them.

- Matthew 8: 23-27. The disciples are in the boat and Jesus is sleeping. The storm is too strong. They wake him up. Jesus rebukes the storm. The response of the disciples: “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and waves obey him.”

- Luke 5:1-11. Some of the disciples are disappointed from fishing. Jesus shows them new place to fish. When the result of the fishing is amazingly abundant, Peter says, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

- John 14:5-12. Thomas says he is confused. He does not know where Jesus is going. Phillip says, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answers, "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

To be continued in English

1 Leadership, Spring 1992, “To Illustrate,” page 49.