Daily Dose of Hope
September 25, 2025
Scripture – Luke 24:1-35
Prayer: Today we pray an ancient prayer from St Ambrose of Milan, who lived from 337-397 AD...O Lord, who has mercy upon all, take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me the fire of Your Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore You,
a heart to delight in You,
to follow and to enjoy You,
for Christ's sake.
Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional/podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan. We are currently working our way through a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts. Today, we begin a deep dive into Luke 24.
We start with Luke's resurrection account. And today, we find ourselves walking with the women: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others. These are real women who traveled with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, they cared for his needs, learned from him, witnessed his power and glory, and loved him. This has been a horrible week for them. They helplessly watched him die. And now, filled with grief, they want to anoint his body for burial. They need to do this. I should mention that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. His body was hastily put in a tomb just before the Sabbath began (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown). So they have to wait to prepare his body for burial. Saturday night, it would have been too dark to take care of the body so we are meeting them probably very early on a Sunday morning. They are ready. They have brought their spices, they plan to attend to the body properly. In the Jewish culture, a proper burial demonstrated honor for the deceased and for these women, it was an act of love and respect.
But when they get there, the most unexpected thing happens. The stone has been rolled away from the tomb and the tomb is empty. Jesus' body is simply not there. This doesn't make sense to them. And it was while they were wondering about where the body is, totally confused and perplexed, that two men in dazzling clothes (clothes that gleam like lightening), we can assume they are angels, they stand by the women. And the women put their faces down, they were probably scared out of their minds. And the men say, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?"
Such a bizarre question. Why do you look for the living among the dead? They are at a tomb, which is typically where dead bodies, not living bodies, are kept. And they fully expected Jesus' dead body to be there. Afterall, they saw Jesus die. They were the last to leave the cross. They saw his limp, lifeless body placed in the tomb. What do you mean? Why do you look for the living among the dead? But the sparkling men continue…he is not here, he is risen. Remember how he told you these things? Way back when you were in Galilee, he told you this was going to happen?
It was then that they remembered his words. Multiple times, Jesus had said told them but it didn't make sense at the time. Whether they simply weren't paying enough attention or they didn't want to know the truth, they didn't understand. Luke 9:22, And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Now, it's all coming together. They do remember! Maybe they don't completely understand but they know that something totally unexpected, something totally amazing has happened, and they can't wait to tell the others. So they burst into the room where the male disciples are hiding and out it comes. They spill their guts. They tell them about their morning. You can picture it. They are probably talking really fast and they might have been talking over one another and kind of out of breath. They are excited. They are so excited!
And the guys, well, let's just say aren't impressed. They don't believe the women, saying their words were nonsense. Other translations say the men tell the women they were spreading an idle tale, that what they were reporting was fake news. It wasn't what they were expecting so it must not have been true. Wow.
The narrative ends with Peter getting up and running to the tomb. He also finds it empty, with the strips of burial cloth that would have been wrapped around Jesus' body just lying there on the ground. And he walks off, wondering what really happened.
And then the narrative shifts to a different scene. Two of Jesus' disciples, not the twelve but two other male disciples, one named Cleophus and the other left unnamed, were walking from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus. There are some walks that are longer than others — not because of the miles or even because of the landscape, but because of the burdens. This was a 7 mile walk but it might as well been a 27 mile walk because these men are distressed. They are grieving. They have been following Jesus. They believed him to be the Messiah and Savior and they have just seen him killed, murdered on a Roman cross. So, they are walking slowly and speaking intensely. The Greek suggests they may have been having some kind of theological argument. Bottom line: they are tired, weary, sad, and confused. They don't understand what they have just witnessed. And now they have to go back home and continue with their lives. You can kind of imagine the kinds of questions they had. Why did this happen? How did God allow this to happen?
I can relate to their distress. Every one of us, at some point, will have to take a walk to Emmaus. Some of you have been down this road already or you are walking it right now! In this world we will have trouble. And it will hit close to home. There will be times when all hope seems lost, and our world seems to be crumbling around us. Maybe it's a walk out of an office where you have given years of your life but you are now being let go. Maybe it's a walk out of the doctor's office after your spouse has just been given a terminal diagnosis. Maybe it's the walk out of the attorney's office after the divorce papers have been finalized. These are painful walks, in which we question God. God, how could you let this happen? God, I thought you were powerful and real. What in the world is going on here? In some way, all of us have experienced a walk like that.
Now, Jesus interrupts their argument, but they don't know it's Jesus at this point. They are kept from knowing him. He is a stranger to them. I love this. Because Jesus shows up to them JUST as he shows up to us. We don't always recognize his presence either. I don't know about you, but I've had times in my life that were so difficult, so painful, so anxiety-provoking, that I am so consumed with those feelings and then I look back and realize later, that Jesus was there with me. His presence was real. It was protecting me, guarding me, guiding me. Jesus has a way of showing up when we need him most. We just don't always recognize it.
Here's the thing. Jesus could have said, "Hey guys, its me. I'm here. I've fixed everything. Look, I'm alive!" But he doesn't do that. Instead, he says, "Don't YOU understand?" And he begins to explain, starting at the very beginning of Scripture and walks them through the prophecies, walks them through how God said he would send a Savior who would have to suffer and die. Hope and faith must have begun to stir their hearts as he spoke. They must have never heard, really heard, the gospel like this before—a gospel that included the suffering of the Messiah before entering his glory—told by the resurrected Lord himself! Now, keep in mind, their circumstances have not changed but their perspective is beginning to change. Faith is budding.
They invite Jesus (still a stranger to them) to come stay with them. It's late and they insist that he come and dine with them. It was at the table, when they were breaking bread together that they recognize him. Just as he did on Thursday night in the Upper Room --- it's when he takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and offers it to them. Their eyes are opened and they know – this is our Jesus. Are our eyes open to Jesus when we break bread together?
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki
