When Horrors like Paris and Mali Happen, You Can't Forget the End of the Story. What is the End? Read It Here.

I really like thrillers.   Those books, the good ones at least, well, they thrill me.  I can hardly wait to see what happens on the next page.   But sometimes, I wonder why.   Why do I find these books so thrilling? After all, I already know the ending. Let me make clear.  I don’t know it because I cheat.  I don’t peek at the last chapter.   So how do I know?   Because every thriller ends pretty much the same way. The hero wins.    You may not how he or she wins, but you can definitely know that they do. What sort of thriller would it be if you get to the end, and the villain shoots the hero dead?   It wouldn’t be a very good one.   Always at the end, the hero defeats the villains, solves the crime, makes what is wrong right again.  That’s part of what makes them so fun to read.

But do you realize, you live in a thriller?  You live in the most amazing, incredible thriller ever created.   But it isn’t a made up story.  It’s real.  It’s the most real thing in the entire universe.   And like any good thriller, we know the end of this story too.  But do you know this?   Do you really know it?  

Even if you know it, it can be easy to forget.  When bad news comes crashing into your life, you can forget.   When you see evil unleashed like we saw in Paris last week or Mali on Friday, you can forget.   How do you stay centered in the truth, in what is ultimately real, in a world where things still go horribly wrong?   In this story, Jesus shows us the way.  Let’s hear what Jesus has to say.  

Luke 24:13-35

In a world where things go so tragically wrong, how do you know things will come out right? How do you really know that? So that it changes your perspective; so that it transforms your life; so that it empowers you to live with the boldness of those who know the end of the story.   How does that happen?  It happens when you realize first that the truth really is the truth, and that, that truth walks with you every moment of every day.   And what is the truth?  Jesus lives.   Once you know that, really know it, you already know the end of the story, the only end that ultimately matters.  

As this story begins, Cleopas and his friend don’t have that end at all.   They only know this end.  The powers that be, have killed Jesus, the man they loved, the man they followed, the man they believed in.   And they are devastated.    They carry a sadness, a grief that has become almost overwhelming.   Do you see how Luke tells us that?   When Jesus approaches them, when he asks what are they discussing, what happens?   They stop.   At that question, they simply stand and bow their heads.    It literally takes a moment for one of them to collect himself enough to even answer his question.

And then they bring Jesus up to date on his own death.  Sheesh, you gotta see the irony in that.  Whenever I read this, I almost feel like I’m watching candid camera.   (These people think Jesus is dead, but he is actually the one talking to them right now.)    But what they say about Jesus tells us something crucially important.   How do they describe what happened?  They say.  “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.  The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him, but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”     Do you see where they go wrong?   One word says it all.  But…as in but we had hoped.

What had they hoped?   The word they use, redeemed, literally means to liberate from slavery.  And that’s what they expected Jesus to do.  They expected Jesus to liberate Israel, but not from sin and death, but from the evil Romans.  They looked for Jesus to raise up a revolution, to start a war.  That’s the liberation they were looking for.   But that liberation doesn’t liberate anything.  In the short term it does, but it never lasts.  Jesus didn’t come to change a little bit of history.  Jesus came to change everything, to change it forever.  Violence will never do that.   Only love will, only love that has no limits; that pays any price, only the love of God changes things forever.

In the midst of all the mess in the Middle East, you’ve gotta remember that.   ISIS has done horrible things.  They have killed thousands.  And in the face of that, defend ourselves, and the vulnerable who cannot do so, nations, including our own, may be compelled to fight.  But don’t deceive yourself.    You don’t defeat ISIS with guns and ammo.  Even the generals know that.   What defeats ISIS?    An old hymn says it best.  It starts out sounding well, war-like.  “Lead on, OKing eternal, the day of march has come; henceforth in fields of conquest thy tents shall be our home. Through days of preparation thy grace has made us strong; and now, O King eternal, we lift our battle song.”

But the second verse, tells the story:  “Lead on, O King eternal, till sin's fierce war shall cease, 
and holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace. For not with swords loud clashing, 
nor roll of stirring drums; with deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes.”   That’s how you defeat evil.    ISIS, and Boko Haram, and others, think violence and brutality wins the day.  But they will lose.    Those who trust in violence always have. 

Look at the Romans who crucified Jesus.   They had the greatest armies.  They created the biggest empire.  Yet, two thousand years later, we name our children, Peter and John, even Jesus.  And what do we name our dogs?  Caesar and Nero.   Does that not say everything?

Now for Cleopas and his friend, this truth is beginning to dawn.   They have heard the reports of the resurrection.  But they don’t yet believe.  So what does Jesus do in response to their doubts?  He delivers the proof   He lays out for them how the Messiah had to die and rise again from their own holy texts.  

And Jesus is still doing that, still delivering the proof.   In fact, he does it right here in this story.  Do you notice how Luke only gives us one name instead of two?  Why doesn’t Luke give us both names?  Did he forget?   No.  In ancient texts, when you include a name in an eyewitness account, youare delivering a sort of footnote.    What do I mean?  Well, what do footnotes do?  They substantiate your argument.  They deliver proof of the point you make.    And Luke is doing the same.  He gives the name of Cleopas, because when he is writing this story, Cleopas is alive.   Luke is saying.   If you doubt this, just go ask Cleopas.  He was there.   You see this sort of footnote in other places in the gospels.   When Jesus collapses carrying his cross, Mark tells us that the soldiers recruit a man in the crowd to carry it for him.   And how does Mark describe him?   He says.  “A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus.”  What do his sons have to do with it?  Mark is giving a footnote.   If you doubt this, ask Alexander and Rufus, it was their dad who did it.   Do you get this?   These stories in the Bible aren’t some nice fables meant to assure you that love triumphs over death.  They are telling you something that actually happened.    

How did followers who were so terrified, that instead of witnessing Jesus’ death they go into hiding become within a matter of weeks people who boldly proclaim that he is risen?   How, out of Judaism, the one religion in the world, most adamantly opposed to seeing a human being as divine, do you get devout Jews who say that very thing?   How does that happen?  It happens because this happened.   Jesus did rise from the dead.   Any other explanation is pretty much impossible.  As Sherlock Holmes put it.    “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”    

But Jesus doesn’t simply deliver a powerful argument to Cleopas and his friend, he delivers an even more powerful reality.   After their conversation, they invite him over for dinner.   And as he breaks the bread, they finally see.  It was Jesus walking with them all along.   But then they realize.  They already knew that, even before.  They say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road.”

In the end, you don’t know that Jesus lives, because you know it only in your head.   You know Jesus lives, because you experience him walking with you.   You don’t simply know the truth.  You experience the truth walking with you each day.

In this story, Jesus shows you how that works.   First, when Jesus walks with you, he meets you where you are.   Jesus doesn’t condemn Cleopas and his friend for missing the point of his coming.  He helps them see the point.    If you are struggling to believe, to begin the walk at all or just having a hard time putting one foot in front of another, know this.   Jesus is standing right where you are.  You don’t need to go anywhere to find him, he’s already there.

But while Jesus meets you where you are, he loves you too much to leave you there.   To walk with Jesus means you move forward.   You go somewhere.   And on that journey, you are not always going to know where Jesus is taking you.   But the more you walk, the more you will grow, the more you will become the very person you deeply yearn to be, that God created you to be.

That walk means you do your part.    You pray.  You read scripture.   You come to gatherings such as these.   And you give sacrificially to Jesus’ mission in the world. And as you pray, your prayers will become more like conversations with your best friend.  As you read the Bible, your heart will start to burn within you just like Cleopas’did.  . As you gather, you will not simply feel Jesus’ presence, you will see Jesus in those around you.   And as you give, you will discover what truly matters, instead of what the advertisers tell you does.  And in that giving you will learn that Jesus will always make sure you have enough bread for your journey.  He will provide.

Sisters and brothers, don’t you get it?  You know the end of the story.   You don’t know how we get to that end.  But you know it is coming.   The hero wins.  Love triumphs over hate.  Good defeats evil.    In fact, every good story is at its heart, this story, the story of Jesus.   How do you know this story is true?   Because, all the evidence makes clear that this actually happened.   But beyond the evidence, you can have the experience.  You can experience Jesus walking with you. 

And you can experience this, because Jesus first came to you.   He took the first step.  He walked in your shoes.  He became human.  He even became poor.   After all, it’s the poor who walk all the time.   And then he walked in your place.   He walked into death, into unspeakable suffering.  He walked into a place where even God cannot be found.    He walked there because he loves you.   And then he walked out of a tomb to show you that his love wins over everything.

Let him walk with you.   When you get worried over the news from Paris or Baghdad, remember Jesus defeated death.   So ISIS is no problem.   When you fell the weight of your worries and problems, let Jesus remind you, with him all things are possible.   You know, he rose again from the dead, don’t you?  So he can handle your problems.    When you simple feel alone, let Jesus remind you, you are not.    Let him walkwith you, and talk with you, and tell you that you are his own.   And the joy you will feel as you tarrythere, none other has ever known.