Lesson 9 – Jesus Appears on the Emmaus Road

The disciples recognized Jesus through the Scriptures and the breaking of bread. Christ comes to us and abides with us through Word and Sacrament and continues to open our eyes and strengthen our faith.

Opening

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This lesson will use the Bible, the Bible Discovery Guide and the Lesson 9 Leaflet from the Student Pack. The front cover shows how the artist sees Jesus walking and talking with two of the disciples after the resurrection. Also paper and pencil or crayons will be needed.

Read the Faith Words on page 4 of the leaflet.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, when sin entered the world through Adam, You promised a Savior to redeem all sinners. You sent Your own Son, Jesus, to die for the sins of all people. Now, as we celebrate His resurrection, remind us that we see Him in Word and Sacraments. Strengthen our faith as we study Your Word. Help us show forth in our lives what we profess with our lips. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Listen to the hymn "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today"  and follow along using  stanza on page 2 of the leaflet.

On page 3 of the leaflet, read The Apostles' Creed and answer the questions.

Answers are:

• Easter
• Jesus, to redeem our loss
• Alleluia!
• No, all sinners
• Salvation
• Gotten or obtained
• Above the sky
• Eternally
• Eternally
• Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
• Judge the living and the dead
• Communion of saints
• God the Father
• God the Son, or Jesus
• God the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost.

God Speaks

Print the Who Is It? page at the end of the lesson,. cut out the small squares and paste them to grid based on their letter-number labels.

Who is shown on the completed picture? Jesus

All of the pieces of the picture were there, but they weren't in the right order, so we couldn't recognize Jesus until the squares were organized This lesson is a story about recognizing.

Some of Jesus' disciples had heard that Jesus was risen, but they still didn't know what to think. They didn't yet recognize the fulfillment of Scripture.

Moses and the prophets-Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others-foretold hundreds of years before He was born that Jesus would be the Messiah. These writings, inspired by the Holy Spirit, became part of Holy Scripture. Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection were the fulfillment of this Old Testament Scripture.

Today, Christians include the New Testament writings of the Gospels, the Epistles, and the prophetic Book of Revelation in the term Scriptures.

On the map on pages 2-3 in the Bible Discovery Guide, find Jerusalem and Emmaus and determine the distance between them. Seven miles.

Read Luke 24:13-35 and answer the questions:

Who was walking? Two disciples; one was named Cleopas.

Who joined them? Jesus.

Why didn't they know  t was Jesus? They were kept from recognizing Him.

What were they discussing as they walked?  Jesus' death on the cross, and the stories they'd heard about His resurrection.

Why were the disciples so sad? What had they expected of Jesus?  They expected an earthly king. Now that Jesus had been crucified, they thought their king had died.

What had they been told? Jesus was not in His tomb;  angels said He had risen.

How did Jesus instruct these disciples?  He began with what the prophets had foretold, and He interpreted that He had fulfilled the Scriptures.

Why did the disciples want Jesus to stay with them? It was almost night. They were offering hospitality. Perhaps they wanted to hear more of Jesus' teaching.

Did they know yet that this was Jesus? No, they didn't

What act did Jesus do that caused them to recognize Him?  He gave thanks and broke the bread for their meal.

 What did the disciples remember after He vanished?  They remembered their excitement as Jesus taught: "Did not our hearts burn within us while He taught?"

How did the disciples respond when they recognized Jesus? They traveled back to Jerusalem, even though it was almost night.

Whom did they tell? They told the other disciples, the Eleven.

What were the Eleven discussing? Jesus' appearance to Simon.

We Live

Like the two disciples, we ask Jesus to stay, walk, and talk with us. The disciples in the lesson recognized Jesus through the breaking of bread.  While the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, they were not celebrating the Sacrament. This was an ordinary meal, and it was customary to divide the loaf of bread by breaking it into pieces.

The eyes of the disciples were opened by God. Jesus used ordinary examples to teach people His truth. Some of the different times Jesus used bread to teach or to make a point include feeding the five thousand, instituting the Lord's Supper, manna and its connection with the bread of life, and others.

Though Christ was not having Communion with Cleopas and the other disciple, this passage does remind us of Christ's work in our lives through the Holy Supper.

Even though bread and wine are used in the Sacrament of the Altar,  Luther explains in his answer to the question "What is the Sacrament of the Altar?" that "it is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink".

Jesus can be known to us today not only in the Scriptures but also in the Lord's Supper.

Can we see Jesus on our own today? Because of sin we are blinded; we are kept from recognizing and believing in Jesus as our Savior.

We are not kept from recognizing Jesus by God, as were the Emmaus disciples. We are blinded because of sin. We cannot see and believe the truth unless Christ takes our spiritual blindness away.

How does Jesus take away our spiritual blindness? Through the Scriptures, His Holy Word. Both the Old and New Testaments  have as their focus Jesus Christ and His suffering, death, and resurrection for our salvation. As Jesus opens the Scriptures for us, like He did for the two disciples, our hearts burn within us with a living faith that believes and trusts in Him.

We recognize God's love for us, and we hear about and receive His forgiveness when we are in church. We recognize that what God says to us in His Word is different from what we hear in the sinful world we live in. The world tells us it is okay to put ourselves first and think we are more important than others. The world tells us that when we have problems in our lives, our pain and sadness will go away if we drink and do drugs. The world gives us messages that it is okay to steal and cheat; lie; speak disrespectfully to parents, teachers, and others; dress in ways that do not give honor and glory to God; and hurt people physically and emotionally.

We hear in God's Word about our heavenly Father, who hates sin but loves the sinner so much that He sent His only begotten Son to take the punishment that the sinner deserves. Jesus' death on the cross paid the price. His resurrection fills us with hope and joy because it means we, too, will share in the resurrection on the Last Day. We recognize Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar, during which He continues to open our eyes and strengthen our faith.

One day you, too, will be able to eat His body and drink His blood for the forgiveness of sins and in remembrance of Him. The Holy Spirit gives us faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He has won our salvation for us.

How did the two disciples in this lesson feel before they recognized Jesus? They were sad and discouraged.

Why? When the disciples believed that Jesus was dead, they were sad. Their hopes of an earthly king were crushed The news of His resurrection confused them, because they didn't understand how it could be true. Yet through the Scriptures and the breaking of bread, Jesus opened their eyes so they could believe.

How did they feel afterward? (They were joyful.

How is this like people today - both before and after they believe in Jesus? Unbelief results in hopelessness and despair, but faith in the resurrection fills us with hope and joy.

It is comforting to know that Jesus is always with us and that we are His people by faith through Baptism.

Even though Jesus has ascended to heaven, He is with us always in His Word and the Sacraments. Jesus walks with us throughout our lives. We are His children whom He dearly loves. He will return to earth on the Last Day and take us to live eternally with Him.

Closing

 

On page 4 of the leaflet:

• Review the Key Point of this lesson.
• Read the Bible Words.
• Read the Prayer. 

Prayer: Lord God, thank You for showing Yourself to us through Your Word and Sacrament, and for giving us hope of our own resurrection. We love You, Jesus, and pray in Your name. Amen.