THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER…A
The last 48 hours have left the apostles and disciples of Jesus devastated. The week before, the people were shouting: Hosanna to the Son of David. Five days later they are shouting : Crucify Him. On Thursday last, the apostles and Jesus went to Jerusalem for a Solemn feast – to celebrate Passover. By the end of the evening, it was a nightmare.

All of the disciples of Jesus – along with the apostles – thought that Jesus would declare His Kingdom…. the end of the rule by the Romans. But the bottom fell out of it. They just can’t believe that Jesus is dead – gone. What went wrong?

The disciples are a lot like all of us. Evil always seems to win out and Goodness is lost again. It was all going together so well, until Thursday night. These men are filled with despair. What went wrong? Why did Jesus let all this happen?

Now these two men are walking down the road – from Jerusalem to Emmas. Jesus catches up with them and asks what they are talking about. He keeps his identity from them and plays ignorant. As He explains the scriptures to them, their hearts and minds are closed to making sense out of it all. WELL…keep a few things in mind here:

1 – put yourself in the place of these disciples. We, and they… live in a world where GOODNESS is weak and EVIL is strong.
2 – Next, we all experience life – one event at a time. We have a hard time seeing the whole package.
3 – Ultimately, it was not an explanation, but a person that puts them back on their feet. They RECOGNIZE HIM.

Our hope is truly in the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead…believe, and you will be saved.
I think a little story sums up where we should be with our God.
This is taken from the book called: THE YEARLING – by Marjorie Rawlings. It was a Pulitzer prize winner. It all takes place in Appalachia.
The crippled and retarded boy dies – and the family asked Jodi, his friend, to say a few words at the grave:
The father of the dead boys says: “Jodi, you had a Christian up-bringing – we would be proud did you say something.”
The little lad began: “O Lord, Almighty God, it aint’ for us ignorant mortals to say what’s right and what’s wrong. If any of us had been doing it, we’d not have brung this poor boy into the world a cripple, and his mind all mixed up. But in a way of speaking, Lord, you done made it up to him. You give him a way with the wild creatures, You give him a sort of wisdom and made him knowing and gentle. The birds came to him, and the ground animals moved free around him.”

“Now you’ve done seen fit to take him where being crooked in mind or limb don’t matter. But Lord, it pleasures us to think you’ve done straightened out them legs and that poor bent back and them hands. It pleasures us to think on him moving around as easy as anyone. And Lord, give him a few redbirds and maybe a squirrel and a rabbit to keep him company. All of us here is a bit lonesome. But we know he’ll not be lonesome if he have them animals around him, if it ain’t asking too much to put a few animals in heaven. Thy will be done. Amen.”