| Title: On the Road to EmmausTheme: Jesus reveals himself to his followers. (Third Sunday of Easter)Object: Image of Jesus graphic. (At the bottom of this sermon is a link to a page that you can print and make a copy of the graphic for each child.)Scripture: When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. Luke 24:30-31 (NIV)
This morning I have a picture for each of you. (Give a picture to each child) I want you to stare at the four small dots right in the middle of the picture. Concentrate and stare at the dots while I count to fifteen, then close your eyes. When you close your eyes, a white spot will appear and there may be a picture inside of that white spot. Let’s try it and see what happens. Are you ready? Okay, concentrate! One, two, three…….(to fifteen) Now, close your eyes and keep them closed. Do you see anything? You may open your eyes now. How many of you saw the face of Jesus? Some people have a little trouble seeing it at first, so if at first you don’t see the face of Jesus, keep trying and eventually you will see his face.
Our Bible lesson today tells an amazing story about a day when Jesus walked and talked with some of his followers, but they didn’t even recognize him. Here is what happened.
After Jesus was crucified and risen from the grave, two of his followers were walking on the road that led to a town called Emmaus. They were sad and were talking about what had happened to Jesus. Suddenly, Jesus joined the disciples and walked along with them, but they did not know who he was because God kept them from recognizing him.
“You seem to be having a very serious discussion. What are you talking about?” Jesus asked them.
One of the men answered, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem that doesn’t know what has happened the past few days,” Then they told them about how Jesus had been crucified, and buried, and that some women had gone to his tomb, but the tomb was empty. “We have heard that he is alive,” they said, “but we have not seen him.”
“Do you find it so difficult to believe what was written by the prophets in the Scripture?” Jesus asked. “It was predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory.” Then Jesus quoted passages from the writings of the prophets, explaining what the Scriptures said about himself.
By this time, they had come to Emmaus and the disciples invited Jesus to stay with them since it was getting too late in the day to travel. So Jesus stayed with them and when they sat down to eat, Jesus took the bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened and they saw that it was Jesus. Then just as quickly as he had appeared to them, Jesus disappeared.
They were so happy and excited to have seen Jesus that they ran back to Jerusalem to tell the others that they had seen Jesus.
Do you want to see Jesus? The Bible says, “You will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29) Oh, he may not appear to you in the same way he did to the disciples in our story, but If you study God’s Word and seek him with all your heart, he will reveal himself to you.
Dear Lord, open our eyes, we want to see Jesus! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
A printable Image of Jesus graphic: (PDF) (HTML) |
