Luke 24:13-35
April 19, 2026
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA.
Preaching after Easter, two weeks ago without including the passage about the Road to Emmaus would have left you missing an important chapter of the story. It’s like not watching the middle episodes of an entertaining mini-series on Netflix. You may have watched the finale, but you have no idea why it ended the way it did.
Unlike how we dyed eggs for an Easter egg hunt or decorated our sanctuary with blooming Easter lilies or sang “up from the grave He arose” and now these wonderful activities are faint in our memories, the resurrection stories in the Bible continued for 50 days after Christ is risen.
Just as quickly, like it was a miracle, that we had visitors and old church members coming on Easter Sunday, they have disappeared from their pews on this Sunday. The absence wasn’t so sudden of the gathered faithful community on that first Easter when what we read the Scripture for today. Rather, they were still talking about it on their walk toward Emmaus.
Chronos Time
Like us, two disciples had bet their lives on Jesus, but now that Jesus is gone, they were returning to their ordinary, routine lives. Probably, they were going back to fishing or to their tax offices or following up on any missed appointments. They were on the road back to what T.S. Eliot simply called the human condition,
The condition to which some who have gone as far…
Have succeeded in returning. They may remember
The vision they have had, but they cease to regret it,
Maintain themselves by the common routine,
Learn to avoid excessive expectation.
What difference has the claim of a risen savior made, we wonder, if death still appears to have dominion on us? We learn to avoid excessive expectations.
We are governed by chronological time, from Sunday to Sunday, the days of the week, the hours in the day. Joy and I recently saw The Notebook, the Musical at the Orpheum in San Francisco. When the older Noah sang the song, Time,
Time, time, time, time
It never was mine, mine, mine, mine
But you know what is?
Love, hope, breath, and dreams.
If you have seen this musical, you probably cried as we did. Chronological time is happening to us all the time and when death happens, while we may not fully understand what may happen next, we go on with our lives. We return to our routines when we can trust what may happen next because it has happened before. We think we still have time when we can only have what is more important—love, hope, and dreams. That’s what the disciples did. In many ways, this is what happens to us too.
Road to Emmaus
What happened on the road to Emmaus is one of the most enticing stories in the Gospels. After the discovery of the empty tomb, the women report to the 11 disciples but the disciples met this news with disbelief. Peter runs to the tomb, finds what was reported, and goes home amazed. The Emmaus story connects the empty tomb discovery with Jesus’ appearance to all of the disciples.
After hearing the women’s idle tale, two disciples left their community in Jerusalem and was making their 7 mile walk to the village of Emmaus. Normally, that would be about 2 ½ hours. They were chatting about the dramatic events that have taken place. They talked about Jesus’ mission, the story of his passion, but without full understanding. And in their encounter with Jesus, the risen Christ reveals to the disciples the true meaning of his death and resurrection.
On the road to Emmaus, we see that when we go on a journey toward God, it often entails time. These two disciples, Cleopas and another took time to walk 7 miles, and on their walk, they conversed about everything that has happened. They took time to talk with a stranger who reveals himself as Christ. And after they shared with Christ what happened and asked why these things occurred, the Risen Christ explained why the Messiah suffered beginning with Moses and all the prophets. This probably took some time.
The Risen Christ started with God creating life out of chaos. From the slavery of Egypt come freedom and a homeland. From the destruction of exile comes a renewed people. Jesus’interpretation of the Scriptures for the disciples gave them true understanding of the meaning of his death and resurrection. Now, their hearts burn within them. It took a walk and time to explain to these disciples the meaning of the Messiah’s purpose.
When these two disciples came near to the village, they strongly urged Jesus to stay with them because it was already almost evening and the day was almost over. The Risen Christ took more time to linger with them.
Today and on any day, we need not be too hard on ourselves or on others about our belief in Christ. It took time to believe and Christ has lots and lots of time to wait for us to believe in God’s own timing. While we may think that our chrono time is racing by us, Time, time, time is not mine, mine, mine, Christ is ever-present still inviting us to believe with no definite deadline.
Kairos Time
As people of faith, we also know about Kairos time—unlike chrono time or chronological time on your time piece, Kairos is God’s time.
The road to Emmaus, a 7-mile journey is a good deal of time to dwell in hopelessness and helplessness. We know this kind of time too well. With no more Easter lilies or colorful Easter eggs or even filled pews of worshippers to remind us, we have no clues of where we should be going or what we ought to be doing.
Are we, like the two disciples on a journey through time and we don’t recognize the one who walks near us to understand our conditions? Whether we are present or absent, are we just walking and talking through life as though nothing more than death has happened?
Are we wondering about the troubles that we have seen or whether life is just a matter of fate? How should we fill our time of sorrow or are we filling it with a dream wish of what our culture is proposing? Are we still trying to stop time with little bottles advertised for the fountain of youth? Do you think time is mine?
The two disciples on the road noticed a stranger walking besides them as the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed. In Luke, 24:17, when Jesus questions them, “They stood still.” They stopped in their tracks. This in no longer chrono time but it is Kairos time—God enters into our time.
When God enters into a conversation that we might think we are having ourselves, God breaks into our human historical time. When our horizontal time perspective is assumed from above and crossed by the vertical perspective of God’s word—we cannot but find our lost selves standing still. We come to a crossroad. No longer are we talking about how many miles we have walked, the moment at hand is that the eternal has invaded our time.
Some years ago, when I was in Educational Ministries in Valley Forge, I was sent to talk about the America for Christ Offering in Maine. This was a new church start on a ski resort. Now coming from Boston, you would think that I would ski! But growing up in the city and from immigrant parents, skiing was always seen by me as a sport for the more affluent.
When I got to this ski resort, I discovered that there wasn’t even a church sanctuary to pitch the importance of the offering. This congregation didn’t meet in the ski resort chapel either! I asked, where do you worship?
To my great surprise, they worshiped on the slopes! I was told they do an opening prayer at the top of the slope, when they stop next, half way down the slope, they hear a message, and when they get down the mountain, they do the benediction! I said, this is not for me! They assigned the wrong person to Maine to raise funds for AFC!
So, as a city-dweller, I went shopping at the gift store. When I was browsing to buy souvenirs for our two young kids, I met another tourist and for some unexplainable reason, she asked what I did. We got coffee and sat to talk about finding God on a ski slope in Maine.
When I thought that I couldn’t complete my assignment in Maine, God had another plan for me—to give a witness to someone who was searching for God in her life. The chrono time would have been trying to ski down the mountain, but the Kairos time that God had for me was to give witness to this person.
On the road to Emmaus, these two disciples thought they had all the time in the world to face their disappointments, understand the confusion, to return to their old lives when they thought that Jesus was the Messiah and the answer to all of their problems, only to encounter a Kairos moment with Jesus Christ himself. Their hearts were burning while they talked with Jesus Christ and their lives were never the same again.
The Lord’s Supper
When Jesus accepted the invitation to stay with them and took his place at the table, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them, it was then that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. This is the reason why we observe The Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of every month at church.
We recognize Jesus’ sacrifice when we break bread to nurse our broken faith and we pour out wine into our cups to reminds us of the blood shed for the forgiveness of sins so that we may have everlasting life.
We are all weary travelers on the road of life who need to feel alive with our hearts burning. Every month, we are reminded that sometimes it takes a long time in our life timeline to fully understand God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.
It could be walking for 7 miles. It could be 40 days between the crucifixion and the ascension. It may be a 7-mile nightmare walk but we are promised that it will lead to an Easter sunrise journey in time.
Your Journey Time
At the conclusion of the story, the risen Jesus vanishes from their sight, and the two disciples leave immediately to return to the community in Jerusalem. Jesus left to permit the disciples to make their own decisions on what to do next. Once they were confused and scattered not knowing what to do next; now they have a mission.
Jesus’ love is such that we are always free to turn our backs on him, close the door of our hearts against him, bolt our minds shut in fear of what inviting him in might involve. Jesus invites you and me to go on a journey with all the time in the world, but it’s up to you.
Robert Frost said, “would you take the road less traveled?”
The early church started in Jerusalem and reached “to the ends of the earth.” On this journey time at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, we begin here on the corner of Lakeshore Avenue and Mandana and we reach out to all of Oakland, all over the Bay Area, all over California, and to the ends of the earth.
If we can walk 7 miles, if we take the road less traveled because it is with the Lord, we can walk, teach, run, and perhaps linger for a while since we are in God’s time. In God’s time, we are tospread the Good News that Christ is risen, He is risen indeed to the ends of the earth!
Let us pray.
Dear God of yesterday, today and tomorrow; you who are patiently waiting for us to come to you and to live in your presence as sons and daughters of your beloved, we thank you for your merciful grace and love. Guide each of our steps to journey toward you so that our hearts may also burn brightly with the Good News of joy, love, and peace. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord watch over you every day and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift up the heavens and grant you peace with no time limits but for evermore!
Amen.