Present in Your Pain: Jesus is With You

Today we're looking at chapter 24 of Luke. If you look at the first few verses of this chapter, you'll see it says that Jesus was raised from the dead. Everybody was happy, a celebration. Then it takes us to a place where there's two guys on a road. I'm going to take you to that journey.

Verse 13, it says this, that same day, two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, 7 miles from Jerusalem.

As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.

God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?"

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces.

Picture this, they're walking along, they're discussing everything that had taken place, and they're going, "Okay, so how do we do this? How does it go? What are we supposed to be about? How are we going to make this happen?"

They begin to consider what God has been doing and how he's been working in their lives.

Jesus arrives, and they didn't recognize who he was, but I love how before they even got to talk, it was noted that sadness was written across their face. I'm going to give you a little something...  Jesus is present in my pain. 

He was there. They didn't know who he was. They couldn't recognize him.

Why?

Because it's hard to see clearly when you're in the middle of the situation. He was there. The risen savior was walking with them and asking, "How are you doing? What's going on?" There was sadness written all across their faces. They were in it deep. They were hurting, and they did not recognize that God was present with them in this moment.

Jesus is present in my pain. He was there. They didn't know who he was. They couldn't recognize him. Why? Because it's hard to see clearly when you're in the middle of the situation. He was there.

The risen savior was walking with them and asking, "How are you doing? What's going on?" There was sadness written all across their faces. They were in it deep. They were hurting, and they did not recognize that God was present with them in this moment.

The truth is, He's been with you the whole way, but you've failed to recognize, and I'm not placing it on you like you're a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad person. I'm saying it's so easy for us to get distraught and to be covered with the pain of what we're going through, to be covered with the moment that we can't clearly understand what's actually happening.

One of the guys, Cleopas, replies to Jesus, "You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there in the last few days."

I love Jesus' response. "What things?"

Okay, pastor Jeff note, my perspective matters.

Jesus cares what you think. He cares what you see. He cares about your perspective. He cares about where you've come from and what you've gone through. He wants to hear from you. Do you think he was really trying to figure out what happened, like he had some kind of reincarnation amnesia or something?

No, but he says, "I want to hear from you." Why? Because your perspective matters.

They bugged him and said, "Stay the night with us since it's getting late." He went home with them and they sat down to eat. He took the bread, and he blessed it, and he broke it, and he gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. At that moment, he disappeared.

They realized what's happened. They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?" It says, "Within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 disciples and the other who had gathered with them." They said, "The Lord has really risen. He appeared to Peter, and we saw him too."

There was something different about Jesus, and they didn't recognize it until they learned the pattern and recognized the pattern in his presence.

What did he do? How did they notice? It says that they recognized him when he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to him. This is the part for me that stands out the most, because all throughout history and time, and all throughout the text of Scripture, you see that this is the pattern. This is the way God works.

1. Taken Out
2. Blessed
3. Broken
4. Given Away

He said, "This is my body broken for you. Every time you take of this, do it in remembrance of me." He took the cup and he said, "This is my blood shed for you and often as you eat this bread and drink of this cup, be warmed, be filled, be encouraged. Remember and believe that I myself, just like everyone before me, was taken out, was blessed, was broken, and was given away." Their eyes opened, and all of a sudden, they remembered and they believed that every day for the rest of their lives, they would remember him taking that bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it away.

Here's how I want to end. I don't know where you find yourself today. Maybe you've been taken out of some stuff and some things and you're realizing, "I've been invited to be a part of a community that I'd never thought I would show up to or ever be a part of, but I've been taken out of some things and I needed to be rescued from some things and I needed to be pulled away from some things." Maybe you've been taken out and you're right there.

Maybe you're in the place in your life where you're being blessed. Maybe you're just living that blessed life, posting on the Insta webs and all the good things about how you're doing. Praise God for you. Most of us don't live there. Maybe you're in the middle of being broken.

Maybe you're in the middle of it, but let me tell you, when you look at the pattern of Christ, it says he takes it, he blesses it, he breaks it, and then he gives it away. We can't be given away unless we've been broken, and so we say, God, I'm going to trust that you're going to be with me every step of this way, and I'm going to trust that you are present in my pain.