God's Whole Story - Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter (April 19, 2026)

Scripture Readings: Acts 2:14a, 36–41 | Psalm 116 | 1 Peter 1:17–23 | ​Luke 24:13–35

“Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” (Luke 24:26-27).
 
What kind of story do we think we are living in?
 
Our lives are, of course, a lot more complicated than all the novels and movies we create, and which tend to fit into neat little categories. In reality, each of our stories are a unique combination of experiences… and moments of tragedy, and romance, and laughter, and adventure… and horror… and boredom… and hope.
 
Even so, I think it is helpful at times to remember that whatever season of life we may be facing right now… that this season is not the whole story… it’s only one part… one chapter in our much wider story… a story that’s actually much bigger than our own. After all, we are a part of the story of God’s people, living in God’s world. The great divine drama into which we are all being graciously invited to play our own part as it continues to grow and unfold.
 
As Christians, we seek to understand our own lives, as complicated as they are, within the context of God’s story: how the Living God has made Himself known, and what He is up to in our world. Only then can we really discern what He wants from us… what it means to faithfully follow Him. 
 
But as it turns out, God’s story isn’t that simple either. It comes to us, not as a straightforward, simplistic narrative, or as a random collection of moral fables… but as an intense, and nuanced, and puzzling, and piercing account of our great Creator seeking to set His wayward creation aright, even as we humans keep getting in the way. And if we don’t take this challenge seriously… if we don’t take time to humbly try to understand the big picture of God’s story, and where it is all leading, then we can end up in all sorts of strange and dangerous places. 
 
As a quick but timely example: there have been some vocal and powerful political voices recently claiming that the story of God is largely about their country dominating the world, and crushing their enemies… brazenly making use of passages of the Bible to justify and promote their vision of violence and aggression, all the while arguing that the Living God is clearly on their side.
 
And while we may not all be making the same vicious claims, or wielding the same kind of destructive power, this same tendency can be a danger for us all. The tendency to pick out one or two sentences or paragraphs or chapters, and try to make them into the whole story.
 
But the Bible is not a grab-bag of random sayings, or inspiring words to be picked through and re-arranged as we see fit. It is the story of God… the sacred narrative God uses to make Himself and His intentions known to His creation.
 
And so what we need is not a handful of texts that we can use to support our own opinions or positions… what we need is a stronger sense of where His whole story is headed… what the heart of its message is… and how we too can take part in it. And this is exactly what two of Christ’s disciples received on the road to Emmaus. 
 
In our Gospel reading today, St. Luke tells us that on Easter Sunday, two of Christ Jesus’ disciples were leaving Jerusalem… heavy hearted and confused. They had placed their faith in Jesus… hoping that He would be the long-awaited Messiah… the saviour sent to redeem Israel from the power of their enemies.  It seems that, like many Israelites in those days, these two disciples were expecting a military Messiah… one who would summon the faithful to fight against ungodly, and bring about God’s victory through violence. But just two days before, Jesus had been arrested, and publicly executed by those very foes they were hoping He would overthrow… the Romans… the Gentile military superpower occupying their land. And so, despite reports of the resurrection they could not fit neatly into their story of God’s Messiah, these two disciples leave Jerusalem, the Holy City behind, and make there way to Emmaus… a village with an interesting and bloody story of its own.
 
In the first book of Maccabees, one of the books of the Apocrypha, widely read by God’s people in Jesus’ day, even though it wasn’t included in the Hebrew Old Testament… it turns out that Emmaus was the location of a remarkable battle, where the underdog Judean forces fought and defeated a powerful Greek army.

And right before the battle, fought over a hundred years before Christ was born, in 1 Maccabees Chapter 4:8-11, the Judean general, Judas Maccabeus says this to his soldiers: “Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge. Remember how our ancestors were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them. And now, let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favor us and remember his covenant with our ancestors and crush this army before us today. Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel.”
 
Judas and his men placed their hope in victory through armed conflict, aided by God. And Judas saw the violent defeat of his enemies as the way to show all the Gentiles “there is one who redeems and saves Israel.” That was their story. Over a hundred years later, the site of this battle was where Christ’s two despondent disciples were headed… having their hopes just dashed that Jesus Himself was “the one to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:21).
 
Do we have dashed hopes and expectations of God today? Maybe our life hasn’t gone quite the way we planned. Maybe we were hit by an unexpected setback or loss… a season of grief, or tragedy. Or maybe we’re just left feeling lost and confused… uncertain about what lies ahead.  
 
If so, we’re in good company. Many of us have walked that hard road before… and found that Jesus was walking it right there with us. Not always recognizable… but right there gently inviting us to open our hearts to Him… perceptively challenging us to reconsider our assumptions… our stories… and drawing us deeper into the much wider story of God, and His redemption. His way of salvation.
 
Jesus meets us all on the road. On the way. He’s not sitting back waiting for us to figure it all out first. He’s walking with us, even if we don’t see Him right there with us. Even when we can’t see anything but tragedy, and loss, and hopelessness… Jesus our Saviour is with us… urging us to trust Him, and seek to understand the story we share in.
 
St. Luke tells us that the Risen Jesus came near to these two disciples, and walked with them in their confusion and grief… but He took issue with their assessment that Christ had failed at the cross. No, He says to them. That’s the real victory!

Luke 24:25-27, “Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.”
 
‘All the Scriptures’… meaning the Hebrew Old Testament at this point. After all, the New Testament wasn’t written yet! A lot of the time, we might be tempted to see the Old Testament as a completely different story from the New Testament. Many of us are certainly less familiar with it... apart from the odd story we might remember from Sunday School.
 
But the Old Testament is in fact where Jesus Himself calls His followers to look to understand His own story. They are the roots from which the branches of the Gospel have sprung, and continue to be nourished. And yes, the Old Testament is a complicated part of the story. It takes twists and turns that catch us off guard at times. It covers ground we may find confusing, or even deeply disturbing… but together these sacred writings point us faithfully to our Messiah… to the One who has indeed come to redeem Israel, as well as the Gentiles! Not through waging war, or through violence directed against the ungodly, like so many expect… but by giving His life at the cross to redeem and reconcile us all… even those acting as His enemies. Giving His own body to be broken… and giving His own blood to be shed to set us all free from our sins and wickedness… to set us free to share God’s holy love forever.
 
And contrary to Judas Maccabeus’ grand vision of glory through military might, Jesus shows us that the Messiah Himself must first suffer… and only then be glorified. And as His disciples today, He calls us to follow Him on the same road… to embrace God’s way of holy love, and to reject the path of vengeance and hate. To open our hearts to the whole story of God’s great rescue plan for all nations… drawing us together into one family through the death and resurrection of His Son.
 
As the disciples listened to Jesus on the road, opening the Scriptures to them, their hearts burned… but it was when they were seated at the table with Him that their eyes were finally opened to the truth. As the Risen Jesus took the bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them… the whole story came together. They knew it was Him! And seeing Him alive again changed everything for good.
 
 We see Jesus as we gather at His table too… inviting us sinners to His table… inviting us to receive again the gift of His own life. Despite all our failings, finding not wrath but welcome… not condemnation, but blessed forgiveness… not fear or hatred, but holy love… all because Christ Jesus died and rose again… offering Himself at the cross to redeemed God’s broken but beloved world.
 
This is where the whole story of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is leading us… to draw near in faith to the crucified and Risen Jesus to receive from Him God’s gift of New Life. The heart of this message is God’s self-giving love revealed in Jesus. And rather than pulling out passages here or there that we think we can make use of for our own purposes, we’re called to respond to this Good News and gift of life and love by walking together the road of life that Christ Himself leads us down.
 
By obeying His commands… of which love… of God and neighbour is the greatest of all. By being willing to suffer for the sake of His Kingdom, rather than imposing our version of it by force. And by turning around… repenting when we find we have taken a wrong turn… trusting that, even when we feel lost, and alone, and confused, Jesus Himself is with us, and longs for us to return to His side… where, by grace we now belong.
 
Once they recognize Christ at the table, Jesus vanished right before there eyes. And even though the hour was late, and they’d been walking all day, these two disciples turn around and immediately head back to Jerusalem to join the other disciples… encouraging one another, sharing their own experiences of the Good News, and finding themselves drawn even deeper into the world-changing adventure of God’s story.
 
May we, like them, have our stories transformed by the Good News of Jesus found in God’s whole story… through the Scriptures… through drawing near in faith to Christ’s Table… through walking in the ways the Risen Lord has taught us… and through our love for God and one another. Amen.