What would you say if you had the opportunity to talk to a graduate or give a graduation speech? It was this chance encounter, the opportunity there before you. Perhaps you were just asked by your neighbor’s teen, “Hey, what advice can you give me for the next season of my life?” Or maybe you are actually lined up to be the commencement speaker, perhaps at the online graduation (?), what would you say? What words would you use?
In my own life, God used the importance of the last things that Jesus said and a sermon preached at my congregation’s Maundy Thursday service in Santa Barbara (March 31, 1983) titled “The Importance of Last Things” to catapult my life from travel agent into ministry.
Imagine what it might have been like for Jesus. He knew the time after his resurrection and before he ascended to be with the Father was short, 40 days to be exact. So he intentionally spent his time pouring into his disciples. In those first days after his resurrection, who did Jesus meet with and what did he say and do to launch this tiny local gathering into a global movement that is still growing in impact today?
Over the next several weeks we are going to look at these appearances of Jesus to his disciples. In each of the stories of appearances of Jesus after the resurrection, Jesus met each person where they were and helped them take the next step. Regardless of your season of life, or your season within quarantine, perhaps it’s time for a God sighting of your own and to consider your next step in living for God and walking alongside Him!
We will begin with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus as we look at how Jesus interrupted them and challenged them to take a fresh look both at the events they had just walked through and the Scriptures they were familiar with in order to shake them out of their grief and into the joy that Jesus really was alive.
Sometimes it takes a wake up call to shake us from our complacency, our depression, our fears, our pains, our despondency, our inabilities, our griefs, our nearsightedness, etc. I know in my life God has continually used this pattern. So, let’s join in Sunday worship and look for Jesus in this unique season. Join in at 9 am Sunday!