Emmaus

Have you ever missed something that was right in front of you?

In Luke 24, two travelers walk alongside the risen Jesus—and don’t recognize Him. Not because He isn’t there, but because He doesn’t match their expectations.

In this message, Pastor Nicole Barnett explores how our assumptions about God can actually blind us to His presence. From childhood expectations to deeply ingrained traditions, we often look for God in specific ways—and miss Him when He moves differently.

What if God is already at work in your life… and you just don’t recognize Him yet?

Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.

Ravenna Church of the Nazarene
530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472

Transcript

Pastor Jason 0:00

They walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, listened to Jesus, and still didn't recognize him. What if God is moving in your life right now and you're missing it? Not because God's absent, but because he doesn't look like what you expected. I'm Pastor Jason Markett, and this is the Dirt Bad Podcast. It's one that I think hits closer to home than we often realized. Because if we're honest, most of us don't struggle with believing that God can move. We struggle with recognizing him when he does. We have expectations. And expectations about how God should show up and what he should do and who he should use, and when and when he steps outside of those expectations, it's easy to miss him completely. That's what makes this message so important. It's not just about a story from the Gospel of Luke. It's about us. It's about the very real possibility that God is already at work in your life right now and you might not even see it. So wherever you're listening from, driving, working, sitting at the kitchen table, my hope is that this message shows you. Well, it's maybe not shows you, but slowed you down enough to take a look at what God is doing.

Pastor Nicole 2:31

When I was about eight or nine years old, um Donna will be so surprised by this. I really wanted a cat. But I didn't just want any cat. I wanted a black and white cat, you know, a tuxedo kitty. And I already had a name picked out for it. I wanted to name it Oreo. I don't know, really original, right? I had a problem though. I was a foster kid, and my parents were not necessarily on board with the foster kids having pets because what happens if we leave, right? So they didn't really want to get a cat. But I kept begging, I kept begging, I kept begging. And then one day my dad came home from work and he was a teacher, and one of his coworkers was getting ready to retire. He had spent like 35 years teaching at the same high school, and so he was ready to hit the road and take a long, a long vacation. Much, a much deserved vacation. But the problem is they had a cat, and they couldn't exactly travel the world with a cat at home. So they were looking to re-home it. And so my dad came home and he's like, Well, Denny's getting rid of a cat. Asked my mom what she thought. She's like, Well, I mean, I guess we can take it. It's an old cat, it won't live long anyway. So we'll we'll take it home. And they're like, Well, we're getting a cat. And this cat, it's already got a name, and unfortunately, it's not black and white, it's a gray cat. So, you know, you're just you okay with that? And I was like, Yay, yeah, I'm getting a cat. I'm excited. Um, so then he came and he brought the cat, and I wasn't able to see it before we had to head off to a football game. And by the time we got home from the football game, it was too late. My parents were like, you need to go to bed the school night. So I didn't get to see this cat, and her name was Mindy. I didn't get to see her. So I go to school and I come home, and I'm super excited about seeing this cat, and it's not in the garage where my parents had put it. It's missing. And I searched everywhere. I searched all the rafters, I searched all the boxes, everything, and that cat was nowhere to be found. Come to find out, it had escaped. So I was devastated because I was expecting this cat and I didn't get this cat, and I was just devastated. But about a year later, this is after we've my parents have established that I'm not going anywhere. I'm not, I'm I'm going to be adopted. Um, I finally convinced my parents to let us get another cat. And it was a bond cat, and it bonded with my brother. So I was like, well, it's not my cat. I want another cat. So a couple months later, my grandma had a stray cat show up on her porch with kittens. So I got it, I was able to get a kitten. And I was super excited about this kitten, but again, it was a tabby, it wasn't the black and white cat. I really wanted that black and white cat. And then one day I go out on the porch where our cats hung out, and there's this stray cat on our porch. She's black and white, super skittish, but she was starving, and so she was coming up to me like just wanting food. So I fed her, and my parents were like, well, she's getting along with our cat, so I guess we'll just keep feeding her. So I was finally able to get Oreo. I was super excited. I had Oreo. But in the back of my mind, I never forgot about Mindy. That gray cat that my parents had told me about. I wondered about her constantly. I kept asking my dad if he had heard about any gray cats being found. And he kept telling me, well, there's cogers around. It might not have made it. So she's probably not coming back. But I kept praying for that cat. I just wanted to know she was safe. And then one day my dad's friend Denny came back from his two-year trip around the world. And he came over for dinner, and after they ate, his wife was like, Hey, can I see the cats? So I went outside and I showed her the two cat kittens that we had adopted, which were now full-grown cats. And then I was like, but let me show you Oreo. And as soon as I said the name Oreo, this cat comes up onto the porch, Oreo, and it bolts directly for Denny's wife. And she screamed out, Mindy! The cat was Mindy. It wasn't a great cat like my parents had told me. It was Mindy. Mindy was black and white, and she had been with us for a year at this point. She'd been fed by us, living on her porch, coming when we called, and we had no idea that she was the cat I'd been praying for this whole time. She had been there the whole time and we didn't recognize her. And I kind of wonder how often do we do the same thing with God? How often is God right there and we miss it? Simply because he doesn't look like we expected him to look. In Luke chapter 24, we meet two men walking down a road. They're trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. This is a this is immediately following Jesus' death and resurrection. And they're they had witnessed the death of the Messiah. And they were grieving the loss of this person they thought would lead them into this new age of freedom from political tyranny. And although this is after the resurrection, and they had heard the news that Jesus' body was out of the tomb, they weren't quite sure what to make of it. Starting in verse 13, it says, Now that very day, two of them were walking on their way to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. And while they were talking and debating these things, Jesus himself approached and began to accompany them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Then he said to them, What are these matters you are discussing so intently as you walk along? And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopathus, answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened there in these days? He said to them, What things? The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, they replied. And how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. Not only this, but it is now the third day since these things have happened. And furthermore, some women from our group amazed us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back and said they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Then some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found just as the woman said, but they did not see him. So he said to them, You foolish people, how slow of heart to believe all how slow of heart to believe all of all that the prophets have spoken. Wasn't it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and all of the prophets, he interpreted them, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all of the scriptures. So they approached the village where they were going, he acted as though he wanted to go further, but they urged him, Stay with us, because it is getting toward evening and the day is almost done. So he went in to stay with them. And when he had taken his place at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. At this point their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. Then he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, Didn't our hearts burn within us while he was speaking with us on the road? While he was trying to, or while he was explaining scriptures to us? So they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven and those with them gathered together and saying, The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon. Then they told them what had happened on the road, and they recognized him when he broke the bread. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. So let's look at this for a moment. This account, again, is taking place after resurrection morning. But not everyone is privy to the truth of it. We kind of get a little bit of a spoiler in the text where it says that Jesus himself is walking with them, but they don't know it's Jesus. All they know is that they heard an account from women. But the problem is that back then women were not credible witnesses. Women were not considered people that could testify to the truth. So they had heard that the women had said that, oh, the angels told us Jesus was a Jesus is alive, and they're like, okay. Wishful thinking. Great to know. All the these travelers knew was that they believed that Jesus they had believed that Jesus was Messiah. And then he was executed, and now his body's missing. Those are the facts. That's all they know for sure. Because again, women aren't credible sources. Yeah, they might hope. They might be like, oh, wishful thinking. I'm wishing for that as well. But they don't believe it. And that truth is highlighted in the statement that they make when they said we had hoped. We had hoped he was the one that was going to regain Israel. We had hoped that he would wipe out the Roman Empire. We had hoped that he would step into the role of king and re-establish David's throne in our nation. We had hoped. See, these travelers had hoped that Jesus would meet their expectations, but the last few days had proven to be a huge letdown. He hadn't fulfilled their expectations. Instead, he had been arrested, tried, convicted, and then executed. And so as they were walking down this road to Lemaeus, they started talking about what had happened and they started to debate. Was Jesus really who we thought he was? Or was it someone else? Did we misunderstand the prophet? What is going on? And suddenly these two travelers became free, and a man joins them. We know it's Jesus, but they don't. What's going on? And they look at him like he's grown two heads because they're like, What rock have you been living under? They recount all of the events that took place over the weekend, and the one that they had expected to that the one that they had expected to redeem Israel had been executed. Suddenly there's this group of women who had reported that his body was missing, and they claim that he was resurrected. But they didn't know what to think. And Jesus listens. He listens to their questions, he listens to their ramblings, and then he calls them out. You foolish people. How slow a part to believe all that the prophets have spoken? In other words, do you not read? Have you not listened? Didn't you know that all of this was spoken about long ago? Long before this ever took place. And then he tells them. From Moses onward, he tells them. Prophecy by prophecy about what he was to endure. And he points out that the prophets didn't say he came to save Israel from a physical political enemy. He came to save the world from its slavery to sin. The travelers are intrigued because this is a different message than they've heard their whole lives. This is different. Genie. They get to the place where they're going and they invite this stranger to join them. They get ready to eat, and the stranger blesses the meal, and then he breaks the bread, and suddenly they recognize him. They see who he really is. It's Jesus. The very man that they were speaking about is right there in front of them. And then suddenly he isn't. They immediately turn around and they run back to the disciples and tell them that Jesus is risen. Only to hear that the Lord had already appeared to Simon as well. So, you know, they're like, Yeah, that's ancient history, old news, we know. But the travelers are like, I'm gonna write. That's a point for another time. I won't get into that there. The point today is that these travelers had grown up on the scriptures, they had grown up hearing what everybody else thought the scriptures meant. They knew what the prophets had said, they knew the law, they knew it all. But the reality is that they really didn't. They knew what tradition had taught them. They knew what lessons the rabbis had ingrained into their young minds. They knew what mom and dad had interpreted and prayed about. But they didn't really understand what was being said in the scriptures themselves. So in reality, their beliefs were not based on the words of the prophets, they were based on the biases and teachings of those who interpreted them. And the ones who were interpreting the prophets and passing the knowledge on were telling them that the cat is gray. So they weren't looking for a tuxedo. You know, the irony of the story of Mindy is that that's exactly what we do with Jesus. We want the tuxedo. We want the true Messiah. We want the Messiah who loves unconditionally, the one that sacrifices everyone or everything, the one who stands for the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, the foreigner. And then we see his handiwork, but we don't recognize it. Because we've convinced ourselves that Jesus actually looks different. He only moves in certain situations. He only works if these expectations are met. He only works if the pastor doesn't have tattoos. Or we're reading a specific translation of the Bible. Or we're listening to the or we're worshiping with the right type of worship music. He only moves if the carpet is the right color. Or if there's an extra white that's on this platform. But meanwhile, Jesus is speaking through stones. He's flipping tables. And he's reaching out his hands, but we don't see it because he isn't gray. And we keep telling ourselves, oh, but we had hoped that Jesus would move. We don't see Jesus because the worship leader has tattoos. Or the pastors wearing Chuck Taylors. The music's too old-fashioned, or the opposite. They're singing songs by Hillsong in Bethel. Heaven forbid. We don't see Jesus because the church has too many old people, or there's too many littles running around. They're being too noisy. All of them. Heard them all at various points in my life while attending church. And the ironic thing about these complaints is that every time I heard them, it was either immediately following or during a moment where I could pinpoint God moving. Somebody who said that they would never enter church ever again had come to the altar and rededicated their life. Somebody who had been wandering from the faith, had been baptized, somebody had accepted Christ into their life. People were beating addictions. People were being transformed. And but somebody was saying, well, that's not God moving because the wrong person's in the pulpit. Or well, that music wasn't right. Or they still have tattoos, so God can't use them. And lives were changing. But it couldn't really be God because it doesn't fit my expectation. The sad reality is that we place more value on our traditions of how God should move than the tr than on the truth that God is not defined by our expectations. We've kind of made an idol out of our expectations of how God would get excited because there were eighty-four people in the pews last Sunday. That's amazing. But that fits our mold. People came into the church. But what about the drug addicts? Who flushes his drugs and prays on the bathroom floor while still high? That's God moving. What about the divorcee who has decided that their life is going to be focused on God and not on bitterness. That's God moving. It's not loud. But it's God at work. In these spots. He can only move through this type of people or this type of music. But on this Sunday following Easter, it's important to remember that we serve a God who is slain and sealed in the grave, and the grave couldn't contain him. So why do we think our box boxes should? Why do we assume that he'll stay contained in the boxes of our expectations?

Speaker 2 27:37

He's not gonna.

Pastor Nicole 27:43

In fact, more often than not, he intentionally steps outside of our expectations just to prove he can. He intentionally moves in ways that makes us uncomfortable. And you know what? Um this one might step on some toes here. It steps on mine still. A few years ago, I had the privilege of interacting with a couple in Maineville, Pennsylvania. It was a lesbian couple. Two women. Absolutely none of them. And it still blows my mind because these were women who had been told that they were not welcome in church. And they were told that they were going to hell, and they were told all these things, but you know what? One of them she went to the playground one day with with their son. There was this little girl there, and she started talking about Jesus. And she's like, I don't know if Jesus could love me. This little girl was saying, I don't know if Jesus could love me because my mom and dad, they say I'm annoying. They say I'm a problem. They say now I'm hearing this secondhand from this other, this woman. But she told me she's like, I got down on my knees and I prayed with her that day, and I told her that Jesus loves her and she accepted Jesus into her heart. And that woman was used by God. Now I went back to church and I told that story, and there was a man in that Sunday school class that I told that story too, and he's like, Well, God can't use that woman. So that little girl is gonna have to find Jesus some other way. I'm sorry, did you just try to put God in a box? That little girl found Jesus. Because God doesn't fit in a box. He constantly moves in ways that makes us make us uncomfortable. He uses people in situations we never would have chosen. And we continue. We continue to look at those situations and say that can't be God moving. But it is. They went through and uh talked about the nature of God and how he is omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent. And we believe that God is all powerful and always always present and always and all-knowing, and and we believe that, right? We believe that he is here with us, right? We believe that he can do anything, right? And if God is always here, then he can't, he's not ever stagnant, right? Like God is always moving. It's not a question, is God moving in this church? He is. God is moving. God is always here. You we want to say, oh well, I just didn't feel God's presence today. God's present, whether you feel it or not. Well, I just don't see that moving. Well, God's moving. Just because you don't see it, he's always here, he's always moving, he's always working. So that's not the question. The question is not, is God moving? The question is, are we going to recognize him moving? Are we going to recognize him working? Or are we too blinded by our traditions and our expectations and our our limitations to recognize it? Are we still looking for a gray cat? Or are we ready to realize that maybe the issue isn't that God isn't moving? Maybe the issue is that we're still just walking past him. He's walking with us on the road and we're not seeing him. We're still just talking about the good old days when God was at work. We're still trying to debate if God could work a specific way. We're still trying to figure out if God really has the power to move in that situation. But he's already right there. But maybe we need to join him at the table.

Pastor Jason 35:03

Where might you be missing Jesus right now? Not because he's absent, but because he doesn't look like what you expected. Maybe it's in a person you've overlooked. Maybe it's in a season that feels confusing. Maybe it's in a church, a moment, or even a nudge you've been brushing off because it doesn't fit your picture of how God should work. This week, I want you to slow down. Pay attention. Be willing to lay down your expectations long enough to ask. God, are you already here? The question is, will we recognize them? Let's pray together. Lord, you're always present. Always working. Always moving in ways that are bigger than what we can see or understand. So often we miss you. Not because you've hidden yourself, but because we limited you to our expectations. Open our eyes, God. Help us to seek you in the unexpected places. Through the unexpected people. In the middle of the ordinary moments. Give us hearts that are soft enough to recognize you, and the courage to respond when we do. And for anyone listening right now who feels like you've been distant, remind them that you've been walking with them all along. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. Now before you go, if you're looking for something to keep you grounded in God's Word throughout the week, I share short real-life emotionals almost every day under the Dirt Path Pastor. There's a WordPress side, but the fastest way to find me is through TikTok. You can see those little TikTok videos on there. They're quick, they're honest, and they're just designed for real life, so be sure to check those out. And if you're looking for a practical way to maybe support the show, uh, I don't I'm not in any way trying to monetize or make money from this. But if you would like to support the show, I encourage you to check out Naswink Compassionate Ministries. There's a link in the if you click on the giving button on the website or somewhere on the show. Take the Naswing Compassionate Ministries, and they're doing incredible work meeting deeds around the world, feeding the hungry, responding to disasters, and caring for vulnerable communities. It's a powerful way to be part of what God is doing beyond your own backyard. And so again, uh, if you donate through the show, I I don't keep any of that. All of it is going to it goes to Naswing Compassionate Ministry, specifically to their emergency relief fund. Um now, whenever you find yourself today, wherever you find yourself at, whether life feels clear, confusing, steady, or uncertain, take heart. God is closer than you think. He is working away you may not see, and you are not walking this road alone. Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.