CC on Luke 24 WALK to EMMAUS 1 of 2
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Transcription of a Cobbey Crisler talk on “The Walk to Emmaus” – part 1 of 2 Page 1 of 24 (Prior permission to share given by Janet Crisler to Warren Huff & CedarS Camps) Walk to Emmaus – part 1 of 2 A Cobbey Crisler Talk – available in 2 CDs from The Daycroft School Foundation at http://www.daycroftschool.org/downloads/order-form31.pdf It’s a pleasure to introduce to you Mr. B. Cobbey Crisler. (Applause) Thank you, Mr. Dayo. How is the mic? All right? Okay? We have to live with these things, you know. There’s even one [a mic] in heaven, according to the Book of Revelation. We’ll work on that. Plus he’s called an angel. And his full name is Michael, but you know, to his friends, he known as Mike. (Laughter) I know you wanted to get it, so I wanted to get it to you. We should be equipped for a journey tonight. And it’s a very special journey, not requiring alpine equipment, sneakers, or anything else, that’s physical, because our journey is a mental one, and it’s a very special one. It’s one that we can repeat, one that is mentioned in the Bible. And tonight, together, we can embark on it. I hope you all have your Bibles with you in your laps, open, to Luke 24. (That was a big hope, wasn’t it, with all those specifics?) Why is it important to have your own Bible? Because, I want you to be sure I’m not making it up as I go along. (Laughter) Everyone should come to his or her own conclusions as we go through here. We’re dealing with discovery, which is the only real method of education. And religion, for so many years, forgot there was such a thing as discovery and dealt in dogma. And I think if some of you have heard me remark before the little word that I work the hardest to hear is not even in The Oxford English Dictionary, and that word is “Wow!” Now why do I work to hear that one so hard, do you think? What does “Wow!” signify? (Murmurs) Something’s happening where? (Murmurs) Has it been implanted? Has it come from here to there? Or is it just something already within, that awakened? It’s discovery, isn’t it? Dogma never gives you discovery; therefore, dogma never gives you “Wow!” It gives you “bow-wow.” (Laughter from audience) Dogma is “bow-wow.” (More laughter) Alright, now, Luke 24 gives us the only account of the walk to Emmaus in the Bible with the exception of one small verse in the last chapter of Mark. And that doesn’t mention Emmaus, it only mentions “two disciples and a walk in the country.” Transcription of a Cobbey Crisler talk on “The Walk to Emmaus” – part 1 of 2 Page 2 of 24 (Prior permission to share given by Janet Crisler to Warren Huff & CedarS Camps) So, we can be very grateful to Luke. Because, if you read the invitation to tonight’s session, you will recognize that I am placing a major importance on this event. It’s not I that is placing that, but I feel the text, itself, is giving major importance to this walk to Emmaus. And the theory with which I will present to you tonight is one none of you have to buy because that would be dogma, unless you discover it yourself as we go through. The theory is that the spark that eventually caught flame in Christianity spreading throughout the known globe, started on that walk to Emmaus. Now, let’s see if we can prove that. Starting in Luke, Chapter 24, verse 13, the narrative begins. Now, if we can do this tonight, all together go back these many centuries and begin to think like first century Jews. In other words, let’s get back to those times and see if we can actually feel the tenseness, the excitement, the adventure, the expectations, of that particular period. That may seem hard to do, but the Bible provides much to the environment, if we dig enough, to find it. Where does this occur? It starts from what city? Jerusalem. What has occurred there, just this week-end? (Murmurs) Now, remember, we’re back to that period. The crucifixion – of whom? Jesus. And who is he? Now, all of you say he’s the Christ, but being first-century Jews, would all of you agree? (Murmurs) Do you think that the city of Jerusalem was well aware of this event, maybe even turned on its ear? You don’t? There is an indication from the text that everyone should know about it. Because, remember, the two disciples even turned and rebuked Jesus, who they don’t know is Jesus. And said, “What are you, a stranger?” Luke 24:18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? Remember? So, the news is out. Now, what are these two disciples doing? They are leaving Jerusalem. Where’s the action as we know it? In Jerusalem. What does that tell you about the two disciples? (Murmurs) Well, it’s either something they know, or they don’t know. What do you think it might be? They’re heading in the opposite direction. (Answers unheard) Might be safer. Well, just how much do they know, at this point in the narrative? We said the crucifixion has occurred. Has anything else occurred? (Answers) Okay, we know that, do they? (Murmurs) Yes, they’ve been told (raised). No. Are you sure? Are you sure? Transcription of a Cobbey Crisler talk on “The Walk to Emmaus” – part 1 of 2 Page 3 of 24 (Prior permission to share given by Janet Crisler to Warren Huff & CedarS Camps) It’s important now to get the exact moment in history that this thing is occurring. And, Verse 10 tells us that the women had seen what? (Murmurs) No yet. They had seen the empty tomb, and they reported to the disciples. So, the news is out that there’s what? An empty tomb, we know. Now, does human nature immediately say, “Ahah!”? (Murmurs) Jesus was raised from the dead. Is that the easiest conclusion? No. In fact, the easiest conclusion is what? Somebody stole the body. And you remember, that was actually mentioned at the end of one of the Gospels, one of the other Gospels, where the Jews were reported as paying the guards who had fallen asleep to spread the news that his disciples had stolen the body. Well, let’s look at the text very carefully to see exactly where we are – whether they know the resurrection or not. We can all become Bible scholars by sticking very close to the text. At least we can with some validity indication what the Bible account is saying, regardless of human opinions about the Bible account, who wrote it or anything else. At least we can become so familiar with the account itself, that we’ll know some of these just shades of differences that may make a major difference before we’re through. Luke, Chapter 24, verse 11 shows how they’d responded: “idle tales, didn’t believe.” (See below, Paraphrased) Luke 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. Luke 24:11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. They didn’t believe the women. Isn’t that a funny reaction? (Laughter) And, do you think though, using common sense, in regarding the text – do you think those two disciples, if they had been fully aware that Jesus had been raised from the dead and was in Jerusalem, that they would be heading in the opposite direction? It doesn’t seem to make sense, does it? So, regardless of what they were told, how much weight did they put behind the news? It sounds like it was nothing at all. And certainly that verse backs it up. Their words seem to them as “idle tales.” (See above, Luke 24:11) Transcription of a Cobbey Crisler talk on “The Walk to Emmaus” – part 1 of 2 Page 4 of 24 (Prior permission to share given by Janet Crisler to Warren Huff & CedarS Camps) Who are these disciples, anyway? Only one is named, who is? Cleopas, and the other is not. Now, there’s a tradition around, and everywhere I give this, a lot of people say it’s Peter, or it’s Simon. It can’t be Peter. You know why it can’t be Peter? It’s all speculation anyway, but it can’t be Peter because later on we’re told that two disciples returned to Jerusalem and guess who’s behind closed doors? The eleven disciples. That would include Peter. Now, there is a very early tradition. I think Eusebius in 300 A.D. records that an early tradition said that the other disciple’s name was Simon, and both Cleopas and Simon were among the seventy. That’s as good a theory as any, and yet, it’s still several hundred years from the event. The text, if we’re going to stick to it, only gives one: Cleopas. And we note one thing: they are obscure disciples.