A Famine Not of Bread

"The Pilgrims of Emmaus on the Road" by James Tissot" Click here to listen to this sermon. "And He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:25–27). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! This story, recorded only by Luke, masterfully paints a picture of the atmosphere at the end of Passover. The empty tomb has not awakened any faith. It has only increased the weight of all the inconceivable things with which the disciples have had to wrestle. Two deeply disillusioned men are now walking home. All that they expected of the One whom they believed to be God's Messiah has come to nothing. They are shaken, upset, and without hope. Then a strang...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Oh, but how do you know that He is truly risen? How do you know this is true? And, if it were not true, would it really matter whether or not Christ actually rose from the dead? There are those—even some who call themselves Christians—who dismiss the resurrection as myth. Others insist that Jesus’ resurrection was merely a spiritual resurrection. And still others are undecided, but say it really doesn’t matter because Christianity is all about being nice and doing good, and Jesus certainly was a good example and moral teacher. (But how good or moral could Jesus have been if He lied about or faked His own resurrection?) St. Paul certainly thinks the bodily resurrection of Jesus is important. He includes it as one of four clauses that summarize the Gospel: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also receiv...

The text for today is Luke 24:44-47:   Then [Jesus] said to them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”   Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem .”   This is the Word of the Lord. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dr. Mortimer Adler taught a class at the University of Chicago on “The Great Books of the Western World.”   On one occasion Dr. Adler turned to one of his brightest students and asked her to summarize one the books for the class.   She had just gotten a high A on her examination for that very book, but she ...