Among us who have read Luke 24:13-35 about the two disciples who walked away dejectedly on the road to Emmaus, perhaps quite a few of us have at one time or another felt, or could even be feeling somewhat similar depths of darkness and sadness as those two disciples. Quite a few of us might have felt or perhaps are even feeling this now, even though we have read that those two disciples on the road to Emmaus ended up turning back and making their way in high spirits back to Jerusalem—after being helped to realize, by no less than the Lord Jesus Himself, that He has risen from death and is alive, and those awesome promises of God to redeem and restore life are fulfilled and taking great strides towards culmination even now.
Following in Jesus’ footsteps, S.M. Lockridge in his by now famous sermon, titled “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin”, gives a helpful contour and parallel of those two disciples’ feelings and Jesus’ revelation. Lockridge however wanted to give not only a parallel and contour, he wants to encourage his listeners to look afresh upon what had happened on that Resurrection Sunday, and he wanted to help listeners be restored to live in that glorious hope that is taking strides towards culmination.
Here in Singapore, a testimony was shared by a local pastor, who received a request from a church member to visit and pray for a dear lady in hospital who laid brain dead. The pastor shared that when he visited the lady, and prayed for her the best he could, with her brother beside him. After he had finished praying, as he was about to end the visit and make his way out of the ICU room, he distinctly felt God prompting him to pray for the lady again. Having already prayed for her the best he could, he was by wondering what else could he or should he now pray? He then turned to face the lady and said to her something along this line: “If you can hear me, call out to Jesus.” After a few moments, he thought he saw her twitch. He wondered if it was his imagination. But then the lady’s brother said to him something along this line: “Did you see it?” And soon they realized that the medical monitoring systems which the lady was hooked up to was registering activities within her that alerted the medical personnel to hurry into the ICU room to check what was happening. The local pastor rounded his testimony by rejoicing that that lady made a turnaround and is alive today. And borrowing Lockridge’s line, “It’s Friday, but Sunday is comin” the local pastor then urged his listeners to not only remember, but to stand firmly upon the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and look to the culmination of the awesome implications for living with hope.
Friends, when you are experiencing despair and dismay, may this help to remind you to ask yourself, “What day is it? What day am I stuck in? What day should I be in?” I pray the Lord upholds and uplifts you to live with hope for He has risen and awesome promises of God are fulfilled and taking great strides towards culmination!
Rev. Joseph Goh
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