Help My Unbelief – Finding Faith on the Road to Emmaus

This passage in Luke shows a very interesting time after the resurrection—after Jesus had risen and after it was known that He had risen.

We find some of His disciples and followers in a place of not knowing what to think.

Do you ever find yourself in a place of question, or doubt, or feeling like your faith is weak? What causes those things to happen, and what can we do about it?

Let’s walk back through some of this Scripture again, look at this story, and try to see what is really going on.

We go down to verse 16. They are walking down the road to Emmaus, and Jesus comes up alongside them, but they do not recognize who He is.

Verse 16 says, “But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.” As I read that, I have questions. Why did they not recognize Jesus? They had been with Jesus. They were around Jesus; they were taught by Jesus. Why did they not recognize Him? Why were their eyes kept from seeing Him? Was this a supernatural thing?

Or were they so disappointed by all that had happened that their disappointment and grief did not allow them to see Him?

Have you ever had those times in your life?

It is not uncommon to go to the home of someone who has passed away, where there are a lot of people gathered, and to talk to the family member who is left behind.

In the midst of all of that, you are just sort of there, present with them.

Then the next day, you go back to talk about the funeral, and they say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize you were there yesterday.”

Because of the grief, because of everything going on, because of all the noise around them.

So I would ask the question: when we do not see Jesus as we ought to, is it sometimes because of all the noise going on around us?

Today we call those narratives.

There are narratives coming from every direction—everybody else’s point of view. They want you to believe what they believe. They want what they believe to shape how you see all the things of this life.

The disciples had so much going on. Now listen to some of what they were dealing with as we read verses 17–24.

Jesus said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?”

They stood still, looking sad.

Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

And He said to them, “What things?” They replied, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth.”

Now it is important to start listening carefully to what Cleopas is saying here, because it gives us some clues. Listen to what he says.

He says, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him.”

Right away, there is some confusion. We knew Him to be a man of God, mighty in His deeds and His words, yet the religious leaders—our own leaders—had Him crucified.

That had to be working on their minds.

Jesus was a great prophet, teacher, and man of God, yet the teachers of their day had Him crucified.

Why did that happen?

You know they were spinning a narrative about that. Then in verse 21 we read, “But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.”

There was another narrative that had been circulating among the Jewish groups.

“If this is the Messiah, then He is coming to be an earthly king. He is coming to free us from all that is going on with Rome. He is coming to deal with this Roman occupation, with them ruling over us, and with the corruption in the religious system. He is coming to set it all right.”

“That is what they have been telling us. That is what they have been saying.”

“But it must not have been true, because He is not here.”

Then they begin to weave in some of what they had heard Jesus teach.

In the middle of verse 21 they say, “Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.”

What do you think they were remembering then?

What does this part of the conversation show us?

What does it say about their faith, their hope, and their trust?

Is it strong? Is it weak?

What happens to us when all the narratives of the world are spinning out of control, when you watch 24-hour news cycles, when you look at your phone and see Facebook, Instagram, and all the different points of view and opinions that come flooding at you?

Sometimes it can make us a questioning people. Sometimes it can make us a doubting people.

Look at verses 22–24.

They had just mentioned the third day, and then they add one more thing that brings even more confusion. They have all these expectations and thoughts, they note that it is the third day since these things happened—no doubt remembering Jesus saying, “Tear this temple down and on the third day I will raise it up,” and, “I have the power to lay my life down, and I have the power to take it up again.”

So they mention the third day, and then in verse 22 we read: “Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find His body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.”

What were they thinking? What were they feeling? These were moments of doubt.

Do you ever have those times in your life and in your faith journey?

Moments of doubt, questions—“What is going on? Lord, I thought You were going to do this. Lord, where are You?”

Does it sound like they believed the reports that Jesus had been raised from the dead?

It was a tough time for them. A very tough time.

As the conversation continues, Jesus says in verse 25, “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?” What is Jesus doing here? He is calling them back to what they had heard and what they had learned.

Then listen to how Jesus works in this place of unbelief in the lives of those who had been His disciples.

Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Word was important. The Word was given to them so that they could see.

This is who Jesus is.

The Scriptures had given them the testimony of the prophets about the One who was to come.

It was as if the One they needed had been walking right beside them the whole time, even in their unbelief. As they neared their destination, Jesus acted as if He were going farther.

Verse 29 says, “But they urged Him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.’ So He went in to stay with them.” At the table, as they sat down to dine together, He took the bread and broke it. In that moment of fellowship, all of a sudden they see and understand: “It is You, Lord!”

“Oh my goodness, why did we not know it? Why did we not know it on the road, when You were teaching us the Scriptures and our hearts were burning within us?”

Sometimes, when we in the modern day find ourselves in a place of doubt, when we feel like our faith is a little weak, I can tell you from my own life that it is often because I am not in the Word, I am not praying as I ought to,

and sometimes because we have forsaken fellowship—because we are not around others who help build us up in the faith.

These are critical things we need, because our human nature can pull us into a place of wondering and questioning.

But if we stay in the Word, if we stay in communication with God, if we stay in fellowship with other believers, it is harder for doubt to creep in. There is great importance in our relationship with God and in being assembled together in His Church.

This is not the only time we see unbelief or questions about what we really believe.

Go over to Mark chapter 9.

In Mark 9 we read about a time when Jesus was teaching and a man brought his son to Jesus, a son who had a demon that had afflicted him for a long time. The father had heard about Jesus, and he thought, “I’m going to take my boy to Jesus and see if maybe something can change.”

Listen to the conversation, starting at verse 20 in Mark 9: “And they brought the boy to Him. When the spirit saw Him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’”

“If You can do anything.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

“I believe; help my unbelief.”

Sometimes that is exactly where we are in our spiritual walk. “Yes, Lord, I know I believe, but my faith feels weak. I am not believing enough. I am not believing like I should. Help me get past this place of questioning in my life. Help me move beyond it.

‘Lord, I believe. I believe that You forgive sin. I believe You died on the cross for me. I believe You rose from the dead. I believe You have forgiven me. But I am not so sure You can do this other thing over here, Lord.

People tell me I need to pray, that they are praying for me, and that You can make this change—but I am not sure You can. I believe, but there is some unbelief, Lord. Help me in my unbelief. Help me in my weakness of faith.’”

Even the strongest Christians sometimes find themselves in that place.

So if you are in that place, or find yourself there, what is the fix?

Be in His Word regularly. Be in His Word regularly.

Because when you are reading His Word and you come across passages that make your heart burn within you, the Holy Spirit whispers, “This is for you—this is what you have been needing.” That Word grows in your heart. Be constant in prayer.

Talk to the Lord. Talk to the Lord. If you have been in Bible study with us in recent weeks, you have heard that prayer is a conversation with the Lord.

Without communication, relationships drift apart. Talk to the Lord.

Talk to the Lord. Start the conversation. Even if your soul is grieving so deeply that all you can say is, “Father, help me,” we have an intercessor who knows what is happening in your heart and mind and who will take it before the Father.

But start the conversation. Start the conversation.

One of the biggest mistakes we make is saying,

“Well, I am in my Bible all the time and I pray all the time. I do not have to be at church.”

If nothing else, look at what this moment of fellowship did for these men in their unbelief.

To be present together with other believers.

“Where two or three are gathered together in My name…”

Let’s say that again: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them also.”

It is so important, and yet we take it so lightly. In my personal opinion, it is a mistake when we say, “Well, I go to the 11 o’clock service. I do not need Sunday school. I do not need Bible study. I do not need fellowship times.”

Yes, you do. For the growing of your identification with Christ, for the strengthening of your spirit so that you can discern all the different narratives in the world, you need those times. I need those times. We grow in Christ in those times. Without them, you cannot walk the road by yourself. If you try to walk the road alone, you risk winding up in a place where your eyes cannot see who is walking with you.

Without Jesus, our faith is weak. Our trust begins to wane. We need to be strong in our commitment to study, prayer, and fellowship,

so that unbelief does not creep in and rob us of the joy we have in Jesus.

Pray with me.

“Father, it is a crazy world we live in. In this day and age, so much comes at us from so many different directions.

Sometimes it is so easy to be distracted and pulled away from our real source of truth and our true source of comfort.

Father, it is easy for doubts, fears, trust issues, and unbelief to grow.

But, Father, You are our source. Your Word is our source. You have given us the privilege of coming to You, of praying, of talking with You.

And Father, You have built Your Church through Jesus Christ, and You call us to be together—to support one another, to build one another up in the Word and in truth and in love.

Yet we are so easily pulled away. We are so easily distracted. Father, I pray that Your Holy Spirit will work in our hearts today—not to let us be distracted, but to pull us closer to You, closer to Your Son Jesus, and closer to Your Church and to one another,

so that we may be strong in our faith,

so that we may put to death doubts and unbelief before they take hold of us,

and all of this so that You would receive the honor and the glory.

Father, thank You.

For we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.”