One of my favorite stories is the two disciples on the Emmaus road. I suppose the reason it so interests me is that it is so packed with all the components that spring up in life. There is disappoint, unbelief, the impact of the living breathing Word of God (Hebrews 12:4), and then the recognition of Jesus.
It is the day of our Lord’s resurrection. The women have come back to where the disciples were and reported their findings. The tomb is empty. The disciples thought what they were reporting was non-sense (NASB) or idle tales (Luke 24:11). At any rate, they didn’t believe them. Fear and the circumstances had gripped their hearts and they couldn’t see any other possibilities or what Jesus had already told them about His death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21-28, 17:22-23; Mark 9:30-32, 14:18-21; John 11:25-26 John 12:27-33) didn’t make sense them and was the furthest thing from there minds in the present circumstances.
That brings us to the two on the Emmaus road. Discouraged, Disoriented, and fearful, two of the disciples were walking the seven to eight miles to Emmaus. There is no explanation why other than one or both were from Emmaus. But as they walked they found themselves trying to make sense of what had transpired the last three days and a good walk and conversation might help. But they were coming to no conclusions. Nothing was making much sense. They had thought that Jesus would be their political savior (Luke 24:21) and now it had been three days and all they had was the testimony of a group of what they considered were distraught women who claimed to see angels and were told He was risen (vv.21-24). And as they walked this third traveler appears questioning them about their discussion and they were astonished He didn’t know what had happened in Jerusalem (vs.18).
Jesus had hidden His identity from them (Luke 24:13; Mark 16:12). And as He heard their sad story He gently rebukes them (Luke 24:25) and then opens the Old Testament scriptures to them and walks them through the prophecies concerning Jesus and how He must suffer, die and rise again (vs.26). This obviously took some time as when Jesus finished, they were entering Emmaus (vs.28). They urged Him to stay with them and as they sat at the table to eat the evening meal, Jesus took bread, broke it and gave it to them (vs.30). It was then He opened their eyes so that they would recognize Him (vs.31) and He then vanished from their sight at the table. These two men were no longer discouraged and fearful. It had been Jesus the Word Incarnate (John 1:14) that caused their hearts to “burn with them” (vs.32) as our Lord revealed Himself through the truth of the Word of God.
This is the miraculous work of the Word of God. It searches our hearts. It convicts us. And then it opens us to see Jesus in ways we had not seen Him before.
We can have the same Emmaus experience when we prayerfully, with hungry and needy hearts look to see Him and know Him through His Word. There is nothing like it. To have Jesus reveal Himself again and again in His Word, new and fresh, one Emmaus event after another. But it will take brokenness and a real understanding of our circumstances and our need for the risen Lord.
There is nothing like having our hearts burn within us as Christ reveals Himself to us. It is life changing. And it gives us a hunger for more of Him until that day we either go home to be with Him or He triumphantly returns to earth for His own.
Luke 24:32 (ESV) 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
-Michael Holtzinger