Luke 24 On the road to Emmaus

¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cle'opas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" ¹⁹ And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning ²³ and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ 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." ²⁵ And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. ²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, ²⁹ but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. 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?" ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, ³⁴ who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

I love this post-resurrection story about Jesus. Cleopas and another unknown person were on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus discussing the events of their day. The two were distraught. They obviously had put their hope in Jesus as a prophet who was mighty in deed and word. But, they were aware of his trial, death and crucifixion. And now, there were rumors that his body was missing from the tomb and that a vision of angels had declared his resurrection. But, they had not seen him with their own eyes.

As Jesus walked with them he gave them a lesson that they would never forget. In verses 25-27 (bolded above) he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Jesus apparently began with the Torah (the first 5 books of the Old Testament). I would suspect that he would have begun with Adam and Eve, undoubtedly tracing the Seed of woman in Genesis 3:15. He might have continued through the raised-up Prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15, the virgin birth of Isaiah 7:14, the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, and the reign of Jesse's offspring in Isaiah 11. I wonder if he might have used Psalm 16:9-10:

My heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."

I wonder if he made reference to the the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel, describing the righteous Branch that would come from King David (Jer. 23:5-6) that would be "cut off, but not for Himself" before the destruction of the second Temple in A.D. 70 (Daniel 9:26). Or, perhaps before he vanished from their sight, I wonder if he quoted from Zechariah 12:10, explaining that one day "the inhabitants of Jerusalem" will be given "the Spirit of grace and supplication," when "they will look on Me whom they pierced." I find it fascinating that it is when Jesus breaks the bread that he is made known to them. And, at that same instant, he vanishes. The result was that their hearts were burning while he opened the scriptures to them. I believe that the same results happen to us today. When we truly study the scriptures seeking to understand the revelation of God, there is a phenomena whereby when we worship and break bread together that we have the confirmation of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that testifies to the truth of the gospel. The psalmist wrote, "Blessed are those who put their trust in Him" (Psalms 2:12). No doubt, these two men on the road of Emmaus did exactly that. And, we are invited to join them on the road of our journey through life in the here and now.

Faithfulness

She sat in my office with tears running down her cheeks. The pain was written in her face. Her marriage of 24 years was in tatters. She had just told her daughters why she was moving out. The conversation had ended badly. It was hard to feel sympathy, however, because the decision to end her marriage was her own. Too many years without joy she said. The constant battles and unresolved issues. Besides, she had met somebody new.

This was not a casual, uninvolved church member. This was someone who had been part of the church her entire life. She had served willingly, taught and been a role model to others for years. She regretted that I could not support her decision to tear her family apart. "But, I am confident in my relationship with God. I know God wants me to be happy." As I sat there and listened I wondered which book of the Bible had taught her that timeless truth? What hero in the Bible could she look to who could justify one's pursuit of happiness over God's obedience? I could not think of one. Yet in our modern American new age culture, the "pursuit of happiness" has trumped faithfulness.

When we mix in the human heart with faithfulness, there is a tendency to dilute its call for purity and commitment. The secular world with its lure of wealth and security makes our lives luke-warm. The church at Laodicea was warned of this result (Rev. 3). God's first command is to love him with all of one's heart, soul, strength and mind. Seeking one's own road to private happiness is a contradiction to faithfulness. It is not about "us"; it is about the Lord. This is the same battle that the church fought in Corinth. When we import the worship of anything else besides Jesus Christ and him crucified, we engage in idolatry. It is no wonder that we deceive ourselves with the delusion of a few sentiments about a loving God, mixed in with a constant bombardment of commercials lauding personal happiness as the ultimate good. After all, we just want to be discovered like everyone else on American Idol! [Ironic name for a show, isn't it?] This rational gives license to do whatever one wants and yet justify it as somehow as one's own self piety.

Every person who claims Jesus as Lord is influenced by culture, family, friends, books, Internet, schools, workplace and world events. We prescribe out of our own history. God is one small voice that sometimes is but a whisper. However, the battle of faithfulness is not allowing the world to crowd out the call of the Messiah to the narrow road. Faithfulness is giving priority to the voice of God. It responds by one's obedience to the urging of the Spirit of God that is planted in the heart of the believer by God's Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches us that the Spirit can be quenched. God's truth sets us free. The world's call is to make the revelation of God more palatable by assimilating and accommodating the truth from God with some other source of "truth". The world is ruled by one whom is deceitful. The half-lie and innuendo kill spirituality faster than a sword. When we lose our ability to distinguish between God's voice and that of the world, we are blind and lost.