Walking the Emmaus Road - Part 3

Daily Byte

This week we’re exploring the story of the two disciples on the Emmaus Road that we read about in Luke 24. Yesterday we said that Emmaus represents any place we go to in order to escape the dark and desperate experiences of life. And so the feelings experienced on the Emmaus Road are dark ones indeed.

The remarkable thing about the story of the two disciples on the Emmaus Road is that the risen Christ comes and joins them as they walk this road. And in joining them he takes an active interest in the matters that concern them. “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” he asks them. What follows is a lively conversation about the things that mattered most to these two disciples, as Jesus listens to them, challenges their misperceptions and stretches their understanding of faith as he explained the Scriptures to them. Later, as they reflect on the whole experience they say to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Here is a message of great hope to us all. In our experiences of grief, desolation and despair, the risen Christ comes to share the journey with us. In sharing the journey he takes an active interest in the things that concern us. He is eager to listen to us, to know our hearts, and then to offer the richer, fuller understanding of his perspective that will always lead us into deeper levels of maturity and faith.

You may be thinking, “That all sounds very nice in theory, but I can’t see Christ with me in this tough experience I’m living through. How can I trust that this is for real?” The response to that valid question is simply to remind you those two disciples on the road didn’t recognize Christ walking with them either. It was only as they looked back that they were able to recognize what had in fact happened to them on the road.

Maybe as you look back on your life, particularly the tough times, you can recognize the unexpected ways in which God showed up to walk with you in your pain and to offer you the bigger picture of his perspective. Maybe it was through the kindness of a friend, an article in a magazine, a programme on TV, a particularly beautiful sunset or even a sermon that seemed to speak directly to you.

Give thanks that the risen Christ continues to show up in our lives in surprising, unexpected, but heart-warming ways.

Pray as you go:

Risen Lord Jesus, thank you that your love for me is so great that you take an active interest in the details of my life. Thank you that you want to share the journey of my life with me. Thank you that you will never leave me nor forsake me. Amen

Focus scripture
Matthew 28:8-10

The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell the others to go to Galilee; there they will see me."