Encounters with Jesus - Pt 17

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 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. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 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?” (Luke 24:28-32 ESV).

Our last encounter in this series of devotionals takes place as two disciples walk along the road to Emmaus. Remember, the messages and the miracles of Jesus had led his hearers and his followers to assume that he was the one spoken of by the prophets hundreds of years previously. He was the long expected king, who would lead Israel to victory just as his ancestor, King David, had led his people to resounding victory against their enemies and unified the tribes of Israel. So the two walking home to Emmaus on the third day after the crucifixion said: “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (v. 21). What a sad statement: “We had hoped”. Into this devastated hope, into these shattered dreams, the now-risen Jesus spoke to them: “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (vv. 25-26). They had believed the prophets in a superficial, earth-bound way. In their earnest desire for the political liberation of Israel they had overlooked the whole world's need for spiritual liberation. In their longing for earthly peace in Israel they had ignored the many prophecies that spoke of a Savior who would bring God's message of spiritual peace to the whole world. And so he showed them the truth about his death from all the Scriptures. He showed them that this death was planned by God, this death was a substitutionary death, a ransom, that fully paid the debt of our sin, that brought redemption, liberation, not from earthly political tyrannies, but from the tyranny of Satan, sin and separation from God; and that his kingdom was not ruled from an earthly throne, but from his glorious eternal throne in heaven. From their despairing earth-bound “we had hoped” he lifted their minds to a spiritual certainty that by this death, eternal life would come. And there is the final truth we all need to hear and believe. We are merely walking through this world. It is not our home. Jesus has secured our home for all eternity. There is our hope and assurance for every circumstance of this life! That is the root of all our joy!