Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?

 

 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened. 

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.  

 

So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.  And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"  Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?"  And He said to them, "What things?"  So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.  Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early astonished us.  When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.  And certain 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."  

 

Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.  Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.  But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."  And He went in to stay with them.  

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"  So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"  And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

 

- Luke 24:12–35 

 

Yesterday we read that the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.  Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.  But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.  Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'"  And they remembered His words.  Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.  It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.  And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.  

 

  But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.   We recall that Peter acts even as the other apostles disbelieve the women who had conveyed the message of the angel at the tomb.   See yesterday's reading, above, in which "their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them."  Seeing the linen gravelothes lying by themselves, Peter marvels to himself at what had happened.  

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.   The two of them are Cleopas and, in accordance with tradition, Luke the author of our Gospel.  It was a common literary device for a writer, my study Bible explains, not to give one's own name (see Mark 14:51; John 21:24).

So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.  And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?"  My study Bible comments that the nature of the resurrected body is so different from its previous state that it is not immediately recognizable (John 20:14, 21:4, 12; see 1 Corinthians 15:35-44).   The body is also able to take different forms, which is what occurs here (see Mark 16:12).  That their eyes were restrained tells us that Christ intentionally prevents them from recognizing Him.  My study Bible explains that this is in order to expose their doubting thoughts and then cure them by means of the Old Testament Scriptures (see the verses that follow in today's reading).  

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?"  And He said to them, "What things?"  So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.  Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early astonished us.  When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.  And certain 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."   My study Bible explains here that the disciples' hope for redemption was still imbedded in a foolish misunderstanding of the Messiah as a political savior or deliverer.  With Christ's death, this earthly hope had been dashed. 

Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.  Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.  But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."  And He went in to stay with them.   My study Bible says that it is partial faith to believe in a Messiah who only suffered or one that would only reign in His glory.  Complete faith sees the Messiah encompassing both, as all of this was foretold in the Law and the Prophets -- as Jesus reveals to them by expounding to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

 

 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  My study Bible points out that the Lord breaks bread in the same manner as at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19).  In so doing, He images the Eucharist of the New Testament Church.  It notes that all who commune with the Lord in His risen Body in faith have their eyes opened to know Him.

 

And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"  So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"  And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.   The disciples ask, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"  This, my study Bible says, is the inescapable effect of hearing the Holy Scriptures taught correctly and with faith (see 2 Timothy 2:15).  This burning is the conviction that the words and promises are true.  We note once more that Christ is known most perfectly in the breaking of bread.

I love that the disciples speak of the effect of recognition as they experience it:  "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"  It is an intriguing way to phrase what it feels like when something strikes us as very true -- and very commonly it happens that this recognition comes when reading Scripture.  But that burning in the heart is a response that comes not from simply hearing, but from hearing kindled with faith, and signifying recognition of a truth that hits us in the heart.  That is, in the deep place where we truly live, where our soul resides.  In this way, the Gospels have recorded for us just what this feels like, and we who have had similar experiences can affirm what we share with the disciples.  While there are many reports of people seeing a vision of Jesus, here the forms that Christ takes make it clear that we might not recognize it when He is close to us, or when we are in a place in which we can draw upon the truth of Christ's message for us with sudden recognition.  One might be sitting in class, in a cafe, in an airport, on a bus, or driving to work.  As we read from this appearance, there really is no limit to the places where we might experience Christ in some way or another.  And this should be comforting to us, because it means that there is no circumscribed limitation on how, where, why, what, and when Christ comes to us -- or when knowledge of His truth might somehow be revealed so that our hearts also "burn" within us.  This is the first noticeable effect of Resurrection, that now there are no limits on Christ.  He has conquered the limitations of the world, and opened up the ways in which we might come to truth, to know God -- and more importantly, to participate in the grace of God.  In John 16:33, Jesus declares, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  This is one aspect of overcoming the world, that with Christ's Resurrection, there is no restriction on how God can come to us, on where God's energies can find us, on that journey toward the fuller knowledge of Him that this promises.  Here is the first effect of Resurrection, the flowering of the events of Christ's Passion, and of His ministry and mission into our world to experience life as we do.  In fact, for many people perhaps, the reports of such experience are so commonly known as to simply be dismissed and ignored, perhaps as "idle tales" produced by certain types of people.  But such dismissal isn't possible after an experience of the same.  In fact, if we look around, we just might find that Christ comes to people in many ways, including those they might not recognize.  Let us be grateful for this opening up, as seen by many in the tearing of the veil in the temple.  We might read it at once as a response of shock at the death of Christ the Son; but just as with the Passion itself, we need faith to see also that it is the universal opening of grace for all.