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 say 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 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 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 after the women returned to Christ's tomb and prepared spices and fragrant oils, they 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.  Now behold, two of them were traveling that say 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, according to tradition, St. Luke himself.  My study Bible notes that it was a common literary device for a writer not to give his 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?"  Then 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 these days?"  My study Bible explains 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).  It's also able to take different forms -- which is what occurs here (see Mark 16:12).  My study Bible notes also that the Lord's resurrected body transcends not only physical space and time, but also appearance.  Sometimes He is recognized by His disciples, and other times He is not.   Also, here the text tells us that their eyes were restrained.  My study Bible comments that Christ intentionally prevents them from recognizing Him in order to expose their doubting thoughts and then cure them by means of the Old Testament Scriptures, as we read a little further along in today's reading.

 

 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 comments 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.  My study Bible says here that it is partial faith to believe either in a messiah who only suffered or one that would only reign in His glory.  Complete faith, it notes, sees the Messiah as encompassing both, for all of this was foretold in the Law and the Prophets.  

 

 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.  Christ breaks bread in the same manner as at the Last Supper, my study Bible notes (see Luke 22:19), and so images the Eucharist of the New Testament Church.  All who commune with the Lord in His risen Body in faith have their eyes opened to know Him, for the Lord is known most perfectly in the breaking of bread.   They say to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us . . .?"  My study Bible calls this the inescapable effect of hearing the Holy Scriptures taught correctly and with faith (see 2 Timothy 2:15).  This burning, it says, is the conviction that the words and promises are true. 

 

 As we see from the text, the risen Christ is capable of seemingly anything.  Where and when He appears to His disciples doesn't have to be "logical" to us.  It doesn't have to make material sense, or even sense in terms of what we think of as normal limitations of time and space.  Even Christ's risen Body seems possibly to take on different forms.  At least we know, as well, that whether or not people discern who He is may be limited by Christ Himself.  Certainly we can look around ourselves and know that there are those who discern the "things of God" and those who do not, who simply can't perceive what others perceive in faith.  There are modern stories of conversion in the Orthodox Church in which people walk into a church filled with icons and other aspects of religious worship and are immediately struck by the presence of heaven there.  For others, there may be no response whatsoever.  However perception happens to us, however it is that faith grows in us, my study Bible says the description by the two disciples of their response to Jesus' word is telling and universal.  They say, upon reflection, "Did not our hearts burn within us . . . ?"  So how does Christ reveal Himself to you?  That is, the unlimited, risen Christ who has no barriers of time or space, and can apparently appear in any form? In the Orthodox Church, we encounter Christ through worship, through icons, through prayer, through His saints, through His angels, and in any number of ways that are uncountable.  In Romans 1, St. Paul speaks of the glory and truth of Christ showing through all of creation:  "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead . . ." (see Romans 1:18-23).  For this author, the sudden insights or revelations that come through faith and worship in the Church have come gradually and over time, but it is clearly a spiritual process, evolving from Baptism to the present day, and always grace that is at work.  "Did not our hearts burn within us . . .?" describes a feeling of recognition, a stirring of the depths of what is inside us, an identity deeper than we know, in a place where Christ knows us and we will eventually come to know ourselves as well.  The apostles are those who have come first in this New Testament story, who have experienced and known the risen Christ, to whom He appears and makes Himself known.  For they are the first, whom we follow, even as they followed the prophets and other Old Testament Scripture as a guide to the Christ, the Messiah.  Although Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, we observe that the manifestation of the fullness of God's truth is nonetheless something that may be missed unless we have the eyes to see and ears to hear.  Let us honor the mysterious working of grace in all the unexpected ways we've been given for God's power to manifest, most especially on this walking trip to Emmaus for two of the disciples.  Let us recognize the burning in our own hearts that kindles itself when God is present to us one way or another.