Lessons on the Road to Emmaus: Part 1

[Darris McNeely] One of the great stories in scripture is what is called the road to Emmaus. It's found in Luke 24 and it is a post-resurrection story. On the day after Christ's resurrection, two disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem. Emmaus was a very small town probably about north and west of Jerusalem a few miles, and they were walking and talking about the things that had happened with the death and now the resurrection of Christ. 

It says beginning in Luke 24:13, two men, two disciples were traveling to Emmaus from Jerusalem about seven miles away and they talked together of all these things that had happened, the crucifixion, the time in the grave, the resurrection. They were trying to figure it all out. And it says in verse 15 that while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were restrained, they did not know Him. Amazing. Two disciples walking on the road talking about the things that had happened to Christ, His death and resurrection. Christ appears...He's the resurrected Christ at this time...draws near, they don't recognize Him. He begins to walk with them.

And Christ said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" And then they began to explain about the things that had happened. And as if he were a stranger again, they didn't recognize Him. They talked about Christ being crucified and then resurrected. Women had gone to the tomb, found it to be empty and did not find the body, and they were trying to figure it all out. They were trying to reason among themselves.

Now at this point in the story, there's one very strong point I think we should draw and that is that we see Christ coming among two of His disciples who were walking and talking about Him, walking and talking. You know, Christ had made a statement earlier in his ministry that, "Where two or three of your gathered together, there will I be in the midst of you." Here's an exact example of that. That where two disciples were talking, He drew near. Now they didn't recognize Him. There's a reason for that and we will talk a bit more about this in part two of this. 

But here's the point we should take. If we want Christ to be in our midst guiding our lives, helping us, walking if He were with us, we have to be walking in the right way. And actually, we need to be talking about the things of God, immersing ourselves in scripture, and letting those conversations be a dominant part of our life or day and our conversation with those of like mind. And when we are doing that then Christ can be guiding us and directing us by His word, by His spirit as disciples in that way. That's one of the key points to take out of this story of the road to Emmaus. A post-resurrection story that helps us to understand something about our life and the transformed life that we can live.

We'll find out how these two disciples came to recognize that Jesus was the one they were talking to in part two.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.