One of my favourite passages of Scripture is the “road to Emmaus.” The gist of it goes something like this.
As the Jews were dispersing from Jerusalem following Passover Week, two blokes were walking to Emmaus – 7 miles away. All of a sudden some stranger tags along them and engages them in the most amazing dialogue anyone could fathom.
Passover week in Jerusalem began with thousands of people celebrating Christ’s entrance riding on a lowly donkey. Completely fulfilling Scripture, the King of the Universe rides on an "ass" as He enters His beloved city.
After close to a week of confronting the religious nut jobs, He is betrayed by one of his own and handed over to be illegally tried and sentenced to death.
Instead of celebrating His entrance into the city, much of the same mob now shout, “crucify Him!” He is beaten to a pulp, beard torn off and body parts hanging out of Him – beaten beyond human appearance.
Then He was made to carry a cross to His eventual place of execution – nailed through the hands and feet, lifted up and basically suffocated to death thanks to one of the most savage forms of capital punishments known to man – crucifixion.
Upon His death, dead people rose and walked the streets – in full view of the massive amount of tourists in town during Passover week. The curtain in the Temple was torn in two – exposing the most Holy of Holy parts of the Temple. The sky went dark and the earth shook with a mighty earthquake.
He was buried. His followers freaked out for their own lives and dispersed. And everyone was in a state of shock. Wasn’t this man supposed to be the Messiah? The One sent to liberate them? Reaching to a new height of influence – only to be brutally snuffed out by crucifixion.
Three days passed and rumours started to float that Jesus had risen from the dead. Freaky tales started by women who had witnessed an empty tomb.
Hearts skipped a beat and people started leaving Jerusalem to go home to their normal lives wondering, “what on earth has just happened?”
And it’s at this point we encounter the story of the “road to Emmaus” – recorded in Luke 24:13-24:
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.
Some 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.”
So we have two blokes walking to their home towns when suddenly, a stranger appears. They freak out at this guy because He doesn’t seem to register about the events which just happened.
And then Jesus responds with what can only be described as God’s sense of humour, “what things?” I mean c’mon. He has just been murdered and suffered a death you and I can only imagine and He responds with “what things?”
So Cleopas and his friend tell Him about all the things that just happened. Can you imagining how Jesus felt as He listened to what they said. I mean, it was He that just went through all these things. It was He who suffered and died at the hands of professional executioners. It was He who felt the wrath of God hammered into Him. It was He who, while dead in the flesh, went to some demonic prison and declared victory. It was He who brought Himself back to life. And it was He who said, “what things?”
I am so going to high five Jesus when I see Him for saying that! And then in typical Jesus style, He flips the conversation on it’s head by His response:
“And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Luke 24:25-26
And it’s at this stage where I wish I was one of the two men. You see, during this 7 mile walk, Jesus must said the most amazing things:
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27
7 miles of jaw dropping bliss. 7 miles of eye opening wonder. 7 miles of intense teaching from the author of the Scriptures you have based your life on. 7 miles of enlightenment which burned you up inside as you hear every penny drop as if it were a cannon exploding into your ears.
7 miles of conversation with the God of the universe. The very one who holds your life’s breath in the tip of his finger print. Walking and talking right beside you.
What strikes me is where He taught them from – Moses and the Prophets. All Old Testament! Pure and Divine commentary on that “old” part of the Scriptures many “modern Christians” couldn’t care about.
Here’s my rant, the next time I hear some Christian say, “yeah but that’s in the OT,” I think I’m gonna deck him. When Paul says that “all scripture is God breathed” etc, he wasn’t even referring to the NT because it wasn’t even in place when he said that.
I don’t belittle the NT at all. It tells the story of my King and the ramifications of His appearing in this ball of ours. Awesome stuff. But my gripe is with those that discard the OT as irrelevant.
When Jesus spoke to Cleopas and his buddy, He referenced OT writings about all the things “concerning Himself.” Wouldn’t you just have loved to be in earshot of this conversation?
Imagine the gems of insight you would glean as all the pieces of the puzzle are put in place by the author of the Book itself?
7 miles of life. 7 miles of conversation that made the hearts of the recipients burn. When was the last time you had a conversation with someone where you heart burned? Probably never – but then again, you probably never had the conversation with your Creator like these guys did.
And the story goes on. It’s beyond this post. Way too much to even begin to talk about. But that’s the nature of my King. He will grab your heart and your mind and He will expose you to the brilliance of His existence. And maybe, just maybe, your heart will burn also…(emphasis is mine on the issues which captivate me.)
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?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.
And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”
But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marvelling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
May I have my 7 miles with Jesus – this is my life’s greatest wish.
