With Burning Hearts


"Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us"--Luke 24:32

 The story of the Road to Emmaus is an important one.  It focuses not just on what God's resurrection power does with Jesus, but what God's power for new life does in us.  The setting is the afternoon of Easter Day.  Two of Jesus' disciples are leaving Jerusalem and heading to Emmaus, about seven miles away.  In spite of the news of the empty tomb, they remain traumatized by the awful events of Good Friday and their fear that death has had the last word.  They are overcome with sadness, and lament that Jesus is not who they had hoped he would be. 
The risen Christ meets the men on the road, drawing close and coming alongside of them, but they don't recognize him.  "But their eyes were kept from recognizing him, " Luke writes.  This is a way of saying that we don't always see Jesus' presence in our lives because he comes to us in ways we are not expecting.  He asks them to tell their story; he listens as they tell him what Jesus has meant to them.  He then takes familiar stories from the scriptures and reinterprets them in the light or his life and of God's love.  He teaches them a new way to read the Bible, with new ways to recognize him in the Bible stories and in their own lives!
When they get to Emmaus and they ask him to stay with them, he does, sharing a meal with them.
He sits at their kitchen table, taking the bread they have provided: blessing it, breaking it, and sharing it with them.  "Then their eyes were opened  and they recognized him . . .'Were  not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us!"  They are filled with new inspiration, and they are moved by the realization that his story is their story!
They change direction, go back to Jerusalem, and tell the other disciples the good news of meeting the risen Jesus! 
Jesus meets us where we are.  He draws close to us. He opens the scriptures so we can understand their meaning and our our own lives in the light of God's boundless love and mercy.  He makes wherever we are into a place where we learn and grow; we don't just talk about Jesus, we talk with him.  He gathers together with us at the table so we might be nourished by his presence and amazed at everyone's inclusion.  He sends us out as people whose lives are only measured by God's grace. We change direction.  And our hearts burn.

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