Christ was here, and here, and here…
Day-after-download from some great witness and Bible study last night… here goes!
Luke 24:13-35 tells us about being on the road to Emmaus, “Now that same day two of the em were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
The point made by Pastor Rob last night is this. Emmaus is about seven miles from Jerusalem, so these two disciples forlorn in their sadness for what they thought was the ebbing tide of the messiah’s earthly impact, encounter a man on the road who walks with them. A good walking pace means plausibly these two disciples spent 2.5 hours with Jesus, though they didn’t know it during the walk. And during this 2.5 hours, immediately following his zealous accord of the prophecies, he details the plan of God from Moses and all the Prophets concerning himself.
From creation to the garden where there will be a heel to strike the serpent, “there I am!” In the animal skins to clothe Adam and Eve, “there I am!” The ram that is offered in Isaac’s stead, “there I am!” The lamb blood in the passover, “there I am!”… 2.5 hours of spoken revelation for the benefit of two disciples for the further benefit of spreading the good news at the prompt of burning hearts. All that has concerned himself concerns first the Father’s love for us.
My take… we might for a moment be envious of these two disciples. Face time with the Lord! Talk about FOMO. But we have his Word, and we have the Holy Spirit. His mercies that are new every day remind us of the certainty of the promise of “there I am!” Christ was here! He was there, and there, and there, and there. It became clear to them He was there Jesus broke the bread. But before that point they’d been filled with the truth of the Father’s plan, punctuated by the intimacy of Christ Jesus.
I imagine at some point on the road to Emmaus, nearing the village itself, Jesus reiterated to these two disciples of the charge of the great commission. They hadn’t made out his identity, but how neat would it have been that among the things he described from Scripture concerning himself he resolved with the command and promise we know from Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
To this day, that great commission makes our hearts burn, just like it did for these two disciples who rushed the seven miles back to Jerusalem to share their testimony of how Christ was here.