Road to the Cross: Meditations for EasterSample

On the Road to Emmaus

Two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:13)

Cleopas and his friend—or is it his wife?—turned to one another and exclaimed, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” But back on the road, so far as we readers know, and I think so far as two disciples were aware, their hearts were cold. Nowhere do we get any indication, as they were walking along with this mysterious stranger, that their hearts burned. Only later on, when they looked back, did they realize that their hearts burned.

Were the two disciples remembering falsely? Were they revising the past? Granted, sometimes we view our yesterdays through rose-colored glasses. But I have found that it is only in looking back that you see how God was at work in your life. You never realize that at the time. Do you think that when the children of Israel wandered through the wilderness they said to one another, “Isn’t it wonderful how God is leading us through this wilderness?” I don’t think so. Only much later, when they looked back, did they appreciate how God was at work in the exodus.

Whatever wilderness you are in, God is there with you. The Lord still walks with his people along the road. Someday we too will say, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us!”

Prayer: Lord, help me to sense your presence in my life.

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