“Now that same day two of them 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?’ …
“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?’” –Luke 24:13–18, 28–32
“It all seems unfinished. He died too soon. What do we do now?”
“It was perfect when Jesus was with us. He was remarkable. Remember all the people He healed and lives He restored?”
“How can we possibly live without Him when we left everything we knew and loved to follow Him? What now?”
The tears would come and go, and all they could focus on was the road west out of Jerusalem and the dust below their feet.
“We placed so much hope in all He said would be accomplished, and then Friday came, and all the hopes and dreams we held on to were shattered on that bloodied wooden cross. Wasn’t He supposed to usher in the Kingdom and redeem Israel?”
Their internal cries and despair reached the ears of Jesus. Of all the people, in a time of deepest grief, Jesus met these two on the road out of town—the road to nowhere, the road where maybe they could find an answer or go to escape the pain.
He met them not to reveal Himself right away in the form of comfort they so longed for. But He met them to get them reanchored and reoriented in the truth of Scripture. They had a foundation that needed some rebuilding. In the greatest storm these two had faced up until this point, they needed to know, from the very beginning in Genesis, how this was God’s sovereign plan and how they were now a part of it.
There was something so comforting about this man’s presence. “Please don’t leave,” they pleaded. Jesus didn’t want to leave; He longed to remain as much as they longed for Him. Oh, the mutuality of intimacy with Christ. He longs for our presence even more than we often long for His.
He stayed to be with them, eat with them, and ultimately reveal the truth of who He was. Little by little, He was fanning the flame of their broken hearts. Ember by ember. The burning was ensuing.
It’s in the gap of disillusionment where truth and experience seem oceans apart that Jesus meets us. He longs to close the gap so we can see and we can breathe again.
“Though life caved in on these two men, enough light came through the fallen debris and airborne dust to give them hope. They couldn’t see everything. But they could see him. And that was enough.
“Enough to give them strength to dig their way out. Enough to keep them from giving in to their sadness or giving up on their hopes.
“Enough so they could go on living, go on believing, and go back to Jerusalem to pass around the hope to those there who so desperately needed it.” –Ken Gire, “Moments with the Savior”
In the seasons when we want to take the road west as far away from Golgotha as we can get, Jesus hears your cries. He knows your despair. He sees the running and the wandering. He’s all too familiar with desert paths and lonely places.
It’s the despairing He runs to, to anchor you back in truth and redirect you back to the place of the cross and resurrection.
You have a story to tell those who are just as disillusioned. There’s a testimony on your lips of your encounter with Jesus as He turns you around and sends you back.
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” –1 Peter 5:10
He longs to fan the flame of your heart once again. What once burned for Jesus when the gap of life was narrower between truth and experience can burn again. He’s not going to send you back without His presence and the promise of His Spirit.
“When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.” –Luke 24:50–53
Jesus, cause my heart to burn for You. Let my life be a beacon of light for the lost and the weary. Send me to the places where I need to declare Your goodness in spite of my wanderings and my deserts. Thank You for the suffering and the pain so I can identify a little more with Your life and the depth to which You love me.
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