Monday, July 29, 2024

The road to Emmaus…


Christological hermeneutic - It simply means that we are supposed to read the Bible through the lens of the resurrected Christ. We understand the Old Testament, and the New Testament in the light of the Gospels. With that in mind, read the following.

Luke 24:13-35 "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.” 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?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 

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." 

“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road and open Scriptures to us?” I wonder if the couple on the Emmaus Road were remembering the words of Jeremiah when they chose this powerful phrase: If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. Jeremiah 20:9

The miracle of resurrection was not enough, they also needed the Bible. But here at the end of this story, we see that the Bible itself was not enough, they also needed a moment of supernatural revelation, and this takes place, significantly, when the disciples urged Jesus: ‘Stay with us. Share a meal. Share our lives.’ It is in this simple, relational moment of feasting, as the bread is blessed, broken, and given, that the living Lord Jesus is revealed and received.”

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Here's another thought...
Neither of the two friends who started out together had the missing piece of insight and information that would make sense of all that took place. Only the “stranger” could bring that insight. Is it possible that the outsider in your life, that intruder, could actually be sent by God as a means of grace? If we don’t venture outside our comfort zone, outside our inner circle, trusting that the stranger God has brought into our lives has something for us, we will never even know what we’re missing.

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