Series: Roads
Message: The Road to Emmaus
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira
Daily Walk: Japhet De Oliveira
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 83:14-18.
Read: Luke 24:13-35 (ESV). As you re-read the text for the final time this week in the English Standard Version, what new insights did you discover about God’s character?
Reflect: There are moments when Jesus seems to reach out and grab hold of you directly and others when any contact comes in the form of a gentle—almost imperceptible—nudge. But this is not driven Jesus' uncertainty. Jesus' voice is constant and consistent. It is not manipulative. It is not panicking. Jesus knows us intimately and already knows every choice and turn that we have made and will make on our journey with Him. Our response to Him and our and engagement is still important. The choices are always ours—which can make hearing His voice so difficult. In this story, Jesus enters the conversation with a gentle nudge (vs. 17). He draws out the pairs' thoughts with a gentle nudge, too (vs. 19). But when you get to verse 25, He shifts their world. They believed that the Messiah would deliver Israel from suffering— but Jesus was always going to deliver Israel through suffering (Isaiah 53 and Psalm 30). Only when they grasped what the Scripture says does He reveal Himself to them. That is when their hearts moved from “slow” (vs. 25) to “burning” (vs. 32).
Even though the women had told them that Jesus was resurrected (vs. 22), that was not evidence enough for them. They had left the room and walked home, bereft. When Jesus sat in fellowship with them and broke bread with them, the Spirit revealed to them who was at the table. Jesus took the position at the head of the table. They allowed Him to lead. As he broke the bread, they saw the scars. Those scars changed from reminders of pain to reminders of victory. In that moment, Jesus vanishes. I am confident they skipped the rest of the meal and ran back to Jerusalem to share what they had discovered. This makes the following verses even more amazing. Jesus appears to them again on that same day while they are in the middle of a speech about seeing Jesus! He appears to all of them (vs. 36).
Jesus speaks to us through the Bible. Jesus speaks to us through passionate conversations. Jesus speaks to us through community when we sit with each other. Jesus speaks to us through the scars of life. He will transform them into scars of victory.
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for the voice of God to be clear in your life.
Research: Read one of the recommended commentaries on this passage.