A Weird Famous Story

It’s kind of a weird, but famous, story. …The road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-29)

I find myself wondering, as I so often do, why Jesus chose to do something the way He did it.

Two, unnamed disciples, are distraught and disillusioned and are walking to Emmaus after the crucifixion.

The One they thought would change everything, the One they had left homes and families to follow, was dead. He had been ridiculed and brutally crucified.

As the two walked along the road, the resurrected Jesus appears and begins talking with them, but He prevents them from recognizing Him.

Why?

Why doesn’t Jesus just let them recognize Him immediately and comfort their confused, hurting hearts?

I wonder, if sometimes, Jesus knows we need to walk through truth, step by LABORIOUS step, hear it for ourselves, read it for ourselves, in order to really know that we know the hope that we have.

If Jesus had immediately revealed Himself, there would have surely been an avalanche of emotion.

Emotion surely has it’s place. Our hearts were meant to love Jesus and delight in those moments when He feels so close.

But emotion alone has a way of fading.

Our minds were also meant to know Jesus through the study of His Word. All His Word… including the Old Testament.

As Jesus talked with the two, He took them from Moses to the all Prophets , “He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things pertaining to Himself,” (v 27). He helped them realize the reasons they could trust what God says and does.

He used the Word with the Word. He showed them how the Old Testament pointed to Him.

Do you know only twelve chapters in the New Testament do not have some reference to the Old Testament? (Smethurst) And some teachers today suggest we should just ignore the Old Testament.

But Jesus walked those distraught disciples through the Scriptures so they would know with their mind that He was Who He said He was and what He had done for them.

And because of this, they would remember truth , when things would happen again that they didn’t understand and their emotions were rocked, and they could walk forward in hope!

And so can we!

Oh friend, we can trust the Word. We can trust the Christ of Genesis to Revelation!

(I’m finally home from a sweet trip with my family and picking up my study of Luke. I’m praying about what book to do next. Will you pray with me? I so love studying Gods amazing Word with you! ❤️)