From the Desk of Jeff King

The road to Emmaus

I marvel at the fact that our Creator, who laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens with His right hand (Isaiah 48:13), desires to have fellowship with an ordinary man like myself. I can relate to David’s wonderment in Psalm 8:4, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?"

One of the most transparent and intimate accounts in Scripture of God seeking friendship with man is found in Luke 24. As two disciples are walking the road to Emmaus shortly after the death and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua, a stranger draws near and asks, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" The men, whose eyes are restrained from the identity of the stranger, recount the arrest and crucifixion of Yeshua of Nazareth, and are puzzled why this man seems to have no knowledge of the clamor in Jerusalem. They cannot hide their disappointment that this Prophet was not the One whom they believed would redeem Israel, and they are troubled by reports that His body is missing from the tomb. The stranger responds, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Mashiach (Messiah) to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" Beginning with Moses and the prophets, He opens the Scriptures to show them that Messiah did not come the first time to be a conqueror, but a suffering servant and sacrificial lamb.

As they draw near to the village at dusk, the men – weary from a long day’s journey – are ready to retire. But the stranger is in no hurry to say goodbye. Verse 28 says He indicated that He would have gone farther. The stranger does, however, accept an invitation to come inside the house, and during the breaking of bread He reveals Himself as Messiah to the two men. At that instant, Yeshua vanishes and the stunned men say to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" The key phrase in this exchange is "He would have gone farther." I believe that still is Messiah’s heart today – He desires to draw close and talk with us intimately each day. But like the two men, we’re the ones who limit the time and distance we're willing to walk with Yeshua. We’re the ones who constrain Him. I’m just thankful it’s not the other way around.