As we finish up our week this week, the next two days we are going to look deeper at the world in front of the text for the walk to Emmaus as found in Luke 24: 13-35.  Today we are going to be looking deeper at verses 13-27, the actual journey and conversation that the disciples have with Jesus.  Tomorrow we’ll look deeper at what happens when the disciples invite Jesus inside.  Take a moment now to go back and read this passage, and let’s think about what these passages can mean to us today.

As I read this passage today, I kept having two questions come into my mind that this passage provokes.  First, where in our life to we miss Jesus?  Second, how truly spiritually do we read scripture?  Let’s look at both of these.

First, where do we miss Jesus?  I think it is so interesting that these disciples were walking for Jesus for that long, and they didn’t recognize Him.  Jesus would not have been a stranger to them. They were called disciples, they would most likely have been among the group of 70 that were closely following Him and who He sent out for ministry. They would have known Jesus very well.  Obviously they would have known His face, they would have known His voice.  They knew Jesus. I mean, for real, they knew Him.  But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him is what the scripture tells us.  It isn’t until later that they would be able to see Him.  Was Jesus the one that kept them from being able to see HIm?  It seems that way from what the passage tells us. Why am I harping on this?  My first impulse when I read this passage to blame them for not being able to see Jesus. But it actually doesn’t appear as though they had done anything wrong. Perhaps they could not seem Him then, because there was something bigger He wanted to show them later.

Sometimes it seems like we can’t see or hear or experience God.  We can feel like He isn’t even there.  But, in truth, just like in this passage, He is there.  And if we can’t see Him, keep walking, as they did. And He will show Himself to us. He will.  Keep walking.  Keep trusting.  Keep looking.  He will show Himself.

The second question, to me, is even more important. Jesus took all the scripture and showed how it was pointing to Him.  Now, once again, just like with Jesus, these disciples would have known the scripture.  Jesus was not telling them anything that they were not aware of, to begin with. They knew the scriptures. They had read them.  They had memorized them.  They were keenly aware of them.  The “knew” them.  But they didn’t “know” them.  The scriptures were not given to us for only head knowledge.  They were given to us for heart knowledge.  If I can quote every verse in the Bible, but I have not allowed the Bible to change my heart, then I am reading and doing it wrong.  They needed Jesus to help them correctly understand the scripture.  Just as we do.  Read spiritually.  Read listening for His voice.  Read listening for His call.  Read looking for Him. And you will find Him within the pages of scripture.  He is there, calling to us.  May we have ears to hear.

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