Did not our hearts burn?

“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Lue 24:32)

Hello, my friend…

Today we consider a verse hidden away that is little addressed. In fact, I don’t know that I have ever heard someone preach from this particular individual verse before, so here we go.

As we come into this whole preceding passage, we find Jesus crucified and buried in the Garden tomb. The disciples are, for the most part, dispersed and in hiding out of fear of further arrests. The immediacy of the moment has passed and the crowds have gone home. The One Who proclaimed “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” has been silenced. To the normal, human mind, all hope has been taken away. The Author of Life has lost His. To those seeking the Way, the Light has been extinguished and the Way is dark. Anyone seeking salvation has watched as their Savior has been buried.

It is in this very condition we find these two men as they walk slowly home. They are, no doubt, questioning everything they believe, everything they have heard and seen, and maybe, just maybe, the phenomenon that was Jesus. Like us, they had probably seen others who came proclaiming great things teaching foreign ideas. Not much has changed in the world. We still have those who love to stand and declare new ideas and revelations, who relish in the spotlight as they have their moment of fame. We read of these in 2 Peter 2. Peter doesn’t hold back on describing them, their actions, and their motivations. By the same token, we read that men (and women) will become dull of hearing the truth and turn to those who will teach “feel good” messages, tell them what they want to hear, etc. The truth (better written, the Truth) is sometimes distasteful to our flesh. We don’t like the idea of crucifying our flesh, of buffeting our bodies, putting down our desires for the will of God, and challenging what we have always believed or thought.

We often find ourselves walking alongside these two men. We may walk away from a situation for which we were believing one way, yet it turned out quite differently. We may have read all the right scriptures, prayed all the right prayers, gone to the most popular evangelist’s meetings, etc, yet God somehow failed to meet our expectations. We find ourselves walking slowly away, kicking at the dirt, head down, mumbling to ourselves and anyone nearby, questioning. “Why even go through all the motions if God isn’t even going to answer? What good does it do to believe? He’s just going to do whatever He wants anyway, so why waste my time?” We have a thousand questions. And they all point to our discontent with the way God handled a situation in our lives.

It is interesting to me that Jesus came upon them while they walked and talked. He purposely blinded them as He walked along the road and listened. He didn’t immediately condemn them for their disbelief, He didn’t ridicule them for their lack of faith, nor did He continue on His way and abandon them in their doubt. Instead, He listened to their fears and questions, then gently began to teach them from scripture concerning the things they didn’t fully understand. When they arrived at their home, Jesus went in and joined them in fellowship. He chose to stay with them until…

Only after Jesus broke the bread and shared communion with them did they realize Who He Is. I want you to consider this before we move on. They went up to Jerusalem, presumably to offer their annual sacrifices and fulfill their duties according to the Law of Moses. They participated willingly in this ceremony. They, obviously, were believers. They witnessed the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy right before their eyes – Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Even though they had done all this, they now find themselves in disbelief and doubt, in fear and struggle, in confusion over the future, questioning everything. Maybe that’s you today. I want you to go back and read the entirety of this passage in Luke 24. Follow their footsteps. Put yourself in the picture. Feel their pain. Feel YOUR pain. But don’t stop there.

Jesus is walking through this with you. He is revealing Himself to you subtly. He is teaching you about Himself and yourself. The next step is critical. Through their fears, through their questions, through their misunderstanding and blindness, THEY INVITED JESUS IN. Their home was open to Him. Their hearts were yearning and aching within them. These were not bad men. These were not heathens. They weren’t even non-believers. They were you and me. Just as Jesus was loving and patient with them, so He is with us. And He Is here.

Open up your heart to Him today – right now. He’s not offended at your questions. He acknowledges your lack of understanding right now. Yet He wants to gently show Himself to you – to open your eyes and help you. He needs you, though, to be available and receptive to Him and the Truth He wants to show you. He won’t pry His way in, He won’t force Himself on you. But He will listen to the cries of your heart and the questions you hold in your mind. If you reach out to Him, He WILL answer. As in our text today, we may not understand His answer fully at the time, but He will answer. Allow Him into your heart and into your home. Sit and have communion with Him. “It will be worth it all,” says the old chorus we used to sing, “when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small

when we see Christ. One glimpse of his dear face, all sorrow will erase. So, bravely run the race till we see Christ.” Not someday in the sweet by and by, but we can see Him right now, right here. Come.

Be blessed.