Burning Hearts Club

Podcast available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favourite streaming platform!

Luke 24:13-35 - The Road to Emmaus

Have you ever gone through something so awful that it left you feeling disoriented, disillusioned, or hopeless about the future?

There is a story in the Gospels about two of Jesus’ followers walking away from the scene of a crime. The crime was execution by crucifixion of an innocent man: Jesus. It had been three days since he died, and they could no longer stand to stay in Jerusalem. So, playing the events over and over on a loop in their minds, they finally decided to walk away and head to a village called Emmaus. 

Have you ever felt like walking away? I know I have. So many times.

As they walked along, Jesus came and walked alongside them. So friend, even in seasons when we’ve checked out and choose to walk away from God, he is still with us. He moves towards us and walks with us.

When you’ve messed up, Jesus moves towards you. When you’re hurt, Jesus moves towards you. When you’re lost, when you’re discouraged, Jesus moves towards you. 

God always moves towards his kids, not away from them. What a comfort that is!

Theologian Charles Spurgeon once said of this passage, “talk of him, and you will soon talk with him.”

As Jesus joins the travellers, he asks them what they’re discussing and they respond with surprise,

“Are you the only one who doesn’t know about the things that happened in Jerusalem these last few days?”

(Lk 24:18).

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to their question. I have asked God similar questions, like: 

• Are you the only one who doesn’t see what I’m dealing with?

• Do you even know what’s happening to me?

• Do you see how hard this is?

• Do you see the pain I’m in?!

  
  

Jesus then feigns ignorance. I can picture his response with a twinkle in his eye and something cheeky in his tone when he says, “What things?”

So they proceed to tell him what had happened in Jerusalem that week. The arrest, the mock trial, and the horrific death of Jesus. But the most heartbreaking part of all of it is when they’re nearly finished spilling the tea and say to Jesus,

“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

(Lk 24:21)

But we had hoped… it’s such a gut punch!

What have you hoped for and were left wanting? 

Are you disillusioned by experiences? Disappointed with the outcome of everything you put your hope into?

I mean, I get it. I get why they’re leaving. It just seems more sensible to walk away rather than seeing all the places that remind them of what happened. The constant reminder of their hopes disappointed playing over and over again like a scratched up CD stuck on a loop. (Am I dating myself with that reference?)

Jesus is saddened by their deflated disposition and says to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe”

(Lk 24:25)

Are we not like this too? Why are we so slow of heart to trust? Is it the baggage we carry? The lies we’ve believed? The fear of loss or disappointment?Jesus told them that the problem with their belief was more in their heart than their head. We often think the main obstacles to belief are in the head. We look for airtight arguments, proofs, logic — but they are actually in the heart.

In fact, Jesus is one of the best-attested figures in ancient history in terms of number of Christian and non-Christian sources and the proximity to the actual events of his life. This means there is more evidence for the life, death, resurrection of Jesus than ancient figures like Socrates, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar.

So the debate today isn't so much "Did Jesus exist?”, because almost all historians agree he did, but "Who was he?”, and “What does my belief about Jesus mean for my actual life?” 

C.S. Lewis famously wrote in Mere Christianity:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Lewis called this the “great trilemma”— was Jesus a liar? Was he a lunatic? Or is he really who he says he is? Is he Lord? We must decide. And whatever we decide will determine how I live my life. Because if Jesus is Lord, that means I can’t be. And that requires surrender.

Well Jesus does not skip a beat. The narrative continues by saying, “Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself”

(Lk 24:27)

Jesus makes connections for them that they had never made for themselves. Friends, this is one of the most compelling parts of the whole story!

Jesus told them that the Messiah was:

• The promised child who would crush evil, even though he would be hurt in the process.

• The one through whom God would bless every nation, just as he promised Abraham.

• The perfect High Priest who connects us to God forever—greater than any earthly priest.

• The powerful and victorious leader from the family of Judah.

• The voice that spoke to Moses from the burning bush—God’s presence revealed.

• The Lamb whose death saves us, just like the first Passover in Egypt.

• The commander who appeared to Joshua to lead God’s people into victory.

• The King who would come from David’s line, but reign with perfect justice and glory.

• The Suffering Servant described in Psalm 22, who was pierced and mocked but trusted God.

• The Good Shepherd in Psalm 23, who leads, protects, and provides.

• The Savior announced by the prophets, especially the one who would suffer and carry our pain, like in Isaiah 53.

• The royal Messiah in Daniel’s vision, who would set up a kingdom that will last forever.

  
  

To recognize how the grand narrative of Scripture all points to Jesus. To identify the pattern of what God was doing from the beginning of time, culminating into a moment that’s more than just a feel-good story where the hero sacrifices himself to save his beloved — that’s what it’s all about!

So as Jesus walks with them and walks them through the story of the Messiah in the Scriptures, these two travellers were getting to their destination. Jesus pretends he is going to continue on, but our narrator tells us that they urged him to stay with them.

Why? Because there is something compelling about this kind of love story. This action adventure. There’s something about the grand narrative of Scripture that draws us in and makes our hearts burn.

Because the story of the Bible can be put in this way: It is the mission of God to be fully united with his people.

These travellers recognized this and they wanted to hear more.

So Jesus stays with them, and shares a meal with them. Luke, our narrator, says that, “he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him”

(Lk 24: 30-31)

At that moment, he vanished and they were left dumbfounded and awestruck saying, “did not our hearts burning within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened us the Scriptures?” (Lk 24:32).

Have you experienced moments like this? Moments when Jesus steps into that brokenness and reveals something to you about himself. When clarity finally comes. When the fog is lifted. When you finally make sense of the puzzle.

Sometimes he uses people to do that! I know I’ve had many heart-burning moments with other believers. We can be that for each other. Pointing others to Jesus, the truth of who he is, what he offers, and how it all works together for good.

In another Gospel, Jesus says that “when two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt 18:20).

Where can you see signs of Jesus in your ordinary life? Look for him when you’re out for a walk — or perhaps decidedly walking away from something. He is in those moments, and all the other ones in between.

We can be part of that “Burning Hearts Club” founded by two of the many people who have been disillusioned by their circumstances and jaded by deflated dreams.

And Jesus continues to walk alongside us too. He seeks opportunities to open our eyes to the truth of who he is in the Scriptures in such a way that that truth can move beyond the text and into our ordinary lives as well. 

What’s in the Ears

This is the part where I share a song or podcast I’m currently into. Jess Ray is artist I’m sharing today is a little broody and her songs are really raw and honest. The song I recommend is Lilies & Sparrows but all her work is just lovely. Let me know if you check her out!

If this stirred something in you, share this post with a friend or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards the flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

Podcast available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favourite streaming platform!