A HEART FILLING EXPERIENCEAs the three men walked along Jesus asked the two disciples, “What are you discussing together as you walked along?” Quickly the men realized they were amongst someone who was willing to listen to their sorrows and troubles so they poured out their sad story.
How wonderfully kind and compassionate is our Lord. He could have very well become angry with these two men for their lack of faith in Him. After all hadn’t He said, “Unless a seed dies, it abides alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit?” (John 12:24). But no, Jesus doesn’t berate them but rather as someone once stated, “In His infinite courtesy, Jesus remembered the frailty of over-strained nerves and bewildered minds and came, not too suddenly or overwhelming upon them, but with gracious signs and tokens, and messages from one to the other.”
Cleopas (one of the two disciples) expressed surprise at the stranger’s inquiry so he asked: “Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened there in these days?” Despite the note of incredulity in the voice of Cleopas, Jesus continues patiently and innocently asks, “What things?” To which they eagerly replied, “About Jesus of Nazareth.”
The two men then told the stranger that this Jesus “was a prophet, powerful in the word and deed before God and all the people.” Notice the use of the past tense, which strongly implies that He wasn’t relevant to the present or otherwise they wouldn’t have been in their downcast state of mind. Their experience concerning Jesus was in the past. The cross-had taken Him from them, and their minds hadn’t yet made sense of the changed situation, or adjusted to it. At the time the cross was just a great negative to them.
We’ve all heard exciting stories of what Jesus has done in the past—but what about the present? Too often we get fixated on all the bad that has occurred in our lives to the point that we forget that all of that is history. We must ask ourselves if Jesus is a present, bright reality in our lives today or is He something in the past? Do we recognize what He is doing in our lives; that he is walking beside or with us? Or is He just another stranger on the road?
Life has many distractions—hard work, routine, tiredness, and at times ill health, that can grind us down to the point where we carry on mechanically, never lifting our eyes or minds from the dust of the earthly road we travel. We thus become unaware of the glory and strength of His presence with us. When that occurs life then looses its meaning and leaves us washed out. But this story gives us hope.
Jesus is just as real among us today as He was 2,000 years ago on the road to Emmaus. He is the “unseen stranger” walking with us, listening to us, and if we are willing to listen for His voice, He will reveal Himself to us. He may not reveal Himself to us today as He did in the past. He won’t appear in a burning bush as He did with Moses or an audible voice in the middle of the night, as was the case with Samuel. We aren’t likely to receive a physical heavenly vision, as was the case with Isaiah. But nevertheless He still speaks to those who seek Him. Jesus speaks in the silence of the waiting spirit, forever impressing His will and call upon those who are willing to listen.
The voice of the Holy Spirit speaks to the inner shrine of the heart and it’s the same voice that called Peter, Andrew, James and John away from their fishing nets, Matthew from his tax booth, Zacchaeus out of a tree, and called out from heaven through a blinding light that knocked Paul from his horse. It’s the voice of Christ Himself perpetually calling all of us to “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord God Almighty” (Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34, 41; 2 Samuel 7:14; 2 Corinthians 6:17-18).
Have you not heard His voice? If you profess to serve Christ and His Church, it is strange if you have not.
To Be Continued…
