Reading: Luke 24:13-35

“’Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’”

The story of the walk to Emmaus is a profound post-resurrection account in many ways. Luke’s resurrection account does not end with all the disciples completely understanding the significance of Jesus being “risen.” The women have put the pieces together and attempt to tell the eleven what is going on. Peter rushes to the tomb to see for himself but he is simply “amazed at what had happened.” Other translations don’t make it sound like Peter really had many dots connected yet. In the CEB translation Peter was “wondering what had happened.” The Message contemporary translation says Peter “walked away puzzled, shaking his head.” And the other disciples would have been even more clueless. Two disciples walk seven miles down to Emmaus – I’m sure trying to clear their heads and consider all that has happened and all they have been told. And it is here they are given the opportunity to figure it out and experience Jesus themselves.

Jesus joins them incognito while they walk along. The disciples’ eyes were “kept from recognizing” Jesus and ironically, the disciples keep talking about Jesus’ death and the disappearance of His body. Jesus joins in the conversation and starts to teach, interpret, and explain the divine plan seen in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This fast-found relationship with this unknown stranger on the road feels so right that the disciples seem to insist that Jesus join them for a meal as they get to Emmaus. And it is gathered around the table, where Jesus takes bread, blesses, breaks, and gives it to them, that it all comes together. It was Jesus the whole time! And perhaps after completing the hearts-a-fire mission Jesus set out to do in the first place, Jesus suddenly vanishes. The disciples understand what Jesus’ resurrection was all about, and they instantly have to share it with others. Running back an easy seven miles to Jerusalem, they compare notes with the other disciples and proclaim that “the Lord has risen indeed!”

I love that a desire to fellowship and share a meal with a stranger draws the disciples into the moment that sets their own faith on fire. If they did not invite Jesus, who they thought was a new friend, to stay with them, they would have had a lot of understanding about what had happened that Jesus had explained to continue to ponder. The words of teaching and interpretation had already taken place. But it was in the invitation into further relationship that created an opportunity for Jesus to be truly known and for the knowledge to translate into their own life meaning, worth running seven miles and sharing with others.

Sometimes we simply stop at knowing what we should know about our faith. It is a little safer to keep it in our head as something very good to know. And yet if we look for

opportunities for relationships, especially new relationships from God, we will be given the opportunity for our hearts to be changed and set on fire.