Puffs of dust rose from the dirt road, coating the hems of their robes with every sandaled footstep. Quick footsteps. With seven miles to go between Jerusalem and Emmaus, there was no reason to dawdle. The trek had started silently, each man introspectively assessing his beliefs, examining his heart, exhorting himself to keep hold of his faith. The past week had been unbelievable. Struggling to make sense of it all alone, they began discussing the string of recent events. Events that broke their hearts. Events that boggled their minds. Events certain to buffet even the strongest of faith.
Long-time followers of Jesus, they certainly hadn’t seen this coming. No matter how many Pharisees hated His teaching, no matter how many temple leaders despised His knowledge, no matter how jealous so many were of His miraculous abilities, they never dreamed things would end up like this! Not once did they think those hateful souls would actually kill Him. Mistakenly believing all men could be logical, they had naively thought those spiteful hearts would thoughtfully weigh Jesus’ miraculous works and appropriate teachings against their unfounded dislike and choose to return to neutral corners.
It would be impossible to measure how severely they had underestimated the depth of evil that springs from a human heart where jealousy has been nurtured into hate and bitterness. By the time they realized their miscalculation, it was too late. Jesus had been arrested. He’d been unfairly tried, found guilty without a shred of evidence, and sentenced to death. The crowd who so happily accepted His miracles now violently screamed for His demise. “Crucify Him!” The ugly chant would echo in their ears long after the crowd had been placated.
Helplessly, they stood by and watched as the soldiers crucified Jesus. Their hearts leaden in their chests, their stomachs churning, their eyes burning with unshed tears. They had been so sure He was the One. The One that would redeem Israel. The One that would save His people from their sins. The One that would come and fulfill all the things the prophets had written. The One for whom they spent their lives waiting and watching, desperately hoping He’d appear in their lifetime. (Luke 22:39-23:56)
But what were they supposed to think now? Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. Along with Him had gone their unabashed hope, their mustard seed faith. Sure, they had heard the women’s report of an empty tomb and angels declaring He was alive. They knew the vacancy of the tomb had been verified. But Jesus hadn’t walked out to great fanfare, earthquakes, and voices from Heaven. He hadn’t hung around sitting on the moved tombstone waiting for them to discover He was back. They hadn’t seen Him at all and their human hearts were having trouble believing what they couldn’t see. (Romans 5:5; Matthew 17:20; Romans 8:25; Hebrews 11:1)
They’d seen plenty of things hard enough to believe when watching them happen. Blind men becoming sighted. Withered limbs restored. Palsy healed. Evil spirits exterminated. Fish multiplied. Believing Jesus was alive shouldn’t have been that difficult. After all they had seen, their faith should have been like Kilimanjaro. It wasn’t. When everything was said and done, when the basis of their faith was reported missing, their faith itself was discovered shaken. (Mark 10:46-52; Luke 6:6-11; Mark 2:1-5; Mark 7:24-30; John 6:1-14)
As their discussion lengthened, they were joined by a man traveling the same direction. They hadn’t seen Him approach. They didn’t recognize His face. They assumed He was not from around there. How could He be? He seemed completely ignorant of the horrific events in Jerusalem over the past week. Apparently, they felt it their duty to enlighten Him. Exchanging a look that clearly asked, “How could this guy come from Jerusalem and not know what happened last week?” They began to tell the tale.
Picture it. Jesus. Intellectual prophet. Miracle worker. Mighty healer. Inspiring teacher. Highly respected. Deeply loved and desperately hated. Accosted by chief priests and rulers. Tried in a biased court. Sentenced to death for nothing. Brutally crucified. Clearly dead. Safely buried. Proclaimed alive. Presumed missing.
Oddly, their new traveling companion wasn’t nearly as distressed by the list of unfortunate events as they were. He saw sense and order where they saw chaos and wild abandon. His frustration appeared to be in the fact they had missed it. They had missed the correlation of recent events with the prophecies written centuries before. They hadn’t been wrong after all! They had been with Jesus!
Reaching their destination, yet unwilling to end their discussion, they urged their new friend to come and stay with them for the night. He did. As they sat at the dinner table, the Man took the bread, blessed it, and began serving them. In that moment the scales fell off their eyes, the fog lifted from their minds and they saw Him. Really saw Him. The message the angels had given the women at the tomb was true! They knew it was! They had been with Jesus!
For a few seconds, they simply stared at one another. Then reality struck. Jumping up from the table, they snatched up a bread roll for the journey and ran out the door. Their feet thudded the packed dirt as they raced back the way they came. The mileage didn’t matter, the message did. Their hearts, set aflame by the words of the resurrected Jesus Christ, were burning to tell the others! They had to tell them it was true! Everything the prophets had preached. Everything the angels had spoken. Everything their meager faith had believed. It was all true! Jesus was alive. (Luke 24:1-35)
And so it should be with us. Our hearts, aflame with the greatest story ever told, should be burning to tell others. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Not just during His physical lifetime, but for as long as the earth hangs in space. For every soul who dares to come before Him in repentance. For everyone, everywhere. No exceptions. Forgiveness is possible. Heaven is promised. It seems impossible, but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it isn’t! You can have peace on earth and Heaven too! Even if you struggle to believe, pull up on the bootstraps of your puny faith and hang on, because it’s all true!
Every word is true. Every promise ever written in the Bible is true. Old Testament. New Testament. It doesn’t matter. God has never reneged on His promises. He is faithful. Even when we can’t see it or feel it or force it. God is working and planning. If He said it, He will most certainly do it. The knowledge should make your heart burn with love for God and urgency to share the Good News with others. It should have you lurking on every corner of your life waiting for an opportunity to share the message, waiting to tell the world it’s all true.
I don’t know how long it takes to walk seven miles. I’m sure it depends on the terrain, the climate, and one’s physical fitness. It would likely take a couple of hours at a brisk pace. Unfortunately for our souls, we’ve quit walking places. We don’t have time. Our overscheduled lifestyle would have us driving those seven miles, squeezing in a teleconference on the way. We’d arrive in Emmaus never having spoken with the heavenly Stranger on the way. Our hearts wouldn’t burn at the beauty of His words. Our souls wouldn’t ache with the necessity of sharing. We’d miss a message from Jesus, not because He didn’t speak, but because we were too busy to listen.
Perhaps we should go back to walking. Perhaps we should turn off the radio, silence the phone, close the computer and tablet, pause the audiobook. And listen. Listen to God. Listen to the voice that says your faith was not misplaced. The voice that tells you it’s all true. Your sin is forgiven. Your debt is paid. Your unfading, imperishable, undefiled eternal inheritance is promised. And no matter how often your faith staggers, shudders, or stumbles under the weight of current events or dubious broadcasts, you can always come back to the unimpeachable truth that the God who breathed the words of Genesis also spoke the words of Revelation and He has never misrepresented His word. It’s all true! (I Peter 1:3-4; I John 1:7; Colossians 1:13-14,22; Joshua 21:45; II Corinthians 1:20; Romans 4:21)
So go tell them! Tell the postal worker, the electrician, the landscaper. Tell the homeless man, the prostitute, the addict. Tell the bank teller, the grocery clerk, the trash collector. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell yourself! Shout the message! Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners! Me. You. Them. It’s all true! Our redemption has come. Jesus Christ gave up Heaven, took on flesh, lived, died, and rose again so we could be free from the grip of sin. He came to redeem our souls from sin. He came to redeem our lives from destruction. He came to redeem our eternity from hell. Yes, friends, it’s all true! (I Timothy 1:15; Psalm 103:3-4; Hebrews 2:14; Romans 6:11-14,22)
Because it is true, we have the absolute privilege of walking with Jesus and the burning obligation of sharing these truths. May your time spent with Jesus leave your heart burning with a message you are loath to keep silent. May your soul burn with the urgency to share Jesus. May you go out into the highways and byways, greenways and alleyways, and spread the message. It’s all true! (Luke 12:8-9; I Peter 3:15; Colossians 4:5-6; II Timothy 1:7-8)
Go Tell Them!!!!!