Did Not Our Heart Burn Within Us?

Did Not Our Heart Burn Within Us?

—Luke 24:32

For three years Christ’s disciples had followed Him, learned from Him, and ministered with Him when suddenly this season came to an abrupt and crashing conclusion: Jesus had been viciously executed and His body thrown into the cold, damp darkness of a tomb. All His disciples had forsaken Him and fled, making their way back to their respective homes.

Two of those followers headed home to Emmaus, a village seven miles west of Jerusalem. As they began their journey, their walk toward the sunset was descriptive of their present emotions. As they walked, they said to each other, “We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). But they had buried that hope in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Dejected and dismayed, they were walking proof that there is never power in the present when there is no hope in the future.

Then suddenly the resurrected “Jesus Himself drew near and went with them,” but they “did not know Him” (vv. 15–16). After this incredible encounter, “their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight” (v. 31). And their response? “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (v. 32).

We pride ourselves today on our brilliant minds: many know the nuances of theological truths. We pride ourselves on our benevolent hands: commendable social actions abound. But what we really need are burning hearts that only come when we listen to Him on the road.

How can we acquire this heavenly heart burn? The answer is the same for us as it was for those two men walking the road to Emmaus two millennia ago. We must listen as Jesus speaks to us in two ways—by His Spirit and through His Scriptures.

LISTEN AS JESUS SPEAKS THROUGH HIS SPIRIT

The disciples revealed that their hearts were on fire because “He talked with us along the road” (Luke 24:32). Jesus did the talking! They had poured out their own disappointment, and then they listened to Him.

Their hearts didn’t burn when they talked to Him. The two were still feeling sad and dejected. Likewise, many people today talk to Jesus in prayer, and they finish as disappointed and depressed as when they began because they have one-sided conversations.

Nor did the disciples’ hearts burn when they conversed about Him with each other. Our own testifying to others about Him does not result in a burning heart. Their hearts burned “when He talked with us” (v. 32). Their hearts were set on fire when they stopped talking and started listening to Him, spirit to Spirit.

There are times when we need to cease our performance, cease our petitions, even cease our praise, and simply be still and listen. We have a God who speaks to us by His Spirit.

LISTEN AS JESUS SPEAKS THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES

These two disciples’ cold hearts were set on fire when Jesus talked with them and revealed the meaning of the Scriptures to them. The Bible is a sealed book until Jesus’ Spirit opens it to us. Those who do not know God can gain head knowledge about Him from the Bible, but they can never gain spiritual knowledge. And there is a difference.

As they journeyed together Jesus “expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). The word expound suggests translating something out of a foreign language, and the Bible is like a foreign language to anyone who does not walk in the spirit of Christ. It is a miracle book with miracle messages.

Jesus began speaking to the disciples with the story of “Moses and all the Prophets” and revealed Himself through the Scriptures (v. 27). From the Pentateuch to the Prophets, Jesus preached Jesus that evening on Emmaus Road. From Moses to Malachi He spoke of how the entire Jewish Bible speaks of Him. As He taught, a shadow of the cross fell across the Old Testament. Jesus was that Ram at Abraham’s altar (Genesis 22:12–14). He was that spotless Passover Lamb whose blood was spilled to bring deliverance from death and freedom from slavery (Exodus 12:22–24). He was that scarlet thread hung out of Rahab’s window (Joshua 2:17–21). And the shepherd of whom David spoke about in the Psalms? Jesus was that Shepherd too. As the disciples walked and listened, they understood that Jesus was Isaiah’s Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) as well as the fourth man in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego (Daniel 3:19–25). No wonder their hearts “burned” within them while He talked with them and revealed the Scriptures to them on that road.

The disciples’ immediate response is noteworthy. They did not say, “Oh, that’s nice, but if we don’t hurry, we’re going to be last in the cafeteria line in Emmaus.” Instead, they arose “that very hour and returned to Jerusalem” to exclaim to all the others, “The Lord is risen indeed” (Luke 24:33–34). They let their glowing turn into going. With beating, burning hearts, they hurried back to Jerusalem, around the corners and down the narrow alleys, up Mount Zion, to find the other disciples and share the good news. They shared it not as an emaciated question mark, but as a bold exclamation mark: “He is risen indeed!”

One of these two Emmaus disciples is named Cleopas (v. 18). The other is left unnamed. Some have speculated it was Cleopas’s wife. Others have wondered if it was Luke since this report bears the imprint of an actual eyewitness. However, I like to think that this disciple is left unnamed so that you and I can find ourselves in this picture as we walk our very own Emmaus Road. Perhaps you are walking, as these two disciples were, with hopes dashed and dreams smashed. Stop. Look. Listen to Jesus’ Spirit through His Scripture. And you too just might walk away with your own heart burning within you.

Q & A: “Did not our heart burn within us?” Dejection, depression, discouragement, and defeat are the experience of too many of us today. Like the two disciples, many of us have buried our own hopes. But hear this very good news: Jesus is walking with us on the road right now. And if our hearts aren’t burning, perhaps it’s because we simply are not listening to Him. He is still speaking now in the same way He spoke then: through His Spirit and through His Scriptures. He is risen indeed!