Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Luke 24:13-27
“What world do you live in?” is kind of a rhetorical question, thus not requiring a definitive answer, but causing us more to reflect on just what we perceive reality to be. And certainly includes myself. I struggle with this myself, I would say, of course.
We are creatures of experience as well as what we have observed to be true. It’s hard to get hold of just why we see life as we do. Certainly experiences from the past, especially in formative childhood times contribute significantly to that.
For me, it’s easy to get down over so many things. But that’s when more than ever, but really as a habit of life, I need to get in and remain in scripture. Scripture takes us through all kinds of worlds in the sense of experience, but lands us where we need to be, and helps us find what is lacking. Scripture as God’s word impacts us in ways we can’t actually completely comprehend. But the difference is unmistakable. It was so after Jesus talked to these two followers.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Luke 24:28-35
The face change here had to become a change of heart and a transformation of life. The world we believers and followers of Jesus inhabit is one marked by God’s word to us in Jesus, and whatever follows that.
We have to learn by faith to more and more live in the world in which Jesus is at the center. And into which God is always speaking. Regardless of what else is going on. The real world in and through Jesus.
