Oh, How Our Hearts Burned Within Us

We met a man today on our journey to Emmaus
There was something about him, a stranger, but none-the-less
We have to get this off our chests…

We talked to him and walked with him; for quite a while…
And in those seven miles…these questions he asked…
“Why are you cast down? Why are you so sad?”

Surprised at his questions we said, “Are you not from these parts? Have you not heard the news?
Our teacher was arrested, tried and killed upon Golgotha’s hill…
He was to arise from the grave on the third day…

Some women, we’re told, went to the tomb to attend to his body, but they said, “Christ wasn’t lying upon the stone-cold bed and instead. We saw angels, they spoke and said, “He’s not here, he’s alive!””

Stunned they ran to testify. They told our companions what they had seen so they ran to the tomb and found an empty room…it was just as the women had said, ‘Jesus was not dead…’

This stranger told us how foolish we were, slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

We stood there in awe, this could not have been any ordinary man…

Coming to our village, the stranger started to walk on as, if, to leave us there, but we begged him to stay with us for evening was coming, day almost gone, we welcomed him to stay in our home. The journey had been long. So, he stayed.

Sitting at our table He took bread, and then he prayed…he broke it, handed it to us, and as we drew near, there before our eyes, He disappeared…

Surprised and bewildered we realized it was Him…

Oh, how our hearts burned within us, when he opened the scriptures to us, on our way to Emmaus.

This was Jesus!

Hurrying back to Jerusalem we heard the others say, “Jesus is alive…”

“We know, we’ve seen him, with our very eyes…we cannot deny, that what he did when he broke the bread, then disappeared, it took all our fear away…on that fateful day…

Oh, how our hearts burned within us… knowing…what he said is true…
Seeing him on our way to Emmaus, and others seeing him too…
For generations to come, God’s one true son died and rose again…

Perhaps you too will have a visit on your way to Emmaus…

Friend, Jesus, is alive!!”

~Marla Shaw O’Neill August 29, 2019

Found in the Bible in Luke 24:13-35 New King James Version (NKJV) 

The Road to Emmaus

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was [a]seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Disciples’ Eyes Opened

Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He [d]indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.