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…
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?”
Luke 24:13-19, 28-32
Today we celebrate the most important event in the history of the world: Christ’s Resurrection from the Dead.
An event so unbelievable, even Jesus’s own disciples thought the account was nonsense the first time they heard it (Luke 24:11).
Jesus Christ, crucified and laid in a tomb three days earlier, had risen from the dead. Through it, He defeated Satan, sin, and the grave. Eternal life was now available to any and all who would call on His name (Acts 4:12).
The events of the first Easter are well-documented. How the women came early in the morning with their spices, how the stone was rolled away, how the angels declared He was no longer among the dead, how the women went to tell the others while Jesus appeared to Mary in the garden.
I wonder, now that Jesus had risen from the dead and ushered in a new Kingdom for all of humanity, how many things He might need to accomplish that day.
This makes the story of the afternoon, Luke 24:13-35, so intriguing.
Later that day (still on Easter Sunday), Jesus appears to two unnamed men walking on a road to Emmaus. They begin to talk about the events in Jerusalem—the two men unaware that the very man they were talking about was walking alongside them.
Jesus begins to explain to them, starting with Moses, what was said in Scripture about the coming Messiah.
Eventually, as we read in the story, they reached their destination. Jesus continued walking, but the men urge him to stay. “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening.”
And watch this! Jesus agrees.
They proceed to sit down for dinner where Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, hands it to them—and immediately their eyes were opened.
Think about this for a moment. The Risen Savior and Son of God, on the day of His resurrection, just sits down at a table to have dinner with two unnamed men in the middle of nowhere.
Of all the things He must have had to do that day, or could have done instead, He just sits down and eats with two men. Such patience, such love, such desire to be in relationship.
As if to prove to us that Revelation 3:20 is not just a random promise or hyperbole.
It says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
My friends, the promise is true. It is as true today as it was on the day Jesus rose from the dead.
If you open the door to Jesus, He will always find time for you.
Prayer
On this day, we celebrate You, Jesus and the God who raised You from the dead. Thank You for Your death on the cross that provides me with forgiveness through faith. Thank You for loving us enough to be not just our Savior, but our Friend. If I have not opened the door of my heart to You yet, may I do it today. And may I continue to open it each day, desiring to learn from You, while You come in and sup with me. Amen.