Luke 24:13-35 - On the Road to Emmaus

This is one of the eleven recorded appearances of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection. Two people are walking along, perhaps returning home after the astounding events of that first Easter weekend, feeling dejected, disappointed and confused.

But then “Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them.” How beautiful are those nine words! It was “Jesus Himself.” This is now the resurrected Son of God, the Mighty Conqueror of sin and death and all the wrong in the world, and yet He comes to them gently and humbly as “Jesus Himself.”

He “walks along with them,” going at their pace, listening to them and explaining the events of the past few days. He doesn’t speak of the magnificence of what He has just accomplished or boast about the greatest act in history which He has just achieved. He simply explains, from the Old Testament, that the tumultuous events they had seen were part of God’s plan and had to happen.

This is the same Jesus who comes alongside each of us today and walks with us and explains things to us. He is our Lord and our God, Creator of the universe and Saviour of the world, yet He is also the “friend who sticks closer than a brother,” walking beside us, listening to us and bearing patiently with us. May our hearts truly “burn within us” as we think of Him.