Luke 24: The Walk, the Meal, the Burning Heart
I had a piece of cherry laid out on the bench for a breadboard end. I measured it three times and cut it square. When I held it up to the apron, it was off by a sixteenth. I set it down and walked to the other end of the garage. Sometimes you need distance to see what is wrong.
I thought about that when I read Luke 24 this week. Two disciples walked away from Jerusalem, and they needed distance to see what happened.
The Meaning of the Walk to Emmaus in Luke 24
Cleopas and another disciple were walking to a village about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking about the events of the past few days. Jesus drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were holden that they did not know him.
He asked what they were discussing. They stood still, looking sad.
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And they stood still, looking sad.
One of them answered: "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?"
They told him about Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in deed and word. They told him about the chief priests and rulers who delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified. They said: "We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel."
Past tense. We trusted. He was supposed to be the one.
I keep coming back to that phrase. They were walking away from the city where their hope had died. They had seen the cross. They had heard the reports from the women about the empty tomb. But they were still walking away.
Jesus called them fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. Then he began at Moses and all the prophets and expounded the scriptures concerning himself.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
What Does It Mean That Their Hearts Burned Within Them
They reached Emmaus and constrained him to stay with them. The day was far spent. He sat down with them and blessed the bread and broke it and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they knew him. Then he vanished out of their sight.
They said one to another: Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
The burning heart is the part I sit with longest. They did not recognize him by sight. They recognized him by the feeling that came while he spoke. The scriptures opened, and something inside them responded before their eyes caught up.
I have had that feeling a few times in my life, though not often. Once when I was reading Isaiah in the early morning and the words moved off the page and into something I still cannot describe. Another time when I was sanding a piece of walnut and just sat there with the dust in the air and felt the shape of something I did not have words for.
The burning heart does not come on command. It comes when the truth meets a place inside you that was ready for it.
Evidence of the Physical Resurrection in Luke 24
The two disciples ran back to Jerusalem that night. They found the eleven and told them what happened on the road and how Jesus was known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking, Jesus himself stood in the middle of them.
They were terrified and supposed they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
He showed them his hands and his feet. He asked for meat. They gave him a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, and he ate it before them.
The broiled fish is the detail I cannot get past. If you wanted to prove you were not a ghost, you could appear in a locked room. You could show your wounds. But eating a piece of fish in front of people who were terrified is the kind of thing only a real person would do. It is too ordinary to be a vision.
The resurrection was physical. A spirit or a vision does not eat, but a resurrected body does. Not a metaphor, not a memory, not a legend that grew over time. A man with flesh and bones ate broiled fish and honeycomb in a room in Jerusalem.
Then he opened their understanding.
And ye are witnesses of these things.
How to Apply the Lessons of Luke 24 to Daily Life
I wrote about Peter's failure earlier in Luke 22: The Night Everything Broke. A few chapters later, that same Peter is standing in a room with the resurrected Lord. The failure was real. The restoration was also real.
The chapter closes with Jesus leading them out to Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
Great joy. That is the note the chapter ends on. The same disciples who walked to Emmaus sad and confused ended up in the temple praising God. The grief did not last. The confusion cleared. The living Lord ate fish with them and then ascended and they were changed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why were the disciples on the road to Emmaus unable to recognize Jesus at first?
Their eyes were holden. The Greek suggests something was preventing them from seeing. Grief and disappointment had closed them off to the possibility that what they hoped for had actually happened. They were so sure it was over that they could not see it when it walked beside them.
What is the significance of Jesus eating fish in Luke 24?
It was physical proof. A spirit or a vision does not eat. A resurrected body does. Jesus went out of his way to demonstrate that he was not a ghost but a living man with flesh and bones. The broiled fish and honeycomb are the most ordinary evidence of the most extraordinary event.
What does it mean for our hearts to burn within us?
It is the Holy Ghost testifying of truth. The burning heart is not a metaphor for excitement. It is a real spiritual confirmation that comes when the truth of the gospel resonates with our spirit. It often happens during scripture study or in moments of sincere prayer.
How far is Emmaus from Jerusalem?
About seven miles. It was a walk of a few hours. Long enough to talk through everything that had happened. Enough time to give up and head home. And enough distance for the Lord to catch up.
What happened after Jesus ascended in Luke 24?
The disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God. The narrative continues in the book of Acts, where the same disciples are filled with the Holy Ghost and begin the work of the ministry.
I walked back to the other end of the garage and picked up the cherry board. I looked at it from a different angle. The error was in the layout, not the cut. I marked it again and took a breath and made a square cut that fit.
The two disciples walked seven miles before their eyes opened. Sometimes the distance is the point. You have to walk far enough that you are ready to see what was there all along.
— D.