Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 24:1-32 "A SEVEN MILE JOURNEY TO EMMAUS"
Day 348 – Luke 24
Text: Luke 24:1-32
A SEVEN MILE JOURNEY TO EMMAUS
One of the common means of traveling in the days of Jesus was by walking. Not everybody could afford to own a horse or even a mule. Doing a seven mile journey would not be an uncommon distance to travel.
Cleopas and a fellow disciple made their way to Emmaus for undisclosed reasons. As they walked along the way, Jesus appeared to them and began to teach them deep truths from the Law and the Prophets!
A mile in those days was calculated from the marching of the Roman soldiers. A mile would be 1000 double steps. Seven miles would be 7000 double steps. Imagine Jesus teaching His Disciples as they walked together for 7 miles! That would be a memorable journey indeed.
How long would a seven mile journey take? If they walked briskly, it would take only a couple of hours or less. But if they were to walk at a leisure pace, which appeared to be the case here, then this journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus could have taken a whole afternoon. They must have walked at a leisure pace, if Jesus had time to teach them from Moses to the Prophets the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).
“ABIDE WITH US…”
The seven mile journey had come to an end. They were at the village of Emmaus. Jesus had ceased talking now and indicated that He was going to walk on.
Mercifully, the two disciples had the sense to ask Jesus to stay for the evening. It would have been the height of rudeness not to have extended an invitation to the Person who had spent the better part of the afternoon talking and teaching from the Scriptures – and with such deep insights too!
Luke recorded this tender scene beautifully.
“Then they drew near to the village where they were going,
and He 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.’ ” Luke 24:28-29
Jesus had not yet opened their eyes right up to this moment. He accepted their invitation and stepped into the house to stay with them. (Perhaps this house belonged to Cleopas).
The invitation to Jesus to abide with them, must include dinner. Then something “strange” took place. Luke made this observation.
“Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them,
that He took bread, blessed it and broke it,
and gave it to them…”
Luke 24:30
Who was this Stranger? He was only an invited Guest. How could He assume Headship at the dining table?
But was He indeed a Stranger after all? There was something very familiar in the way He took bread. There was something special about the way He blessed the break and broke it. The final act of giving them the bread opened their eyes finally.
This was no Stranger! This was their Master. It was true! He was risen from the dead. He had walked and talked with them for the last several miles and they did not even know that it was their beloved Teacher! How could they have been so blind?
“Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him;
and He vanished from their sight.”
Luke 24:31
Would Cleopas and his friend now doubt that they had seen the Risen Saviour? Would they be pinching themselves to see if they were truly awake? Would their doubts come back and haunt them?
DOUBTS FOREVER BANISHED
They may have had doubts before, but not now. Even if they could not explain the sudden disappearance of Jesus to anybody, they would remain convinced that they had seen the Saviour!
Cleopas and his companion must have been really excited now that their doubts had all been banished. They now spoke to each other in tones of joy and awe.
“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?
Luke 24:32
Even as the disciples listened to Jesus explaining the Scriptures to them, they experienced a very special thing. Their hearts must have been deeply touched by the word of truth that Jesus proclaimed. They felt as if their hearts were burning. With each passage of Scripture opened to them, their doubts faded away.
ANOTHER SEVEN MILE JOURNEY BACK TO JERUSALEM – IMMEDIATELY
The new-found joy was so energizing that Cleopas and his friend made the seven-mile journey back to Jerusalem! Why they went to Emmaus in the first place is not known. Whatever reasons they had to make that long journey to Emmaus were all bit forgotten now.
They just had to go back and share with the other disciples that they had seen the Lord. Whether they were believed or not didn’t matter. They were very sure that Jesus had risen from the dead. Moreover, they could now cite the Scriptures that Jesus had taught them on the road to Emmaus.
Have you ever been excited as you read God’s Word? Have you ever felt your heart set on fire as the Word of God is taught to you? God’s Word should impact us!