Dear Weekly Readers!
God’s Peace!
It is springtime in New Hampshire, USA! It is a great time to be outside after the
long cold winter with much snow! On a
nice day it is enjoyable to walk outside!
Please read an article about a walk Never
to Be Forgotten! May God bless your
week! John R.
Two disciples on an afternoon walk
from Jerusalem to Emmaus had heard some amazing things that morning. Some of
the women had returned to the disciples to say they had seen a vision of
angels, which said that he [Jesus] was alive. (Luke 24:23)
And some of them, especially Peter
and John, who were with them went to the sepulcher and found it even as the
women had said, but they didn't see Jesus (Luke 24:24). They were saying this
to Jesus whom they did not recognize. To them He was a stranger.
Undoubtedly Jesus chose to remain a
"mystery man" to them for at least two reasons:1)
to give these disciples an
opportunity to talk about their understanding of what had happened during the
past few days;
2) to provide Jesus with an opening to help them understand what
happened in the light of the fulfillment of the Old Testament, thereby making
their faith more sure.
(See 2 Peter 1:19). While they
thought this "stranger" was the only one in Jerusalem who didn't know
what had happened, in reality Jesus was the only one who did know what had
happened. What a special few hours for these two disciples! May it bring
comfort and encouragement to each of you to know that Jesus cares about you as
much as He did for these two. Though we may be as sad, disheartened, confused,
or bewildered as were these men, Jesus loves us and will draw near to us and
walk with us to encourage, enlighten, comfort and guide us in our walk of
faith. Because we all see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12), we
constantly need Jesus to draw near to us. And He does so through His Word and
the Holy Spirit. Life is filled with so many trials and tragedies only the
assurance of Christ's presence with us can help us to go through them.
While the hearts of these two
disciples burned with in them while Jesus talked with them and opened to them
the Scriptures (Luke 24:32), they still did not know this was Jesus speaking to
them. When they reached their home in Emmaus, Jesus made as though he would
have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward
evening, and the day is far spent. (Luke 24:28-29)
Jesus went in to spend some time
with them and as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and
brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him. (Luke
24:30-31) Can you imagine how important it was for these disciples to invite
Jesus into their home; even though they didn't know it was Jesus? Jesus, the
gentle Lamb that He is, does not and will not impose Himself on anyone.
Even with the Laodicean Church, of
which we read in the Revelation of St. John, Jesus said: 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. (Revelation 3:20)
Jesus may walk with us, talk with
us, open His Word to us, but until we long for Him to enter our homes, our
hearts, our lives, we will never truly "know Him." It is a precious
and blessed thing to know the Scriptures as they speak to us about Jesus. But
we need to know "the Christ" of the Scriptures in a real, personal
relationship.
When these disciples knew Jesus as
the once crucified, but now the resurrected, living and actual Messiah, Jesus
could leave them. And their personal experience with Him was so powerful, they
hastened back to Jerusalem, probably as fast as their feet would carry them, to
tell the others that the Lord is risen indeed!
May this glorious message of the
resurrected Lord have such a powerful impact upon us that we, too, will hasten
to tell others this Good News! Everyone needs to know that Jesus, our crucified
Savior, is living. He longs to dwell within us for it is in Him that we live, and move,
and have our being (Acts 17:28).
Or as the Apostle Paul wrote: For
of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen. (Romans 11:36)
Pastor Wayne Juntunen
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