Text: Luke 24:13-35
Christ’s walk with the disciples on the road to Emmaus is legendary. For years, I’ve watched people’s eyes glaze over as they sigh, “If only we could have heard that conversation! What I would give to hear Jesus explain the whole of Scripture!” It does feel like the golden ticket: the interpretation of Christ’s place in Scripture, beginning with Moses and the prophets, given by Christ Himself.
But even if the conversation were recorded and we had one more chapter there in Luke, detailing the truth in red letters, shining brightly in every Bible—would it make a difference? Would it make the Bible a better, more complete account? Would it finally give us the missing piece to complete our greater understanding of Scripture and godliness?
Absolutely not. Scripture is complete (Revelation 22:18-19). It’s also filled with interpretations, prophecies, and explanations of Christ’s place in God’s plan of redemption, from Genesis to Revelation. But this encounter with Christ on the road to Emmaus does feel special somehow.
It’s as if we can hear the disciples imploring, “Stay with us!” We can see Christ allowing them to savor those extraordinary moments with Him, their hearts “ablaze” from the truth and love shared in that rare, sweet conversation (John 24:29, 32).
Scripture is not a secret code. It is a revelation, shining light on everything under the sun. Yes, there is a rich mystery and paradox in a Creator who would send His own Son to die for His creation. But the gospel itself is not a secret. The gospel is simple:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
-John 3:16
There’s really only one story: the knight slays the dragon and rescues the princess (Isaiah 25:8). The gospel is in all of our stories.
But we don’t have to see it if we don’t want to. We can delude ourselves into believing that the gospel is too complicated to understand. Nevertheless, Christ brings light and truth (John 8:12). On the road to Emmaus, “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,” and He has sent His Holy Spirit to do the same for us now (Luke 24:45; John 14:26).
Amazingly, the longing we feel when reading about the Emmaus encounter is fulfilled in the Holy Spirit. Like those disciples, our hearts implore, “Stay with us!” and Christ answers, “Lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). He is indeed with us, and He continues to set our hearts ablaze by His abiding Spirit.
We, too, are called to be people of the Word and to walk by the Spirit. We can go forth in His freedom and light! We can know our Bibles and see that God’s redemptive hand has been at work for our good from the Old Testament through the New Testament, and even still today. We are rescued by His love and transformed by His redemption. The truth of the gospel is laid plain for us in Scripture, and Christ is with us! Thanks be to God.
“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. . . No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”
-Deuteronomy 30:11,14
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86 thoughts on "Encounters with Christ: On The Road to Emmaus"
Loved this ♥️ The gospel is NEVER too hard or complicated for us to understand!!!
So thankful that He left His word and Holy Spirit to guide us. It is filled with promises and assurances that’s everything will be okay.
^^^ Yes!! Absolutely love She Reads Truth! Loving this study!
Thank you for this great devotional and all the work and prayer that goes into it.
In the text the verses are miscited as John 24
Such wonderful insights in today’s reading! I am so grateful that Christ sent his spirit to be with us always, that we have the scriptures before us–the road map to eternal life–and so many revelations contained therein. I know that we have revelation still! Today! A modern day prophet lives and continues to testify of Jesus Christ and his gospel. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet and we as a world have the opportunity to hear him speak this weekend at General Conference. I love all you dear sisters and testify that God continues to speak to his people.
I’ve been guilty of the “oh its too hard to understand” feeling/attitude. This helped me, thank u!
*these two weeks
Chelsey I have had 2 miscarriages too and I can imagine the worry in your heart. I pray today that God shower you and your baby with the goodness and peace only he can provide. I’ll keep you in my prayers especially this mess two weeks before the ultrasound.
Thank you so much Gina. Please continue to keep me in your prayers and pray especially on April 14. My appointment is at 9-10 am.
I will!
Jesus is with me now. though I cant detect what He is always saying, I need a financial miracle by the day after tomorrow and don’t know where to turn. I actually am praying for His provision, never done so before, and thanking Him that He hears and is working on it, in His time
Jodi-Ann, like you I find myself in a financial bind from my life as a single woman and truly the only thing we can do is put our faith in God. We do all the paperwork that’s necessary and follow procedures but in the end we also pray for strength as we move forward through this journey. Praying for you, sister.
Thank you!!! Praying for you also
It is so comforting to know that He is with us always (Matthew 28:20). SRT Sisters- PLEASE keep me in your prayers. I am afraid and filled with joy (Day 1). I have had 2 miscarriages in the past, and one was certainly a blighted ovum (Google). Last week I found out I am pregnant. Telling the father to be was difficult, so I’m praying he will be on board and supportive despite having to work out of state. Even more than that, please pray for a healthy pregnancy. Yesterday I went for bloodwork and my prayers were answered! I had an initial hCG level (the pregnancy hormone) of 66 on 3/23/16, which confirmed the pregnancy. Yesterday, 3/29/16, my hCG level surpassed where I thought it “should” be (I had guessed the 500s), but it was at 1,842!!! I was able to schedule my first OB appointment and ultrasound on April 14 and I need every prayer you have. I am AFRAID of this first ultrasound because during my first pregnancy, that was when I was told I had a blighted ovum (gestational sac with nothing fetal inside of it), and I am afraid of that happening again. PLEASE pray for this baby to be developing normally and the five medications I’m on to be doing everything they need to do to help and PLEASE pray that my ultrasound be normal on April 14. Thanks in advance and God Bless you all!
Praying for you today and for a healthy pregnancy for both mother and baby. May our God be with you throughout the pregnancy and set his angels over you to protect you and the baby.
Good luck and God bless.
Thank you Caitlin.
Saying a prayer for you now, Chelsey.
Thank you. Please keep me in your prayers.
“Walk, I am with you.” These are the words that washed over my heart this afternoon. I am in yet another season, where I find myself fervently praying that God would reveal to me “the right” answers, the specific paths I should walk. As I prayed today (read: cried out in frustration), I found myself thinking back over past times when my prayers mirrored similar intentions. I would pray and pray and pray. But when an answer did not come, I would just move forward thinking I was moving alone. And when my moves produced less than ideal outcomes, I was convinced I really had moved outside of God’s plan or moved too quickly or moved with wrong intentions… I had messed up by moving at all.
But today. Today, my heart embraced a new truth: “Walk, I am with you.” I’m realizing that as much as I want to “get it right” and choose correctly, that He is beckoning me to believe: “Walk, I am with you as you walk. Keep seeking Me. Keep moving in trust with Me.” There is not one path set out before me to choose, He is walking with me down whatever path I am on. Because the truth is that by not moving at all, I’m literally not moving at all. And I believe that God wants to teach me and grow me THROUGH my life, as I walk the paths I choose trusting Him.
As I seek Him, He is with me. We are walking through this bumbling, twisting and turning life of mine together. I need only to trust that He walks with me. Because He IS with me always. This truth gives my heart peace. And so I will prayerfully walk. Trusting He walks with me.
Needed to hear this today, thank you Beverly!
I see clearly the paths God laid out for me to walk when I look behind me at the years gone by … At the time I often felt caught up in busyness or frustration trying to perceive what Gods will would be but the light he shines on our path is often just to give us comfort and a little illumination for the moment, not a spotlight brightly and clearly showing us the way to go. It’s only from the perspective at looking back that I see how he really was leading me each day of my life. I really just live day by day taking the next step in front of me … Avoiding sin and seeking to live in obedience to scripture as much as I can but not worrying about what big things may lie ahead.
“… a little illumination for the moment, not a spotlight…” Love the visual these words bring to mind, Louise! Thanks for sharing your journey and perspective. Your words are encouraging.
You are so right sister! He’s always with us. I know for me that when I used to get stuck, wanting to make the right decision that Christ would want me to make, or that of His Will- it would paralyze me. Just as you said- I wouldn’t move at all. Instead now, my husband has reminded me to make a choice, keep moving forward and if it so happens I made the wrong decision, He will let me know.
I completely understand being paralyzed from fear of making the “wrong” choice. I’m so thankful He teaches and grows us through all of our decisions. Grateful that only He sees the full picture (not me), and knows all the little details that make up our lives.
Thanks for sharing, Kate! Praying we both keep moving forward with Him.
Thank you
So true! thanks so much! I needed to be reminded of these truths today…trusting and knowing He walks with me through all of life, so I need to walk by faith even when the next step is uncertain.
Yes, amen, Esther!
So beautifully said! Thank you for sharing!
So good….thank you!!!
I love that Jesus used Scripture itself to open their eyes.
I’ve been in the Word daily for a long time now, and a few weeks ago I absolutely kept pressing into Him as our lives got interrupted by a diagnosis of spina bifida for my unborn baby. Fast forward to undergoing fetal surgery last week, being laid up in the hospital for five days, and suddenly opening my Bible seemed like a task too great to conquer. I missed the entire last week of Lent.
I decided to dip my toes yesterday, and today I got caught up on the current plan. And I feel a connection to those two disciples…like Jesus is saying to me, “Are you so foolish? I’ve been right here the whole time.” The more time I spent outside of the Word, the more difficult it felt to get back in.
Thanks to all of you ladies and your infectious faithfulness.
Sweet friend, I’m praying for you today. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. I’m praying that God would continue to draw you closer to Himself through His Word. Love to you!
xoxo-Kaitlin
Praying for you, Bonnie. Thank you for sharing your journey. Praying you continue to feel His nearness alongside you. Grateful He never leaves us.
Lord, may I recognize you!
Ma
Amen.
Yeah, I’m totally that “ugh, can’t he just appear to ME?” person. Not for lack of faith, but because I want so badly to walk the will he has for my life and for him to tell me what it is (read: because free will is hard). It is so true though, that he IS with us still, if in a less physical way. It takes journal re-reads often, to remind me of the ways and times that he’s “met me” on my own roads, whispered in my ear and sometimes carried me.
Amen Erin! I have often seen him in my journal re-reads. Praying today I see him when I’m writing it down too!
I love this reminder that from the beginning, Jesus had a part in the story. And that this is my story. And your story. My pastor once described how when he gets a new Bible, he writes “Dear (his name),” at the beginning, before Genesis and “Love, God” at the end of Revelation, to remind him that this is good news for him. It is his story of God rescuing him. And it’s our story of God rescuing us.
Great idea!
Jesus is always with us!! This was such a wonderful truth to be reminded of today!
-Ashley
messymilestones.com
I still find it hard to believe that these men did not recognize Jesus. I wonder if I am the same way. So caught up in my own thoughts and worries that I don’t think to look to Him and walk with Him. Lord, I pray today that you would poke me and remind me that you are there with me.
I agree…the human side of me thinks, “Why didn’t they recognize Him when He had only been gone a few days?!?” And then the spiritual side of me wonders how many times has God walked beside me and I haven’t recognized Him?
Oh my gosh, how true!
so true
amen!!!
Jesus staaaayed with us!!!!!! I have made a decision to act as if its true because it is, rather than waiting for a confirmation feeling to come
Act as if……because it is! Amen
Love this, Jodi-Ann! Thanks for reading with us today!
xoxo-Kaitlin
I see Jesus as heart warming here. Hr took the time to re assure them and explain to them how exactly the scriptures were being fulfilled
@Carly. You were in my prayers yesterday. Hope things are better.
Carly, praying for you today!
Thank you so much, Jane and Midge, and others who were praying. Your support really means a lot to me. I didn’t feel good at all yesterday but I slept pretty well last night (after hardly sleeping at all the night before) and I’ve been feeling a bit better today.
Great reminder that we have Him with us always in the Holy Spirit, just as our hearts desire. We do say “stay with Me” to Jesus and we cling to Him, just like Mary did at the tomb. So thankful He is with us always.
amen
Loved this line: “There’s really only one story: the knight slays the dragon and rescues the princess (Isaiah 25:8). The gospel is in all of our stories.” Our sermon on Easter Sunday was actually about this passage, and my pastor made almost the same point! It’s a great reminder that not only can we find Christ throughout the whole Bible, but we can also find His story of redemption in the Chronicles of Narnia and Star Wars and Les Miserables. Redemption comes out in these stories because it’s how we’re wired; we’re made for redemption.
“We were made for redemption.” Amen!!!
made for redemption..wow
Love this reminder, Becky! Thanks for sharing with us today!
xoxo-Kaitlin
I love that Christ didn’t reveal Himself to the disciples until after they had spent the day with Him and entreated Him to stay longer and teach them further. How often do I hurriedly read a Bible verse or think a quick, off-the-cuff prayer without really pressing in and desiring to know Him more intimately? My prayer today is that God will set my heart ablaze with that same desire to know Him better and will reveal more of Himself to me as I intentionally lean into His word and seek Him in prayer.
wow yes can certainly relate to that
but how exactly do you do the pressing in?
I have definitely noticed a drastic improvement in my spiritual life when I approach God’s Word with excitement, because I truly want to hear what He has to say. What a sobering thought: that maybe I am keeping myself from seeing Christ due to my distracted attitude.
Wow. Sobering indeed! Thanks for sharing this thought…
Yes!
Amen!
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus are getting out of town. Tensions are high in Jerusalem – no one was happy. Pilate and his wife knew an innocent man had just been killed. The chief priests had that same blood on their hands. The disciples are bewildered and afraid that they will suffer the same fate if they don’t follow the Jewish party line. Yep, good time to get out of town. So these 2 disciples head on out, “discussing and arguing ” about everything that had taken place (Oh isn’t that just like us believers today – discussing and, let’s admit it, sometimes arguing). Jesus comes alongside these two and asks what their “dispute” is about. He enters in to their conversation. And points them right to where the answers lie. Not in their opinions. Not in their speculations. Not in their wishful thinking. Not in their human reasoning. And most certainly not in their fears. The answer lies in the Scriptures. In God’s Word. There is the revelation. There is the truth. How often do I turn to my human reasoning, my wishful thinking, my opinion, my speculation instead of going right to the Scriptures for the answer to whatever concerns me? Often I find myself searching in all the wrong places. How silly! God has the answers. He is the Way and the Truth. And He doesn’t hide it from me. He draws near in His Word, reveals His Word and gives me His Holy Spirit to set it ablaze within me. I can get through what concerns me because He reclines at the table and breaks bread with me. I only need to say “Stay with me.” And He does.
Love this – truly helped me to translate these scriptures into my daily life –
Yes! Amen! And the result is them gaining courage and returning to Jerusalem “that very hour”! Staying with Jesus and soaking in Scripture gave them (and gives us) the strength and desire to go back and face what they needed to. hour”…Jerusalem
Oops- couldn’t see the end- thought I’d lost /deleted those words :)
I always look for your thoughtful responses in my daily readings. Knowing that i am made for redemption and knowing that if i let go of my own stubbornness and independence only then will i be able to reach the full meaning of god. I must Surrender myself. Surrender my mind. Surrender my heart. I feel as if I am constantly reminding myself to give myself to Christ entirely. Allow him to fill my truly empty vessel.
Oh thank you for pointing this out!
Thank you for sharing, church mouse! Love your thoughts!
marvellous
I love this, thanks for sharing!
How clear and beautifully written Churchmouse. Thank you so much. Bless you.
Amen! You said that beautifully. I’m guilty of going to others for their opinion’s instead of going to His word…thank you for sharing this as a reminder that He is the one we need to seek in those moments when we need answers!
Indeed! Answers to our (everyday) questions lie in the Scriptures. God has those answers!
By remembering not only to invite Him to stay with me, but to make time to listen to His words, can I learn how I will be pointed in the right direction. The Scriptures give true perspective and offer ways to shift our paradigms, and therefore reinforce our ability to live in real truth.
So good! Thank you!
Wonderful insight!!! Amen
Love how that they didn’t recognize their Lord until He broke the bread! “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.”
One of the very last things He did with His disciples was to break the bread at the last supper, bless it and then remind them it was His body and His blood that were to be broken and spilled out for them. Now, here He was again, taking that role at the “head of the table” and breaking the bread, blessing it and passing it around the table. Then their eyes were opened! Lord, may my eyes be opened to Your Word at all times, aware of what You are doing around me and what You want to do in my life. I have Your living Word with me and IN me 24/7….help me to live like it. In Jesus’ name. ♥
Amen.
Amen!
Yes! “He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.” (v. 35) Just beautiful.
Amen.
That always stands out to me, too. Love it.
Amen…
Joining you in your prayer, sweet friend…
Hugs across the pond…xxxx