Burning Hearts
Of all the resurrection appearances of Jesus the one that fascinates me the most is when Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus.
The disciples’ act of “going home” has always made me wonder. Why did they leave town after hearing the report of the women that Jesus was alive again, especially when their companions found the tomb just as the women had said (24:22-24)? What business did they have that was so important to leave town before that whole issue was settled?
Yet their decision to “go back home” worked out well for them. That Easter Sunday they experienced Jesus alive again.
It was a seven mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The journey gave them a good chance to talk about everything that had happened in Jerusalem the week prior (24:14). Sometime in the midst of that journey and discussion Jesus “…walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing Him” (24:15-16).
Downcast. That’s how they were described. The word used in the Greek is a form of skythrōpos, which means “to look somber, appear downcast or gloomy.” Downcast. Gloomy. Saddened. Heartbroken. Hopeless. All describe their condition as they walked along that road.
Yet Jesus met them on that road. While He walked along with them He gave them a Bible Study that would change their lives, forever! “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself” (24:27).
What was the effect of that Bible Study on them? After Jesus withdrew His presence,“They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (24:32).
They recognized that, while He was speaking to them, an inner change had begun in them. They were speaking of something which was in progress. It was a continuing burning that grew stronger and stronger within them.
Hope began to spark within them. It started slowly but grew within them. It grew as they came to understand, through Jesus’ words spoken to them and the Spirit’s work within them (sparking that faith), that Jesus would and did rise from the dead.
How did they respond to this amazing, life-changing walking Bible Study with Jesus? Faith sparked and grew. Formerly “downcast” faces were unable to wait. With burning hearts within them they took off for Jerusalem to tell the other disciples the good news. Do you think the trip took them as long on the way back?
Good news is meant to be shared.
When Cindy and I were standing at the crossroads of the seven-building town we were vacationing near as I spoke with our adoption case worker at the only public pay phone we could find. They had a little girl for us “if we’d like her.” Uh, yes, thank you. So what did we do? “Hide it under a bushel?” No, we called those who were important to us to tell them the good news!
When my sister had her firstborn, a son, what did she do? She called me, even though it was 4:00 AM where I was living at the time. Good news is meant to be shared.
When a High School senior receives news that the college they wanted has accepted them and the finances to go there are workable what do they do? They tell their friends. They tell other people who are important to them. Good news is meant to be shared.
You’ve probably experienced this truth as well. Good news is meant to be shared! It just naturally wants to get out to the important people in our lives.
Isn’t that what the Emmaus disciples did? With burning hearts they went to tell the good news. They first thought of their friends. Although not mentioned it wouldn’t surprise me that they then began to tell others, too. I would be surprised if they weren’t there on that first Pentecost Sunday and were empowered and emboldened to tell everyone the good news.
That good news of Jesus Christ crucified and risen became the message the first Christians carried throughout the known world. Their good news literally changed their world. With burning hearts they were themselves compelled to tell that good news throughout their world.
At our March 30th services one of our lessons was from Acts 4. Peter and John had been arrested and were taken before the Jewish Council (the same group that had first condemned Jesus to death). The Council told them not to “…speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). Listen to Peter and John’s response,
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (4:19-20).
We cannot but speak. That’s what they said. Doesn’t that sound like people with burning hearts?
Yet there’s at least one more. In Acts 5 the apostles were arrested and imprisoned. The text says,
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
When guards were sent to bring the apostles before the Council they couldn’t find them. “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside” (Acts 5:23).
While trying to process that information word came that the Apostles were teaching the people in the temple. When brought before the Council yet again they were told, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this Name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us” (v. 28).
Peter and the Apostles responded, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
We must obey God rather than men.
Dear friends, these people had been changed through their experience of Jesus. They had burning hearts. They were compelled to witness what they had seen and heard. Compelled. There was an urgency to share the good news. Good news is meant to be shared!
In these post-Easter days we often act as if we’re “over” Easter, that is, that we’re people for whom Easter is no longer such a big deal that we’d walk seven miles to tell the good news or that’s we’d call those who are important to us to tell them the good news.
The Easter effect is to be far different! May the Holy Spirit cause your heart so burn within you that you can’t help but tell others about Him and the difference He’s made in your life.
And if there is no difference then let’s sit down and talk. Perhaps the Holy Spirit can help your heart burn within you, too.
Regards, in Christ,
PJKreft
