The Road to Emmaus

By Aisha Darwesh

Although it hurts God to see us on a path of doubt and questioning His Word, the very essence of who He is, He loves us far too much to leave us on our way without meeting us on the road.

On the first day that Jesus had risen from the dead, His tomb was found empty by the women coming with the spices they prepared. They were met by two angels who reminded them of Jesus’ words: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” When the women came to report the empty tomb and Jesus’ resurrection to the 11 disciples and all that were in the company of Jesus, the Word of God was challenged with great unbelief: And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them (Luke 24).

Upon hearing this surprising news, two disciples started off on the road to Emmaus, a village about 7 miles from Jerusalem.

And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

17  And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” (Luke 24:14-17 NKJV)

These few verses point out so much. First, it shows us that even when we’re walking in doubt and unbelief and trying to reason things out, Jesus is not running away from us. He’s seeking us out, passionately and patiently awaiting our return to total faith.

Next, verse 16 points out that the disciples’ eyes were restrained, so they did not know Him. This indicates that we can interact with the Truth (Jesus) and have an encounter with Him without realizing or recognizing who He really is.

Has the answer to a problem or something you were looking for ever been right under your nose, but you were too caught up in something else to see it? That’s what doubt, fear, and unbelief do. Doubt hinders us from seeing what’s right in front of us. Fear blocks our faith. Unbelief hardens us to the reality of God’s Truth.

Still, God will not leave us. Seeking to go a little deeper, Jesus probed, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” (v.17)

A vital point to note from this verse is that doubt causes distress. Going down the path of doubt leads to hopelessness and ruin.

Why would doubt cause sadness? Jam-packed in the seed of God’s Word, is God’s reality—a life so much greater than we could have ever thought or imagined. If we refuse to believe it, we limit ourselves to the same old thing—a hardened, worn-out path that just gets walked all over, nothing but rocks and pebbles, a life full of dust.

God is too good to leave us down and out; He’s got to go a little farther down the road with us:

18  Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

19  And He said to them, “What things?”

These disciples had familiarized themselves so acutely with the agony of Christ’s death, they couldn’t see the bigger picture, couldn’t allow themselves to see that Christ was right there with them, alive and kicking!

They considered this man a stranger, but they were willing to talk with Him, so He was willing to hear them out:

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

Can you just imagine the heart of Jesus? In His ministry, He had spent time with these disciples, teaching them the laws and principles of the Kingdom of God, unveiling the Father before their very eyes. He prophesied His death and resurrection a number of times. He paid the ultimate price for us, tasted death for us, and went to Hell and back. Here He stands, victorious over sin and death, and what’s going on with these disciples? They were so quick to dismiss the women’s report of Jesus’ resurrection as “idle tales.” Now they’re hashing it out, trying to muster some explanation of the empty tomb with their own feeble reasoning.

Jesus calls them out:

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Jesus is not being rude or inconsiderate. He’s adequately addressing this issue—identifying and eliminating two unfavorable conditions for the Word to blossom: foolishness and the slowness of their hearts to believe.

When we’re going down a foolish track, we need someone who loves us to be a voice of truth and slap the stupid out of us. It may be painful, but it’s absolutely essential to reap a harvest. We shouldn’t let our emotions and reasoning get in the way of believing the promises of God.

Secondly, Jesus said they were slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. We can monitor the state of our hearts by measuring how quick we are to believe the Word of God. If it’s super difficult to believe what God says, that’s a good indication that we’ve adopted a wrong mindset somewhere along the way. It’s not a put-down, just a red flag that we should change our thinking to line up with God’s Word.

In addition, it gives us a clue as to how our hearts should be when hearing the Word. We should be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to receive what God has for us. We should be very slow to believe anything contrary to His Word, and very quick to reject it. If there’s anything we should doubt, we should doubt all that is inconsistent and that doesn’t line up with God’s promises in our lives.

Finally, after identifying these two causes of their doubt and unbelief, Jesus gives them a refresher course on all that the scriptures said concerning Himself. Interestingly, Jesus showed them who He is through the scriptures. We often think we could believe more easily if we have some sort of vision or supernatural encounter with God. While God does want us to have rich experiences with Him in a variety of ways, the most solid thing we have to stand on is His Word. God cannot act apart from His Word because He is the Word (John 1:1).

Friendship with God

As this story continues, we find just how personal and intimate Jesus wants to be with us:

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

When we get to the place we’ve been heading for, we have a vital choice to make. We can let Jesus walk right past us or we can urge Him to stay with us. At this point, the disciples still don’t know this man they’ve been walking with is Jesus Himself, but at the very least, they know that He knows the Word and can point them in the right direction. Jesus graciously agrees to stay, and while the sun was setting, things were only to get brighter for the two disciples.

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

32 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?”

These verses paint such a rich and vivid picture of God’s heart toward us. The eyes of the disciples were opened as Jesus broke bread with them. When we lay all our doubts aside, are open to God’s Word, and see Jesus as the beautiful person He is, then everything becomes abundantly clear.

While He vanished from their sight, He was fresh in their memories. All the words He spoke and all the experiences He brought back had warmed their hearts to faith.

Intimate friendship and fellowship with God expels all doubt and creates a perfect environment to incubate the Word in our hearts. When we get to know Jesus, we are set in the right way, we become deeply acquainted with the Truth, and we experience real and lasting life!

“Okay, that’s great in theory, but Jesus has not been walking with me through my situation,” you might say. Don’t be too quick to dismiss the notion of friendship with God. Even if we never see Jesus in the flesh, we can have a real, personal relationship with Him through faith in His Word.

What does friendship look like? Friends spend time with each other; they have conversations together and form a bond of loyalty and trust. We can do the same thing with God and go way deeper.

We can spend quality time with Him in worship and prayer. We can hear His voice in the pages of the Bible, learn His ways, and make out His character. We can celebrate Him together in church. We can see how He’s moving in the lives of other believers when we fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters. We can experience true satisfaction and enjoy the richest fellowship when we choose to follow His ways.

The more we get to know Him, the more we want to know Him. God is infinite and yet never changes. There’s so much more to Him than meets the eye. He takes us deeper and higher. He stretches us farther and wider. The more time we spend with Him, the more we grasp the truth that nothing is impossible with God, and the more we will believe every Word that comes out of His mouth!

All of God’s promises are true, and all of them require Him to move on our behalf for them to be fulfilled. It only requires trust and faith on our part. But if we don’t understand the faithfulness of God, the true nature, and character of who He is, then we’ll always be hesitant to trust Him, never fully able to believe He’ll do what He says.

We tie our identity to a lot of things, but something very special happens when we begin to see who we are in Christ. Knowing who you are in Christ makes situations a cinch! There’s nothing that is equal to Him. There’s not a single situation that is too difficult for Him to solve in style!

When we are interacting with God and engaging Him through faith, we get in God’s realm. We’re operating from a much a higher level. Like the eagle that flies above the storm, all of our problems, the things which are causing us to be tossed about to and fro, can be used to propel us higher.

Overcoming doubt and unbelief become quite simple when you know who you’re dealing with. We’re not talking about a bank, or a government, or a business, or an ordinary man. This is God! God authors miracles.  He changes water to wine. He puts breath in our lungs. He gives us hope when there’s no earthly reason to hope.

But you’ll never know any of those things unless you take the time to find out who He is. Each new day, He beckons us. He calls us into His secret place, longing for us to see Him as He is.

We think it’s so hard to find Him, but that’s only because we’re thinking too much. Stop thinking and get in faith. That’s where He’ll be.

Faith is not something we wish, hope, or even pray for. Faith comes when we hear the Word of God (Romans 10:17). It’s His free gift to us. Whether or not we decide to use it is up to us.