Luke xxiv. 32. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?
This is a portion of one of those affecting and instructive pieces of history, with which the sacred scriptures every where abound.
After the resurrection of Jesus, on the very same day, two of His disciples were journeying together to a village called Emmaus, a few miles distant from Jerusalem. And as they went, “they talked together of those things which had happened.” And certainly never was there furnished to disciples an occasion of more interesting conversation. They were at no loss for a subject; their feelings were deeply moved, their circumstances most peculiar; they had just been bereaved of their Lord; and were left, as they thought, helpless and hopeless upon the wide world: they had been attending the sad scene of His sufferings; and doubtless had been witnessing his awful crucifixion; abundance of matter therefore, was afforded them for reflection and discourse. But besides this, they had heard the report of their Lord’s resurrection; and as they did not at all understand the purport of it, appeared indeed scarcely to believe an event so extraordinary, they were probably consulting what to expect, or what to do. “And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden, that they should not know Him.” [96] Either He assumed a different form, or He supernaturally influenced their sight, that they should not at first recognize Him.
Jesus, let us observe, appeared to the disciples, while they were engaged in holy meditation and converse; and thus, though no longer visible in the world, He may still be expected, at all times, to favour His true disciples in a similar manner. While they are conversing upon the things belonging to His kingdom, upon the wonders of His love, and the riches of His grace, upon their high privileges and expectations, upon the doctrines and precepts of His holy word, upon the duties and experiences of their earthly pilgrimage, upon their walk with God here, and their hope of dwelling together with Him for ever hereafter; while they are musing and discoursing of these things, the blessed Jesus will join company with them, though unknown and unseen; and will shed over their conference a holy and heavenly benediction. A reproach it is to vast numbers of His professing disciples, that they are not more anxious to embrace such opportunities of enjoying the favour and presence of their Lord; that many, even intimate friends and near relations, amid the endless variety of their subjects of conversation, are scarcely ever found to exchange a sentiment or a word, upon the most interesting and important of all topics; the love of their Lord and the edification of their souls. Eagerly do they embrace every opportunity of ministering to the passing amusement, or the temporal welfare, of each other; the only subject, which appears to be forbidden ground, is the subject of an eternal life to come, their spiritual well-being here and hereafter.
But let me not be misunderstood on this point; I am not speaking of the promiscuous intercourse of society; not of religious discussions or allusions amid the ordinary business of life; not of that irreverent and dangerous habit, into which same believers have been incautiously betrayed, of detailing to one another their continual and familiar experiences; I am speaking of the private and sober communing of christian friends, who are dwelling together, or journeying together, as the disciples to Emmaus: and truly, “with the bible in their hands and the Saviour in their hearts,” it is wonderful how they can forbear from spiritual intercourse. If the everlasting truths of the gospel have made a deep impression upon their minds; if, for the promises therein revealed, it is their object to live and to die; if they have one common hope of their calling, “one thing needful” which occupies their affections; if they have the same exalted view of a glorious kingdom in heaven; if they are living together in love, and comforting themselves, that the holy bond shall never be broken, that it shall be renewed in a happier world and last for ever; then it would be strange if their thoughts and their conversation should never turn upon a subject of such overwhelming interest; upon a topic so abundantly fruitful in materials for mutual edification. The idea of the Lord being present with us in our conferences is an animating and ennobling idea: but we cannot expect His holy presence in the scenes of vanity and frivolity; nor can we expect it at any time, if the thought and desire of Him be altogether excluded. From the cold moralist, or the worldly-minded disciple, from those who have no practical concern for the gospel or for their souls, we need not look for a word of spiritual communication; it is abhorrent to their feelings and inconsistent with their notions; but the sincere Christian should “think on these things.” “The world will love its own,” and follow its own; its own friends and maxims and ways: but “we are not of the world,” and better fruit is expected from us.
But to return to the history before us. Having listened for a time to the earnest discourse of the disciples, Jesus at length, as if a stranger, enquired into the subject, which engrossed their minds and rendered them so sorrowful: “And the one of them whose name was Cleopas, (the same, it is thought, as Alpheus, who was the father of two Apostles and nearly related to our Lord Himself,) answering, said unto Him, art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things, which are come to pass there in these days?” “And he said unto them what things?” said it, probably, with a view of giving them an opportunity of declaring their opinions, upon what had taken place, as also upon Himself and the nature of His kingdom: “and they said unto Him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word, before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have crucified Him. But we trusted, that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel; and beside all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done.” [101] They concluded, that their bright hopes of redemption were extinguished, were all dead and buried with Jesus: even though they had heard of His rising again, according to His own promise, which they had just alluded to, still they had no expectation of holding any further intercourse with Him, of any further display of His power in their behalf.
“Then he said unto them, O fools (O unwise and blinded people) and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; ought not Christ (ought not your Messiah prophesied of old) to have suffered these things and enter into His glory?” [102] Is it not clearly foretold by your prophets, by Isaiah especially in his 53d chapter, that the redeemer of Israel should be “despised and rejected of men,” should bear “their griefs and carry their sorrows,” “should be led as a lamb to the slaughter, should be numbered with the transgressors,” should make “His grave with the wicked (should die with malefactors) and with the rich in his death,” (should be buried in the sepulchre of the rich,) and after that “prolong His days,” and then that “the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in His hand?” According to your own prophecies then, and in order to their fulfilment, has not Jesus done that, as Messiah, which He was required to do? Instead of being offended, and giving up the cause, ye ought to be fully convinced, that He is “the Christ, the son of the living God.” [103a] Then, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the sacred scriptures the things concerning Himself.” [103b] How enlightening and convincing must this discourse have been! But it is not preserved to us: with so complete a body of information and evidence, it did not please the Almighty to favour the world. We are left to gather the instruction by diligent observation and study; and thankful may we be, that there still remain most abundant sources of satisfactory knowledge on this head; that the prophecies and types of the Saviour in the Old Testament, when compared with their fulfilment, are sufficiently clear for the conviction of every honest and well-disposed mind.
After this, the disciples “drew nigh unto the village whither they went; and 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. And He went in to tarry with them.” [104a] And thus He still favours His disciples, and will do as long as the world stands; when they heartily desire His abiding presence, it will never be denied; wherever the place or whatever the occasion, their Lord, if wished for and welcome, will be of their company: in the domestic circle, in the converse of friends, in the sacred hour of solitude; “when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” [104b] We have only to lift our thoughts to Him; “to set Him always before us; and He will be at our right hand, that we shall not be moved.” [105a] At all times He will be found “a present help;” but especially when we are associated or assembled in remembrance of Him. Such is the promise of His word: “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them:” [105b] gathered together for consultation, for worship, for any holy purpose.
Jesus, when He had entered into the house with the two disciples, acted in a manner which served to bring Him to their knowledge: “As He sat at meat with them, He took bread and blessed it, and brake and gave to them; (though a supposed stranger, He appeared as the head of the family; blessing and distributing, as His custom had been at their ordinary meals:) And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him: And He vanished out of their sight;” [105c] immediately left them to ponder upon the amazing things which they had heard. “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?”
Cleopas and his friend were unquestionably favoured beyond the common lot of disciples: to hear the sacred oracles explained by Him, who was at once the subject and fulfilment of them; by Him, through whose spirit the prophets and holy men of old all spake; to hear them perfectly explained and illustrated by the voice of the Son of God, might well make a vivid impression upon their minds, and fill their bosom with fervent and rapturous delight: Yet, though we cannot be so singularly blessed, there may be communicated to us a measure of that knowledge, which these disciples enjoyed; there may be imparted to us no inconsiderable portion of the same holy animation.