May 7

Walked Along With Them

"Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ...Jesus himself came up and walked along with them." Luke 24:13, 15

In Mark 16:7, the message that the angels gave to the women at the Garden was to tell Peter and the others that Jesus would appear to them in Galilee. "He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you." But Emmaus was in the wrong direction. Emmaus was west of Jerusalem, not to the north, like Galilee. Yet even though these two disciples were not obeying the instructions of the Lord, Jesus appeared to them and walked along with them anyway. There is great hope in this text for all of us. There are times in our lives when we disregard the Lord's instructions and do the opposite of that which he would have us do, but he does not write us off. This text lets us know that Jesus will never abandon us. He will lovingly walk along side us and patiently reveal himself to us, as he did these two. What a loving Lord we have! His love, grace and mercy reaches beyond our wildest imaginations. There is another lesson in the passage for us. What was the reaction of these two once Christ revealed himself to them? "They returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven and those with them, saying, ’It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’" They began to obey by returning immediately to Jerusalem, even though it was night, and sharing their revelation with others. Let us take heart and remember that Jesus will never leave us and let us always obey him, for obedience is the best way to show him how much he means to us!

Jesus, thank you for your love and concern for your disciples who had lost hope. Thank you for not leaving them in their despair. Because of how you treated them, I know that I can trust you with my life. I know that when I am weary and have lost my focus, you will be there to point me in the right direction and to restore hope to me again. I am grateful for that promise. Amen