TWO WORDS

That Will Change Your Life

Two words worth underlining in your Bible: Jesus himself.

Let them inspire hope for what is possible in your relationship with God. Zero in on them and let them spark the imagination of your soul.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.

LUKE 24:13-15, EMPHASI S ADDED

Passover had ended. Like many of their fellow Jews, these two travelers had come to Jerusalem for the feast. Now they were traveling home. But as momentous as each Passover was, this particular feast had been singularly disruptive. Why were these two travelers so interested in what happened to Jesus? Because they were his disciples. They were engaged in deep dialogue as they attempted to figure out what happened to Jesus. While they were in Jerusalem, he was arrested and executed, but now they had heard the incredible rumor that he was, in fact, no longer dead. They debated the possibilities and probabilities and wondered aloud, "What does this mean for our lives?"

Then it happened. Jesus himself began to walk with them.

They didn't, however, immediately know who had joined them. We're not sure why they didn't recognize him. Perhaps their eyes were fixated on the ground, or maybe the sun, low in the evening sky, impeded their vision. We are told that they were "kept from recognizing him," which might indicate that something supernatural was taking place (Luke 24:16). What's clear is that Jesus himself was with them that day.

He walked with them. More than that, Jesus himself talked with them:

He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

"What things?" he asked.

LUKE 24:17-19

Jesus himself asked them questions, sparking conversation. And because they didn't know who he was, they began sharing with Jesus what happened to Jesus! They explained to him, "We pinned our hopes on this would-be Messiah. Then the Romans crucified him. This morning, some of our friends went to the tomb; they said he wasn't there, that it was empty. We're just trying to piece all of this together."

Then Jesus himself gave them an opportunity to grow in their faith: "He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?'" (Luke 24:25-26). Such a brazen approach for a would-be stranger. But this was Jesus; he knew them — personally — and was inviting them to enlarge their view of what God can and cannot do. They were witnesses to the fulfillment of God's promises, but they were failing to connect the dots.

Then comes my favorite part, Jesus himself teaching them: "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself " (Luke 24:27). He led them in a Bible study! They didn't have the New Testament (they were living it!), but the Old Testament contained plenty to point them to the Messiah. Jesus could have easily drawn a connection between the Passover lamb and the Passover they celebrated just days before. If he had, perhaps he showed them that they had just seen the ultimate sacrifice that sets people free from bondage. Maybe he showed them where it says the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver or how none of the bones in his body would be broken.

During this Bible study, he most likely spent significant time with them in the book of Isaiah: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities ... by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). I wonder if he pointed out how Job pre-called his resurrection when he said,

I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes — I,
and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

JOB 19:25-27

Let this sink in: Jesus walked with, talked to, and taught them himself.

Is Jesus himself available to do these kinds of things in your life? Is this experience of God reserved only for those on the pages of our Bibles? Is living vicariously through them the best we can hope for?

Twelve Lucky Ones?

These travelers on the road to Emmaus weren't the first to be discipled by Jesus himself, of course. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were at work when Jesus showed up and called them to be his disciples (Matthew 4:18-22). Jesus ate dinner with Matthew the tax collector in Matthew's own home (Matthew 9:9-13). In all, he personally invited twelve people from different backgrounds into a direct discipleship relationship with him. It was intimate, face-to-face, and one-on-one. Jesus joked with them and assigned nicknames (Matthew 16:18; Mark 3:17). He sent them out on assignments and debriefed them afterward — coaching them in the ways of the Kingdom (Luke 10:1-24). They heard him teach and asked him questions about the meaning of his parables (for example, see Matthew 13:36). The Twelve saw Jesus tired, lonely, struggling, and anguished. When Jesus was disappointed, they were close enough to see it on his face. They knew firsthand that his love was real as they received training, instruction, correction, purpose, and inspiration from him. They were discipled by Jesus himself.

We find ourselves envious of these first disciples. We think, If I were discipled by Jesus himself, then things would be different. I would be bolder in my witness, clearer in my mission, and closer to God. Faith would be so much easier. But you and I weren't meant to gaze longingly at their incredible fortune. They weren't the lucky few who just happened to be born at the right time and place in history. Quite the opposite — they were prototypes for you and me. Their experience with Jesus demonstrates what life is supposed to be like for all of us.

Sometime during the centuries between them and us, we lost sight of this beautiful reality. Our modern view of discipleship is deficient. We've busied ourselves with activities — many good and well-meaning — that, ultimately, are far less than what God had in mind for those who abide...