When Your Heart Burns Within You

The road to Emmaus

On the day Jesus rose from the tomb, He met with two disciples traveling to Emmaus. One of them was Cleophus, and the other one is not named. I like to imagine that I could be the one walking that road to Emmaus.

The disciples were discussing all that happened in the last days of Jesus’ life. They also discussed His death and their lost hope. 

When Jesus joined them in their walk to Emmaus, He asked them what they were talking about. They explained. They tell Jesus about Jesus. They tell Him how they had hoped that this Man was the one Who would redeem Israel. Then Jesus (unknown to them) began with Moses and the prophets and explained the scriptures and prophecies concerning Himself. 

An invitation – and hearts burn

When the two got to Emmaus, Jesus acted as though He was going to continue the journey alone. They asked Him to stay with them and eat with them.

He did. 

Then He took bread, blessed it, and broke it. At that point, their eyes were opened. They realized it was Jesus. Had they not seen Him do the same with the bread He blessed and broke when He fed the 5,000?! It’s true that Jesus established communion with His disciples in the upper room, but these disciples were not there for that event. 

Jesus disappeared and the two were left alone. They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us while He walked with us?”  In other words, didn’t we recognize Him even though we didn’t know Who He was?!

When my heart burns

The walk to Emmaus with Jesus is like the walk we live every day when we are following Christ. We walk with Him as He teaches us about Himself. In the quietness of our time with Him, we feel that sensation when our heart burns within us. That’s what happens when we are in fellowship with Him. 

We not only recognize that we are on holy ground; we recognize the power of His presence, for our heart burns within us.

I’ve come to discover that when my heart lacks the burn, it means I am not walking the road with Him. When our walk with Him is sweet and when we are in sync with Him, we will know it by the burn within our heart. 

Photo credits: www.LumoProject.com in conjunction with freebibleimages.org

The song Abide with Me, ‘Tis Eventide parallels the walk to Emmaus with our personal walk with Jesus. It’s a beautiful song. Listen to the lyrics!

To hear the song, go to the following links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdiqI4rE5rI