I remember as a child going to the Easter Sunrise Service. We all dressed in out best. Dad drove to church. On the way there was a radio broadcast that pretended to be a newscast from first-century Jerusalem. It reported rumors that the tomb of Jesus had been found empty. More would be reported as the story developed. I was fascinated and wished I could stay in the car to hear the rest of the news.

Now I had heard the Easter story many times by that point in my young life, but it was the first time I really had an inkling of what it might have been like for the early followers of Jesus. The news would have leaked out in bits. The woman finding the empty tomb, Peter and John checking out the report. Confusion, disbelief, wonder, maybe even hope.

I think Luke captures the way people might have felt in his story of the two men on the road to Emmaus, who encounter Jesus but don’t recognize him until the moment he breaks bread with them. The real clincher for them, however, is their reflection on what had happened on the trip itself. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road.”

Luke knew that the vast number of people would never see Jesus or in person or in vision. For most people the story of Jesus and the Scriptures would be the point of contact with him.

What does hearing the story of Jesus do to you?

Read Luke 24:13-35 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne