The In-burning Fire
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32.
When Cleopos and his friend left Jerusalem for Emmaus, it was a very long walk.
It wasn’t that the distance was so far-
– it was that the weight upon their hearts was so heavy.
They had placed their entire faith in Jesus and then watched him taken and killed in a mockery of justice.
When a stranger shows up on the road to walk with them, Cleopos and his fellow disciple are stunned by the man’s ignorance.
The events of the Passover Week in Jerusalem must have captured everyone’s attention.
Yet, it is the stranger who ministers to them-
– illuminating the scriptures and the prophecies of the Old Testament that pointed to Jesus as the Messiah.
As they near Emmaus, the two disciples beg the stranger to stay and teach them more about God.
Jesus reveals himself in the sacramental meal, the breaking of the bread, and the disciples find themselves racing back to
Jerusalem to spread the news of the Lord’s resurrection.
What had been the longest walk became the shortest distance in time.
All the while, the disciple’s said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us?”
We are surrounded by people consumed by “long walks of despair.”
They do not know the risen Jesus who longs to bring a burning fire into lives that are cold and dark.
We are called to be that “stranger on the road” who passes on the in-burning fire of Jesus.
Do we, like Jesus, hear people begging us to linger longer and explain the scriptures?
Are those around us pleading with us to stay and break bread with them?
Do they “see Jesus” as we share in sacrament together?
What do I need to change in my life to become like Jesus for those on a long and tiring journey around me?
What must I do, even on this day, to offer that in-burning fire to those within my reach?
“Jesus, be the fire in our hearts, that we might ignite the flame in others.” Amen.