Burning Hearts
| They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? (Luke24:32) |
What a teaching sermon it must have been!
While the Emmaus duo had a lesson in OT Messianic expectations by the Author and Main Character Himself, they, in their own words, experienced even more...
Not only were the Scriptures opened to them, but their hearts were set on fire!
The Scriptures - God's will, character and the story of His journey with humankind - are a great gift to us and to the church. But while we might call ourselves "people of the book", we are not biblicists: there is more to our faith than a wooden adherence to a rulebook.
Here's why:
Firstly, Christ explains the Scriptures to us. The crucified and risen Jesus walks with the Emmaus disciples and explains how the Scriptures concern Him. Take Jesus out of the biblical picture and it is a "closed book." As we walk in relationship with Him (and not with a set of rules) we will find the "Scriptures opened."
Secondly their hearts were set on fire. This, I believe, is the work of the Holy Spirit, who reminds us of what Jesus said, enlivens it to our hearts and convicts us to put it into action. JB Philips who translated the New Testament epistles in modern day English put it like this:
The present translator who has closely studied these letters for several years is struck... by their surprising vitality... again and again the writer felt rather like an electrician re‑wiring an ancient house without being able to "turn the mains off"
May we read the Scriptures with Jesus as our focus and the Spirit as our helper and feel the same "jolt."
