What Do We Learn From the Emmaus Discourse?

Continuing on with the theme of discipleship, we often miss key points of Christ's teaching because we're too familiar with the gospel. It's like when a person hears a piece of familiar music and suddenly a lyric or instrument surprises the listener.

I've had that experience with songs like "Are You Experienced" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. On it, Jimi pressed the A key on a piano repeatedly. Until recently, I hadn't noticed that a few of his notes weren't on time.

In the same way, we all hear seemingly-new things when we study Scripture. One point I missed for years is what Christ did on the Emmaus road.

In Luke 24:25-27 (KJV), we read how Christ chastised two disciples for not understanding that the scriptures, what we call the Old Testament,  spoke of him. "Then he said unto them, 'O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?' And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

But this isn't a fault peculiar to those men. It's too easy for us to miss key points in the midst of the gospel story. John 5:39 (KJV) clearly states, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." We become so engrossed in the squabble Christ had with the Pharisees that we miss the truth that the Old Testament foretold what would happen to him.

Another point which is lost to the minds of most people is that God commands us all to be under the rule of his Son. That's partly why I'm writing my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven. Being a Christian isn't just keeping rules or not committing serious crimes, as some folks think. We must all have a relationship with Jesus who died in our place and rose to give us new life. If only people could grasp the ramifications of that.