Jesus is Essential
Luke 24:28–29: Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.
As the incognito Christ was expounding the Scriptures, the two had come to see the plausibility, and indeed the necessity, of the Passion and Resurrection. Now they began to understand why the tomb was empty. I think they were divinely kept from recognizing Christ so they would base their understanding of the Resurrection squarely on the Scripture and not on experience.
A privileged experience such as this, if not grounded in the Word, runs the danger of becoming a privatized, eccentric interpretation. The couple on the road, however, were in no such danger. Their belief in the Resurrection rested on the Scriptures before they saw Christ! Arriving at their lodging, the couple strongly urged him to come in. The word carries the idea of force.5 They insisted—and we can understand why. 1
Walking with Jesus
What is the greatest passion in your life right now? Is it your marriage, or family, or job, or recreation, or sports teams, or a new relationship? How much passion do you have for the Word of God? There is a difference between doing something out of a habit or an obligation, and doing something fueled purely with holy passion. It comes back to guarding our hearts from being contaminated with too much worldliness. Ask Jesus to plow your heart often with His love, grace, and truth. Abide more often, quietly, with Him.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. John 15:4
To abide with Him is to experience the fullness of heaven’s love on earth.
Praying
Lord, thank You for always having unlimited time for me.
1. Hughes, R. K. (1998). Luke: that you may know the truth. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
