"A Voyage" Of Discovery!!!

“A VOYAGE” OF DISCOVERY

One of the fascinating “journeys” of the Bible is the walk of the two disciples of Christ from Jerusalem to Emmaus (a 7-mile journey) on the Resurrection Sunday (Luke 24:13-35) which eventually culminated in a speedy U-turn. The journey which began with confusion and sorrow would end in rapturous joy. The reason? The “third party” who joined the journey made all the difference!

Invaluable seven lessons that this seven mile “Voyage of discovery” holds for us can be better understood and appreciated, if we study this subject under the following themes…

1.Concealment...

It is quite apparent from the Scripture account that the Good Lord concealed His identity (it is also said in Mark that now he appeared in another form-Mark 16:12) in order His disciples might more freely discourse with him and he with them. Oh how often, the good Lord seeks a heart-to-heart conversation with us, devoid of trappings of a Royal Court session, which is all strict protocol, without any vent whatsoever for expression of sentiments emanating from the depths of the heart. Have you ever wondered why the Book of Psalms with nearly 66% of its content displaying anxiety, fear and even doubts of God’s protection is placed in the Scriptures? In order to teach us a lesson that in time of trouble we can adopt “a no holds barred approach” by crying unto Him just as we are without putting on any mask of formality. More than anything the Good Lord wants us to approach Him just as we are with a baggage in which nothing is hidden.

2. Conversation...

Counseling experts (Boy, how much of proper counseling these two followers of Jesus needed) often underscore the importance of asking questions much in a way an expert Doctor does to elicit as much information as possible from the patient to arrive at a proper diagnosis of the ailment. We would see our Lord the Wonderful counselor (Isaiah 9:6) that He is posing questions to His confused disciples and listening patiently to what all was there in their heart. Is not communication as much about listening, as it is about talking? Have we His followers developed the art of posing questions and patient listening in our conversations with the common folks, especially in our personal evangelistic efforts?

Jesus’ simple questions (Luke 24:17,19)…were a means of inviting himself deeper into the conversation which had evidently continued for some little while after Jesus fell in step with them. Was not the first Divine question in the Scriptures "Where art thou?" also posed to trigger a conversation leading to confession about Adam’s fallen “state of affairs” (Genesis 3:9)?

3. Confusion...

Response of one of the two namely Cleopas (Luke 24:21) to Christ’s questions exposes the skewed understanding of the disciples’ about the real purpose behind Christ’s First advent and their errant expectations of Him. His First coming was all about saving Mankind from clutches of sin and NOT about saving Israel from the clutches of Roman oppression, as they so wrongly surmised. Yes in His Second Advent seven years after the rapture of the Church, would He deliver the Jews from a Revived Roman Empire (Read Anti-Christ’s persecution-Romans 11:26)! But First Coming it needs to be reiterated here was all for the purpose of reigning in the throne of man’s heart rather than from an earthly throne in Jerusalem.

While on the subject of priorities, it would also be perfectly in order to do some honest introspection at this stage. What is the purpose of us seeking Christ? Is it to secure freedom from financial, health or any social, worldly problems or to be redeemed first and foremost from the clutches of our Spiritual adversary-Satan? Truly, He would deliver us from World-related difficulties too but first we need to get our priorities right (Matt 6:33). Often, we hear some testimonies in our Churches of how the people have “accepted Christian faith” because the Lord has delivered them from a health or a financial crisis. That is indeed good. Without being critical of their faith, I intend to state here that the witness of a person whose faith is built on a rock (nothing less-Matt 7:24-27) would invariably be “I was a sinner and CHRIST SAVED ME FROM CLUTCHES OF SIN”. Financial or health problems may recur in a believer’s life but SALVATION EXPERIENCE IS ETERNAL (Romans 8:1)! The good Lord in His abundant love for us, would go to any extent to ensure, we safely reach the Heavenly Shores, even if it means making us swallow some very bitter pills of Divine chastisement (1 Cor 11:27-32).

4. Canon exposition...

With the confusion of the disciples’ coming to the fore, setting was picture perfect for Canon exposition by the Master. To align their minds with the Divine Sovereign Redemption plan, our Lord painstakingly exegits the prophecies concerning Himself right from the Books of Moses. While, He highlighted those OT prophecies, which spoke clearly about His humiliation before exaltation , it would not be out of context to present this allegorical poem at this stage symbolically portraying the Saviour in the OT Scriptures.