Heart Burn...The Good Kind

Have someone ever told you something so scandalous that you couldn’t believe it to be true? Not they exaggeration, or hyperbolic language, but a statement of fact that seems utterly ridiculous and therefore your initial reaction is to deem it untrue.

Say I told you that a man in his 60’s who is a father and a grandfather is now a woman. Oh wait, that story is being told all over the media and internet with Bruce Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover story. Once a subject that would never have been given credence is now being preached in such a way that you are considered an idiot if you don’t accept it.  However, this post is not my opinion about that particular topic (maybe some other article), but about your feelings and thoughts at something scandalous.

What if the scandal isn’t challenging societal norms or morals? What if it is challenging the very way we view the world? What about when science debunked the accepted view that the earth is flat? Only to realize that science was just telling people what God had already stated in Isaiah 40:22. The significance of understanding the world is a sphere changes everything. Sailors, who were once afraid of falling off the edge of the world, now could sail around the world. And so many other changes.

What responses do we have? Dismiss it? Alarm? Fear? Uncertainty? Unsettled? Hopeful? Admiration? As different as our personalities are will provoke different emotions to news that is hard for most to understand.

The Road to Emmaus

In Luke 24:13-35 we encounter two disciples who were wrestling with news that completely ruptured their understanding of reality. So much so that they didn’t know what to think about it. People they knew and trusted were now telling them the unbelievable. Jesus has risen from the dead! People don’t just rise up from the dead. Dead is dead. It’s final. Or at least that is what reality dictated. This story…well that is scandalous!

While they were walking a stranger met them and began talking with them. They told him of the scandal and the absurdity of it. They didn’t realize they were talking to the risen Lord Himself! They were so convinced that it wasn’t true that He called them “fools” and began to teach them about how the Scriptures all pointed to the truth that this would happen.

For the next couple of hours, Jesus, still a stranger to them, shared from Moses and the prophets how everything pointed to Christ. From beginning to end, the Bible is the redemptive story of God through Jesus Christ.

Breaking Bread

 

When they arrived home, the invited Him in for dinner. When Jesus broke the bread with them, their eyes were open to the truth of who He was. Something the disciples saw Jesus do time again, something simple, like breaking bread was what opened their eyes. Once they realized this, Jesus disappeared from their sight. Now leaving them to continue on the story of God’s scandalous grace. Only after realizing Jesus was the one teaching them did they both exclaim how their hearts burned deep within as He taught them. 

Notice how the joy of what He taught overpowered the realization of how long it took for them to realize it was Jesus. Jesus didn't put them on a guilt trip. He didn't shame them. Once they knew the truth, they were set free!

There are so many experiences in this life that create a sense of awe, euphoria and joy. People seek to have experiences to help them forget pain, depression or sorrow. People run to alcohol and drugs to imitate feelings. Music can inspire and lift a person’s spirit. Relationships can provide a sense of purpose and bring stability, but can also be tumultuous. From drugs, sex, alcohol, power, money…you name it, nothing can cause your heart to burn in jubilation like the Spirit teaching you about Jesus.

Solomon said that God has wired us for eternity. Augustine said there is a God shaped hole in all of us. Song writers have written lyrics describing our longing for more. The more is Jesus. The answer is Jesus. The most wonderful, rewarding and inspiring truth is Jesus. Have you chosen lately, to do what Mary did, and sit at the feet of Jesus to be with Him? Has your soul been stirred that you describe it as “my heart burned within” as you experienced more of God?

Jesus wants you to be in an intimate relationship with Him. The God of the universe is inviting a sinner like me and you, to be in a relationship with Him. It is scandalous! Jesus died and rose from the grave in order that we could be united with Him forever.

And so over the coming weeks, we are going to walk the Road to Emmaus as these disciples did. We are going to begin with Moses and the Prophets and see how The Story of God is unfolding all around us. Life is not about me, it’s not about you, it’s about Jesus. Let’s walk this road together and seek to learn in such away that as we are walking we can say…doesn’t our heart burn with excitement…as we get to know Jesus better.