Emmaus Sunday

                       Emmaus Road luke 24,13-35                    

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”  Luke 24:32

RECOMMENDED READING:  Luke 24:13-35 “13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”19 “What things?” he asked.“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that hewas the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 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?”33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.”

COMMENTS:  John Newton was the most unlikely person to become a Christ follower let alone a pastor.  No one would have picked him to author one of the most famous and most popular hymns over the last nearly 300 years.   Even non-Christians know and have sung his hymn but few know and understand the story and history behind that hymn.  A near death experience and many close calls along with a close encounter with Christ all softened his hard heart and opened his mind to hear and see Christ’s love and sacrifice. 

The story of the two Emmaus men walking home when Christ came to them, walked with them, and then revealed Himself to them.  Christ stayed with them just long enough for them to receive and process His message.   He knew what they needed to hear and personally gave them that gift. 

Everyone from the Disciples to distant Christ follower were all confused and in shock over the events of the last week.  They could make no sense of Jesus’ crucifixion.  They could see how or why God would allow Jesus to die.  May thought He was the Messiah they had been looking and praying for.  Many thought He would become king and stop the injustice and evil ravages that were dominant.  But for Jesus to be overcome and killed by that evil was not considered.   It appeared satan had won.  That Rome had won and God had lost, but how could that be? 

Take a moment and consider what it would be like today if Easter hadn’t happened.  If Christ didn’t raise from the dead.  Good Friday was when Christ died for our sins, becoming our once and for all sacrifice for our sins.    His dead satisfied the Father’s price to pay for our redemption.    But Christ’s redemption and restoration were also in the Father’s plan.  Satan thought He had defeated God but everything changed Easter morning.

Easter morning Christ did arise, giving us new hope and confidence and equipping us with new powerful weapons and tools to fight satan and help others do so too.   God did plan for everything did not leave or abandon us. 

HE CAME BACK!!!   HE CAME BACK AND CAME TO US!!  

Over the centuries since that first Easter, He has been our advocate so everyone is able to hear and accept His gift of redemption.    He has also abided with us as His Holy Spirit to help us in a way and to an extent Jesus could not as a full human while alive prior to His Resurrection.    The disciples thought they lost everything on Good Friday but with Easter they gained even more.  On Pentecost they gained far more too.  God never removed or asks us to give without providing more and better in return.  God does have a funny way of packaging His gifts in not so appealing packages.  Packages we aren’t so likely to maybe even notice or eager to open.  Well, maybe not always but reflect and see if your experience hasn’t supporting this.   For John Newton a life threatening storm on a sinking ship wasn’t appealing but brought him to his knees so God could change him into a new forgiven man who could  write “Amazing Grace” and live a Christ-centered Amazing Life that  would impact the world for good instead of making slaves of poor so they would serve the wealthy.

What became of the two Emmaus men after their encounter with Christ?   We don’t know but someday we will be able to ask them and discover the rest of that amazing story.  We’ll discover their compounded influence that lead to multitudes being saved in the centuries since.  We might just discover we are part of that multitude.

So many work so hard to discover ancestors in their family tree.  To discover we are part of something bigger like a family is good and worthwhile. I have discovered or been told some amazing stories of my family.  Passing on those stories and life experiences of parents and grandparents are important.

But even more important is telling and passing on their faith and world view.  But stop and also consider how wonderful it will be to discover our spiritual family and the history and legacy of that family.  Maybe we should put some effort to discover how those who positively impacted our lives were impacted by those before them and those who impacted them and so one.  One day, in heaven, we will have opportunity to discover that history.  How awesome will that be?!!    It will be a wonderful discover and will only motivate us to love and worship our Lord even more!!   Why?  Because we will realize He designed and planned it all.  AMEN?  AMEN!

The risen Christ spent time share with those two men walking home to Emmaus about all the Scriptures revealing the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). As they broke bread together, “their eyes were opened and they knew Him” (verse 31).

Have your eyes been opened to the reality of who Jesus is? Don’t let this Easter season pass without encountering Jesus through faith in Him.

“The heavens declare Thy glory, Lord, in every star Thy wisdom shines; but when our eyes behold Thy Word, we read Thy Name in fairer lines.”  Isaac Watts

If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 439 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.

You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily.  My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to   explore and use my devotional blog materials.

My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.

Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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