Our heart burn within us – This is an expression denoting the deep interest and pleasure which they had felt in his discourse before they knew who he was. They now recalled his instruction; they remembered how his words reached the heart as he spoke to them; how convincingly he had showed them that the Messiah ought to suffer, and how, while he talked to them of the Christ that they so much loved, their hearts glowed with intense love. This feeling was not confined to them alone. All the followers of Jesus know how precious and tender are the communications of the Saviour, and how the heart glows with love as they think or hear of his life, and sufferings, and death.

He opened to us – He explained to us the Scriptures. See Luk 24:27.

This narrative shows us,

1. How blind people may be to the plainest doctrines of the Scriptures until they are explained to them. These disciples had often read or heard the Scriptures, but never, until then, did they fully understand that the Messiah must suffer.

2. It is proper there should be those whose office it is to explain the Scriptures. Jesus did it while on earth; he does it now by his Spirit; and he has appointed his ministers, whose business it is to explain them.

3. If people attempt to explain the Bible, they should themselves understand it. They should give their time and talents to a suitable preparation to understand the sacred volume. Preaching should consist in real, and not fancied explanations of the Scriptures; the real doctrines which God has taught in his word, and not the doctrines that men have taught in their systems.

4. Here was convincing evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. This was but one of many instances where Jesus convinced his disciples, contrary to their previous belief. In this case the evidence was abundant. He first satisfied them from the Old Testament that the very things which had happened were foretold; he then dissipated every doubt by showing himself to them and convincing them that he was truly the Christ. There was no chance here for deception and juggling. Who would have met them and talked with them in this way but the real Saviour? Who would have thought of writing this narrative to help an imposture? What impostor would have recorded the dulness of the disciples as to the plain declarations of the Old Testament, and then have thought of this device to prop up the narrative? Everything about this narrative – its simplicity – its tenderness – its particularity – its perfect nature – its freedom from all appearance of trick – shows that it was taken from real life; and if so, then the Christian religion is true, for here is evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 32. Did not our heart burn within us] His word was in our heart as a burning fire, Jer 20:9. Our hearts waxed hot within us, and while we were musing the fire burned, Ps 39:3. In some such way as this the words of the disciples may be understood: but there is a very remarkable reading here in the Codex Bezae; instead of , burned, it has , veiled; and one of the Itala has, fuit excaecatum, was blinded. Was not our heart veiled (blinded) when he conversed with us on the way, and while he unfolded the Scriptures to us, seeing we did not know him?

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

There was a mighty difference, no doubt, between Christs preaching and his ministers: he preached as one who had authority, not as the scribes, not as ordinary ministers, but with more majesty and power; but as to the saving efficacy of his words, that depended upon his will; where he pleased to put forth such efficacious grace, there his words became effectual; where he did not, they were not so: Christ preached in the hearing of hundreds, who yet continued unbelievers, and perished in their unbelief. There is a great deal of difference also between one ministers preaching and anothers; some kind of preaching of itself makes mens hearts to freeze, others make them to burn; but where preaching makes our heart to burn within us, Christ throws in the coal, which the best preacher doth but blow up: only the Spirit of God is pleased to work (as Erasmus saith) secundum quod nactus est organon, according to the instrument it worketh by, and to concur with rational and spiritual means in order to rational and spiritual ends. But wherever any soul is baptized with fire at hearing a sermon, it is also baptized with the Holy Ghost. Christ will not always cure blind eyes with clay and spittle, though he did it once. These were disciples before the fire was kindled in their hearts; Christs preaching did but blow it up. We ought so to speak in our preaching, so to open and apply the Scriptures, as our discourses may have a rational tendency to make the hearts of our hearers to burn within them, not so as to make them dead, and sleepy, and cold, or lukewarm; and then to know that it must be Christs work to inflame them, when we have said all that we can say.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

32-34. They now tell each to theother how their hearts burnedwere firedwithin them at His talkand His expositions of Scripture. “Ah! this accounts for it: Wecould not understand the glow of self-evidencing light, love, glorythat ravished our hearts; but now we do.” They cannot resthowcould they?they must go straight back and tell the news. They findthe eleven, but ere they have time to tell their tale, their ears aresaluted with the thrilling news, “The Lord is risen indeed, andhath appeared to Simon.” Most touching and preciousintelligence this. The only one of the Eleven to whom He appearedalone was he, it seems, who had so shamefully denied Him. Whatpassed at that interview we shall never know here. Probably it wastoo sacred for disclosure. (See on Mr16:7). The two from Emmaus now relate what had happened to them,and while thus comparing notes of their Lord’s appearances, lo!Christ Himself stands in the midst of them. What encouragement todoubting, dark, true-hearted disciples!

Lu24:36-53. JESUSAPPEARS TO THE ASSEMBLEDDISCIPLESHISASCENSION.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And they said one to another,…. After Christ was gone, being surprised at what happened, that they should not know him all that while; and that as soon as they did, he should disappear, or withdraw himself in this manner:

did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? concerning himself, his sufferings, death, and resurrection, which are in Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. The Scriptures are as a sealed book to men, learned and unlearned; and none so fit to open them as the lion of the tribe of Judah: he did open and explain them to these his disciples, as well as conversed with them about other things, as they travelled together; and his words came with such evidence, power, and sweetness, that they were ravished with them; their minds were irradiated with beams and rays of divine light; their hearts were warmed and glowed within them; they became fervent in spirit, and their affections were raised and fired; they found the word to be as burning fire within them; and they now knew somewhat what it was to be baptized with fire, which is Christ’s peculiar office to administer; see Ps 39:3 they seem as it were not only to reflect on these things with wonder and pleasure, but also to charge themselves with want of thought, with inattention and stupidity; since they might have concluded from the uncommon evidence, force, and energy with which his words came to them, who he was, seeing no man could speak as he did, and with such effect as his words had.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Was not our heart burning? ( ;). Periphrastic imperfect middle.

Spake (). Imperfect active, was speaking. This common verb is onomatopoetic, to utter a sound, – and was used of birds, children chattering, and then for conversation, for preaching, for any public speech.

Opened (). Imperfect active indicative of the same verb used of the eyes in verse 31.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Did not our heart burn – while he talked – opened. [ – – ] . The A. V., as usual, pays no attention to the graphic imperfects here. They are speaking of something which was in progress : “was not our heart burning (finite verb and participle) while he was speaking, and was opening the scriptures?”

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And they said one to another,” (kai eipan pros allelous) “And they said directly to each other,” as they had talked along the way earlier that day, Luk 24:14; Luk 24:17; They reflected on what had happened since He came to them in the way, Jer 20:9; Jer 23:29; Psa 14:2; Joh 7:46.

2) “Did not our heart burn within us,” (ouchi he kardia hemon kaiomene en hemin) “Was not our heart burning in us,” with joy. Their “sad hearts” had turned to “glad hearts”, at the coming of Jesus, Luk 10:18-20.

3) “While he talked with us by the way,” (hos elalei hemin en te hodo), “As he spoke to us in the way,” communed with us and to us, of His revelation in the Scriptures, Luk 24:27; That all the prophets spoke of Him, Deu 18:15-18; Act 10:43; Rev 19:10.

4) “And while he opened to us the scriptures?” (hos dienoigen hemen tas graphas) “As he opened up to us (explained so clearly to us) the scriptures?” Which are a “light and lamp to ones path,” and “true from the beginning,” Psa 119:105; Psa 119:130; Psa 119:160; Luk 24:27; Luk 24:44-45.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

32. Did not our heart burn within us? Their recognition of Christ led the disciples to a lively perception of the secret and hidden grace of the Spirit, which he had formerly bestowed upon them. For God sometimes works in his people in such a manner, that for a time they are not aware of the power of the Spirit, (of which, however, they are not destitute,) or, at least, that they do not perceive it distinctly, but only feel it by a secret movement. Thus the disciples had formerly indeed felt an ardor, which they now remember, but which they had not then observed: now that Christ has made himself known to them, they at length begin to consider the grace which they had formerly, as it were, swallowed without tasting it, and perceive that they were stupid. For they accuse themselves of indifference, as if they had said, “How did it happen that we did not recognize him while he was talking? for when he penetrated into our hearts, we ought to have perceived who he was.” But they conclude that he is Christ, not simply from the bare sign that his word was efficacious to inflame their hearts, but because they ascribe to him the honor which belongs to him, that when he speaks with the mouth, he likewise inflames their hearts inwardly by the warmth of his Spirit. Paul, indeed, boasts that the ministration of the Spirit was given to him, (2Co 3:8😉 and Scripture frequently adorns the ministers of the word with such titles as the following; that they convert the hearts, enlighten the understandings, and renew men so as to become pure and holy sacrifices; but then it is not to show what they do by their own power, but rather what the Lord accomplishes by means of them. But both belong equally to Christ alone, to pronounce the outward voice, and to form the hearts efficaciously to the obedience of faith.

It cannot be doubted that he then engraved an uncommon Mark on the hearts of these two men, that they might at length perceive that in speaking he had breathed into them a divine warmth. For though the word of the Lord is always fire, yet a fiery rigor was at that time manifested in a peculiar and unusual, manner in the discourse of Christ, and was intended to be an evident proof of his divine power; for it is he alone who baptizeth in the Holy Ghost and in fire, (Luk 3:16.) Yet let us remember that it is the proper fruit of heavenly doctrine, whoever may be the minister of it, to kindle the fire of the Spirit in the hearts of men, to purify and cleanse the affections of the flesh, or rather to burn them up, and to kindle a truly fervent love of God; and by its flame, as it were, to carry away men entirely to heaven.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(32) Did not our heart burn within us . . .?More accurately, Was not our heart burning . . .? the tense both of this and of the other verbs implying a continuous and not a momentary state or act.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And they said one to another, “Was our heart not burning within us, while he spoke to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?” ’

Startled the two looked at one another and commented on how their hearts had been burning within them when He had been expounding the Scriptures to them while they were still on their journey. Now they knew why. Compare for the idea of a burning within Psa 39:3; Jer 20:9. It was expressing the work of the Holy Spirit and fire (Luk 3:16).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Mutual expressions of joy:

v. 32. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?

v. 33. And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the Eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

v. 34. saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

v. 35. And they told what things were done in the way, and how He was known of them in breaking of bread.

The vanishing of Christ did not fill the hearts of these two men with new sorrow and fear. They had the blessed remembrance of the words of Jesus which He had spoken to them on the way. Full of eager happiness they exchanged confidences on their experience. It is an expressive word: their hearts had been burning within them. “Their heart began to burn while the Stranger expounded Scripture, and kept burning, and burning up into ever clearer flame, as He went on. ” In His discourse on the way the Lord had thoroughly opened to them the Scriptures. They now realized that the prophecies of old had been to them a sealed and hidden book. But now it had been opened to them, now they comprehended some of its wonderful treasures and beauties. This is always the effect of the words of Christ. When we are sad and weak, when we are longing for consolation and thereupon hear the Word of the Lord with all eagerness, then our heart will be warmed with the comfort of the salvation and the forgiveness of sins, and our faith, which was at the point of extinction, is once more enlivened to the brightness of a rich flame. For the risen Christ is in and with His Word. It is the living Christ who impresses the Word of the Gospel into our hearts and seals the comfort of the atonement through the blood of Christ in our hearts. The joy of these men did not permit them to rest at Emmaus. Though it must have been after six o’clock then, they arose from their meal at once; they hurried back to Jerusalem; they felt constrained to bring the good news to the others. And for the moment they found everybody happy. The apostles and disciples were all gathered together into one place, and they were met with the information that the Lord had risen indeed and had appeared to Simon. Sometime in the course of the day Jesus had met Peter, probably to reassure the deeply penitent apostle of His forgiveness. But the two disciples from Emmaus were not sorry that someone had forestalled them in bringing the happy news. For this would prove a welcome confirmation of their own experience, and the others would be only too glad to hear their story and thus to receive further assurance. It was unfortunate that the old doubts soon returned into the hearts of most of the disciples, as Mark is obliged to state. Christians must not depend too strongly upon moments of exaltation in their spiritual life. We cannot always be on the mountain peaks in our Christian experience, but must now and then descend into the valleys. But His Word is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Luk 24:32. Did not our heart burn, &c. Nothing can be more beautiful than this remark: the author of the Guardian observes, that this whole narrative is delivered in a style which men of letters call “the great and noble simplicity:” the attention of the disciples when Christ expounded the scriptures concerning himself, his offering to take his leave of them, their fondness of his stay, and the manifestation of the great Guest whom they had entertained while he was yet at meat with them, are all incidents, which wonderfully please the imagination of a Christian reader, and give to him something of that touch of mind which the disciples felt, when they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, &c.? See Guardian, No. 21. Psa 39:3. Jer 20:9.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 24:32-33 . ;] Was not our heart on fire within us? The extraordinarily lively emotions are, as in all languages, represented under the image of burning, of heat, of being inflamed, and the like, Wetstein and Kypke in loc .; Musgrave, ad Soph. Aj . 473. Hence the meaning: Was not our heart in an extraordinarily fervent commotion? Comp. Psa 39:4 ; Jer 20:9 . Quite naturally the two disciples abstain from explaining more fully the excitement of feeling that they had experienced, because such an excitement, comprehending several affections, rises into consciousness, as divided into its special elements, the less in proportion as its experiences are deep, urgent, and marvellous. The connection of the question with what precedes is: “Vere Christus est, nam non alia potuit esse causa, cur in via eo loquente tantopere animus noster inflammaretur,” Maldonatus.

. . .] without (see the critical remarks) adds the special to the general asyndetically , in which form that which is urgent and impressive of the recollection expresses itself.

Luk 24:33 . ] Certainly after such an experience the meal of which they had intended to partake was immediately given up. They had now no more irresistible necessity than that of communicating with their fellow-disciples in Jerusalem, and “jam non timent iter nocturnum, quod antea dissuaserant ignoto comiti, Luk 24:29 ,” Bengel.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1590
BLESSEDNESS OF COMMUNION WITH CHRIST

Luk 24:32. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?

THE divine authority of the Christian religion was chiefly to be proved by the resurrection of Christ. Hence our Lord gave his Disciples the most unquestionable evidence of his resurrection during the space of forty days previous to his ascension to heaven. After several other manifestations of himself to different Disciples on the day of his resurrection, he entered into conversation with two of them on their way to Emmaus: under the appearance of a stranger, he then expounded to them all the most important parts of the Mosaic and prophetic writings, and shewed them, that there was no just reason for them to be so disconcerted by his death, or so incredulous about his resurrection, since their own Scriptures had so clearly declared that the Messiah should die and rise again. Arriving at Emmaus, he accepted their invitation to abide with them at the house whither they were going: and at supper, he took the bread, and implored the Divine blessing upon it, and brake it, and gave it to them, just as he had been wont to do in former times. Now their eyes were opened; and in this unexpected guest they recognized their Lord and Master. It pleased him however, for wise and gracious reasons, to withdraw himself suddenly from them, and to leave them to make their own reflections upon all that had passed. Accordingly, no sooner had they recovered their surprise, than they addressed one another in the words of our text, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?

This kind of appearance, and this mode of communicating instruction, were peculiar to the occasion, and must be looked for no more: Christ is personally gone into heaven, where he will abide till the time of the restitution of all things. But we must not therefore imagine that all intercourse has ceased between himself and his people; for he will still, in a spiritual way, maintain communion with them, and give them such discoveries of himself, as shall cause their hearts to burn within them.
In confirmation of this truth, we shall shew,

I.

That communion with Christ is yet the privilege of his believing people

Whilst we disclaim all idea of visions, and impulses, and wild enthusiastic conceits, we do affirm that Christ will yet manifest himself unto his people, as he does not unto the world:

1.

In the private duties of the closet

[Christ has said to his Church. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. This is to be understood, not of his corporeal, but spiritual, presence; according to what St. Paul prayed for in behalf of Timothy, The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit [Note: 2Ti 4:22.]. In reading the Scriptures, he will, by his Holy Spirit, cast a light upon the Scriptures, as he did in this exposition which he gave to the Disciples; fixing our attention upon those points which are of primary importance, and opening our understandings to understand them [Note: Luk 24:45.] He will give us that spiritual discernment which is necessary for a right perception of their import [Note: 2Co 2:14.], and will so impress them on our hearts as to make them effectual for all the purposes of his grace [Note: Act 16:14.]. Sometimes he will cause his word to distil as the dew, or to descend as the rain and snow, which fall not to the earth in vain [Note: Deu 32:2. Isa 55:10-11.]; and at other times he will cause it to pierce as a sword [Note: Heb 4:12.], or to burn like fire, or, like a hammer, to break the rocky heart in pieces [Note: Jer 23:29.].

In prayer also will he give boldness and access with confidence by faith in him [Note: Eph 3:12.]. His Holy Spirit will help our infirmities and teach us what to pray for as we ought, and make intercession in us with groans which cannot be uttered [Note: Rom 8:26.]. He will draw nigh to us whilst we draw nigh to him [Note: Jam 4:8.]: he will hear us and answer us, and say, Here I am [Note: Isa 58:9.]: he will also impart to us the things we pray for, and give us grace sufficient for every occasion that can arise [Note: 2Co 12:9.]. Thousands can yet attest the truth of these things: they have gone to his throne of grace weak, dejected, disconsolate; and have lost all their burthen there, and come away filled with joy and peace in believing.]

2.

In the public ordinances of religion

[Our Lord has particularly promised, that where two or three are met together in his name, there he will be in the midst of them [Note: Mat 18:20.]. In the public assemblies of his people therefore he will assuredly be present. Indeed it is his presence there which alone makes them effectual for the end designed: and if he go not up with us, it is to little purpose that we go thither. It is he who gives energy to the word preached: though Paul should plant, or Apollos water, it is He only that gives the increase [Note: 1Co 3:5-7.]. Ministers are merely the instruments whereby God communicates his blessings to the Church. Good is then done, and sinners are converted to God, when the power of the Lord is present to work, and when the word comes to their hearts, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance [Note: 1Th 1:5.]. Hence it is that persons, who but a Little time before knew not that the Lord God was in that place, are constrained to cry out, This is none other but the house of God, this is the gate of heaven [Note: Gen 28:16-17.].]

3.

In the common offices of life

[There is no time, nor place, where the Lord Jesus will not vouchsafe his presence to those who call upon him. In a crowd, in the midst of business, no less than in the retired and lonely walk, will our Lord be with them [Note: Gen 28:15.]: he will even be as their shade upon their right hand [Note: Psa 121:4-8.], to keep them from all evil, and to load them with his richest benefits: his goodness and mercy shall follow them; yea, he himself will walk with them, and dwell in them, so that in every possible situation they shall be enabled to say, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ [Note: 1Jn 1:3.]. How often has this been realized in social converse, and in the chambers of the sick! ]

If this be the privilege of his people, it may justly be said,

II.

That it is the most exalted privilege they can possibly enjoy

There is no satisfaction that a human being can possess, that is at all to be compared with that which arises from communion with his God and Saviour. The pleasure it affords is,

1.

The most refined

[That which is usually called pleasure, is, for the most part, unworthy of the name: the gratifications of sense are suited only to our animal nature, and enjoyed only in common with the beasts. Even intellectual pleasures, though more suited to us as rational beings, are yet far below the desires which we feel, and the capacities with which we are endowed. The Christian is made partaker of a Divine nature; and he can be satisfied with nothing less than the enjoyment of the Divinity himself. Accordingly this is his actual attainment. The Spirit of God inspires him with a lively hope [Note: 1Pe 1:3.], and a peace that passeth all understanding; and so reveals and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in his soul [Note: Gal 1:16. Joh 16:14.], as to make him rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorified [Note: 1Pe 1:8. The Greek.]. Yes, the joy that he imparts, is such as disembodied spirits may be supposed to feel, an earnest and a foretaste of heaven itself [Note: Eph 1:13-14.].]

2.

The most independent

[For all other pleasures we are dependent either on outward circumstances, or on the state of our own minds. If, for instance, we are racked with pain, or bowed down with grief, or standing on the brink of the grave, no earthly thing will afford us any comfort. Not so the pleasure of which we are speaking; that is even advanced by the want of other things, and never is enjoyed with so rich a zest, as when it has nothing to aid, but every thing to counteract it. Then it is that the excellency of communion with Christ appears in its true colours ]

3.

The most ennobling

[Earthly pleasures prevent, for the most part, the ascent of the soul towards heaven but communion with Christ raises the soul to heaven, and transforms it by constantly progressive changes into the Divine image [Note: 2Co 3:18.] ]

4.

The most diffusive

[Other pleasures we are content to enjoy alone: but this no one ever tasted, without instantly feeling in his soul a desire to impart it to those around him. Come unto me, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul. Draw me says the Church. and we will run after thee [Note: Son 1:4.]; for no one that is drawn would ever willingly come alone; he would, if possible, draw all others along with him ]

Some questions, which may possibly arise in the minds of those who desire communion with Christ, we shall now endeavour to answer
1.

How are we to attain it?

[It is not to be sought for in the circles of gaiety or in the cares of business, but in reading the word of God and prayer. We are aware, that all persons cannot dedicate to these exercises an equal degree of their time: nor is it necessary that they should: but all may, and must, devote some portion of their time to this great pursuit. God has given us six days for worldly labour, and requires the seventh to be sanctified to him: and if that day were conscientiously consecrated to the Lord, we should not long be unacquainted with the subject before us: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, would soon he known to us by sweet experience. Search the Scriptures, says our Lord; for they are they that testify of me. Again, He spake a parable, to teach us that we should pray always, and not faint. These are the occupations in which we should take delight: and like the Apostles in their way to Emmaus, we should make the great mysteries of redemption a subject of our deepest research, and of our most familiar converse. Were we thus to seek after Christ, we should soon have the veil removed from our eyes; and God would shine into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ.]

2.

How are we to distinguish it?

[I grant that there are enthusiasts, who pretend to such impulses, and such communications as the Scriptures do not warrant us to expect: and it is certainly desirable to be on our guard that we be not led astray by them. But we must not despise those manifestations which God does vouchsafe to his people, because there are enthusiasts who profess to have experienced more. We do not reject good coin because a spurious coin is sometimes obtruded in its stead: but we learn to distinguish between them. So in reference to the subject before us, we should prove all things, and hold fast that which is good.
We apprehend then that the genuine experience of communion with Christ may be distinguished from enthusiastic pretensions to it, both by its rise, and its operation on the mind. Enthusiasts found their pretensions on some visions, or dreams, or on the word of God coming in a peculiar manner to their minds: and they are filled with pride, and conceit, and an unhallowed presumptuous confidence, which are certain indications of spiritual delusion. The true child of God, on the contrary, is humbled in the dust by the favours vouchsafed to his soul: he prostrates himself like Abraham and Moses [Note: Gen 17:3. Exo 34:8.], and covers his face with his mantle, as Elijah [Note: 1Ki 19:13.], and abhors himself, like Job, in dust and ashes [Note: Job 40:4; Job 42:5-6.]. Nor is he hasty to talk of these manifestations: he will strive indeed to bring others to similar enjoyments; but he will not be forward to boast of his own: and the confidence which they create within him renders him tenfold more watchful against every occasion of sin. By such marks as these it will not be difficult for an humble person to judge; but such is the blinding efficacy of pride and vanity, that it is little less than a miracle if an enthusiast be ever brought to try himself by them.]

3.

How to improve it?

[We know of no better advice than that of St. Paul, Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption. God is a jealous God. There are no bounds to his love to those who truly honour him and walk circumspectly before him; He will rejoice over them to do them good: but if we presume upon his favour, and give way to any sin, we may soon provoke him to withdraw from us. What God himself then said to his people respecting the Angel of the Covenant, whom he sent to bring them into the land of Canaan, I would say to you; Beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not: for he will not pardon your trans-gressions [Note: Exo 23:20-21.]. Merciful as he is towards repenting sinners, he will not endure any secret abomination in the hearts of his believing people; and if he behold any, he will hide his face from them till it be put away. If then he has made you new creatures, and sealed you for his own, be careful to glorify him in your body and in your spirit, which are his.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Ver. 32. Did not our hearts burn ] By that spirit of burning Isa 4:4 that kindleth the fire of God Son 8:6 on the hearth of his people’s hearts, while the mystery of Christ is laid open unto them. Ego vero illius oratione sic incendebar, saith Senarclaeus, concerning Darius the martyr, ut cum eum disserentem audirem, Spiritus Sancti verba me audire existimarem. Methought when I heard him, I heard the Holy Ghost himself speaking to me.

While he opened ] Preaching then is the key of the Scripture.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

32. ] ‘Was there not something heart-kindling in His discourse by the way, which would have led us to suppose that it was none but the Lord Himself?’ not that they did suppose it, but the words are a sort of self-reproach for not having done so. Compare Mat 7:29 .

, as Bengel remarks, is more than .: He spoke to us, not merely, ‘ with us ,’ as E. V.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 24:32-35 . After Jesus’ departure .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luk 24:32 . , the heart burning, a beautiful expression for the emotional effect of new truth dawning on the mind; common to sacred writers ( vide Psa 39:4 , Jer 20:9 ) with profane. Their heart began to burn while the stranger expounded Scripture, and kept burning, and burning up into ever clearer flame, as He went on “valde et diu,” Bengel. It is the heart that has been dried by tribulation that burns so. This burning of the heart experienced by the two disciples was typical of the experience of the whole early Church when it got the key to the sufferings of Jesus (Holtzmann, H. C.). Their doubt and its removal was common to them with many, and that is why the story is told so carefully by Lk. , (without ), as He spoke, as He opened, etc.; first the general then the more specific form of the fact.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luke

THE RISEN LORD’S SELF-REVELATION TO WAVERING DISCIPLES

Luk 24:13 – Luk 24:32 .

These two disciples had left their companions after Peter’s return from the sepulchre and before Mary Magdalene hurried in with her tidings that she had seen Jesus. Their coming away at such a crisis, like Thomas’s absence that day, shows that the scattering of the sheep was beginning to follow the smiting of the shepherd. The magnet withdrawn, the attracted particles fall apart. What arrested that process? Why did not the spokes fall asunder when the centre was removed? John’s disciples crumbled away after his death. When Theudas fell, all his followers ‘were dispersed’ and came to nought. The Church was knit more closely together after the death that, according to all analogy, should have scattered it. Only the fact of the Resurrection explains the anomaly. No reasonable men would have held together unless they had known that their Messianic hopes had not been buried in Christ’s grave. We see the beginnings of the Resurrection of these hopes in this sweet story.

I. We have first the two sad travellers and the third who joins them.

Probably the former had left the group of disciples on purpose to relieve the tension of anxiety and sorrow by walking, and to get a quiet time to bring their thoughts into some order. They were like men who had lived through an earthquake; they were stunned, and physical exertion, the morning quiet of the country, and the absence of other people, would help to calm their nerves, and enable them to realise their position. Their tone of mind will come out more distinctly presently. Here it is enough to note that the ‘things which had come to pass’ filled their minds and conversation. That being so, they were not left to grope in the dark. ‘Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them.’ Honest occupation of mind with the truth concerning Him, and a real desire to know it, are not left unhelped. We draw Him to our sides when we wish and try to grasp the real facts concerning Him, whether they coincide with our prepossessions or not.

It is profoundly interesting and instructive to note the characteristics of the favoured ones who first saw the risen Lord. They were Mary, whose heart was an altar of flaming and fragrant love; Peter, the penitent denier; and these two, absorbed in meditation on the facts of the death and burial. What attracts Jesus? Love, penitence, study of His truth. He comes to these with the appropriate gifts for them, as truly-yea, more closely-as of old. Perhaps the very doubting that troubled them brought Him to their help. He saw that they especially needed Him, for their faith was sorely wounded. Necessity is as potent a spell to bring Jesus as desert. He comes to reward fixed and fervent love, and He comes, too, to revive it when tremulous and cold.

‘Their eyes were holden,’ says Luke; and similarly ‘their eyes were opened’ Luk 24:31. He makes the reason for His not being recognised a subjective one, and his narrative affords no support to the theory of a change in our Lord’s resurrection body. How often does Jesus still come to us, and we discern Him not! Our paths would be less lonely, and our thoughts less sad, if we realised more fully and constantly our individual share in the promise,’ I am with you always.’

II. We have next the conversation Luk 24:17 – Luk 24:28.

The unknown new-comer strikes into the dialogue with a question which, on some lips, would have been intrusive curiosity, and would have provoked rude retorts. But there was something in His voice and manner which unlocked hearts. Does He not still come close to burdened souls, and with a smile of love on His face and a promise of help in His tones, ask us to tell Him all that is in our hearts? ‘Communications’ told to Him cease to sadden. Those that we cannot tell to Him we should not speak to ourselves.

Cleopas naively wonders that there should be found a single man in Jerusalem ignorant of the things which had come to pass. He forgot that the stranger might know these, and not know that they were talking about them. Like the rest of us, he fancied that what was great to him was as great to everybody. What could be the subject of their talk but the one theme? The stranger assumes ignorance, in order to win to a full outpouring. Jesus wishes us to put all fears and doubts and shattered hopes into plain words to Him. Speech to Christ cleanses our bosoms of much perilous stuff. Before He speaks in answer we are lightened.

Very true to nature is the eager answer of the two. The silence once broken, out flows a torrent of speech, in which love and grief, disciples’ pride in their Master, and shattered hopes, incredulous bewilderment and questioning wonder, are blended.

That long speech Luk 24:19 – Luk 24:24 gives a lively conception of the two disciples’ state of mind. Probably it fairly represented the thought of all. We note in it the limited conception of Jesus as but a prophet, the witness to His miracles and teaching the former being set first, as having more impressed their minds, the assertion of His universal appreciation by the ‘people,’ the charging of the guilt of Christ’s death on ‘our rulers,’ the sad contrast between the officials’ condemnation of Him and their own fond Messianic hopes, and the despairing acknowledgment that these were shattered.

The reference to ‘the third day’ seems to imply that the two had been discussing the meaning of our Lord’s frequent prophecy about it. The connection in which they introduce it looks as if they were beginning to understand the prophecy, and to cherish a germ of hope in His Resurrection, or, at all events, were tossed about with uncertainty as to whether they dared to cherish it. They are chary of allowing that the women’s story was true; naively they attach more importance to its confirmation by men. ‘But Him they saw not,’ and, so long as He did not appear, they could not believe even angels saying ‘that He was alive.’

The whole speech shows how complete was the collapse of the disciples’ Messianic hopes, how slowly their minds opened to admit the possibility of Resurrection, and how exacting they were in the matter of evidence for it, even to the point of hesitating to accept angelic announcements. Such a state of mind is not the soil in which hallucinations spring up. Nothing but the actual appearance of the risen Lord could have changed these sad, cautious unbelievers to lifelong confessors. What else could have set light to these rolling smoke-clouds of doubt, and made them flame heaven-high and world-wide?

‘The ingenuous disclosure of their bewilderment appealed to their Companion’s heart, as it ever does. Jesus is not repelled by doubts and perplexities, if they are freely spoken to Him. To put our confused thoughts into plain words tends to clear them, and to bring Him as our Teacher. His reproach has no anger in it, and inflicts no pain, but puts us on the right track for arriving at the truth. If these two had listened to the ‘prophets,’ they would have understood their Master, and known that a divine ‘must’ wrought itself out in His Death and Resurrection. How often, like them, do we torture ourselves with problems of belief and conduct of which the solution lies close beside us, if we would use it?

Jesus claimed ‘all the prophets’ as His witnesses. He teaches us to find the highest purpose of the Old Testament in its preparation for Himself, and to look for foreshadowings of His Death and Resurrection there. What gigantic delusion of self-importance that was, if it was not the self-attestation of the Incarnate Word, to whom all the written word pointed! He will still, to docile souls, be the Interpreter of Scripture. They who see Him in it all are nearer its true appreciation than those who see in the Old Testament everything but Him.

III. We have finally the disclosure and disappearance of the Lord.

The little group must have travelled slowly, with many a pause on the road, while Jesus opened the Scriptures; for they left the city in the morning, and evening was near before they had finished their ‘threescore furlongs’ between seven and eight miles. His presence makes the day’s march seem short.

‘He made as though He would have gone further,’ not therein assuming the appearance of a design which He did not really entertain, but beginning a movement which He would have carried out if the disciples’ urgency had not detained Him. Jesus forces His company on no man. He ‘would have gone further’ if they had not said ‘Abide with us.’ He will leave us if we do not keep Him. But He delights to be held by beseeching hands, and our wishes ‘constrain’ Him. Happy are they who, having felt the sweetness of walking with Him on the weary road, seek Him to bless their leisure and to add a more blissful depth of repose to their rest!

The humble table where Christ is invited to sit, becomes a sacred place of revelation. He hallows common life, and turns the meals over which He presides into holy things. His disciples’ tables should be such that they dare ask their Lord to sit at them. But how often He would be driven away by luxury, gross appetite, trivial or malicious talk! We shall all be the better for asking ourselves whether we should like to invite Jesus to our tables. He is there, spectator and judge, whether invited or not.

Where Jesus is welcomed as guest He becomes host. Perhaps something in gesture or tone, as He blessed and brake the bread, recalled the loved Master to the disciples’ minds, and, with a flash, the glad ‘It is He!’ illuminated their souls. That was enough. His bodily presence was no longer necessary when the conviction of His risen life was firmly fixed in them. Therefore He disappeared. The old unbroken companionship was not to be resumed. Occasional appearances, separated by intervals of absence, prepared the disciples gradually for doing without His visible presence.

If we are sure that He has risen and lives for ever, we have a better presence than that. He is gone from our sight that He may be seen by our faith. That ‘now we see Him not’ is advance on the position of His first disciples, not retrogression. Let us strive to possess the blessing of ‘those who have not seen, and yet have believed.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

Did not, &c. = was not our heart burning.

within = in. Greek. en.

talked = was talking.

by = in. Greek. en.

opened = was interpreting.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

32.] Was there not something heart-kindling in His discourse by the way, which would have led us to suppose that it was none but the Lord Himself? not that they did suppose it,-but the words are a sort of self-reproach for not having done so. Compare Mat 7:29.

, as Bengel remarks, is more than .:-He spoke to us, not merely, with us, as E. V.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 24:32-35. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

These were the two disciples who had recognized their Lord in the breaking of bread, though they did not know him during their walk with him to Emmaus.

Luk 24:36. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in time midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

This was the common Jewish salutation; but, henceforth, it would he sanctified most divinely, and it would be a Christian greeting to say, Peace be unto you.

Luk 24:37-44. But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; far a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and. his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto on, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Notice the seals which our Lord continually set upon the Old Testament, the manner in which he always treated the Scripture, the reverent way in which he confessed its infallibility, and his determination that, in every item, every jot and tittle, it should be fulfilled by himself. This was often manifested before his death; and, on his return from the grave, he had not changed his mind. He here speaks of the three great parts into which the Old Testament was divided by the Jews, and he expressly sets the seal of his royal assent upon the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. May we, in like manner, prize the whole-inspired Word!

This exposition consisted of readings from Mar 16:1-14; Luk 24:32-44.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Luk 24:32. , burning) much and for long. [A most blessed sensation!-V. g.]-, was) They observed the fact more afterwards than during the actual continuance of the burning sensation.- ) He spake to us. This means more than with us [which is however the Engl. rendering].-[, He opened) The Scripture is opened out, when the understanding is opened, Luk 24:45.-V. g.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

An Open Bible and a Burning Heart

And they said one to another, Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?Luk 24:32.

1. What a day of surprises it was, that marvellous first Easter Day! Early in the morning, before the sun had risen, the little group of broken-hearted women, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary, mother of James, issuing from the gates, and through the darkness bearing spices for the body in the tomb, and finding that the body was no longer there! Malice could it portend? or what? Straightway the message carried to Peter and to John, their hurried visit to the sepulchre, and corroboration of the strange report; the linen cloths still lying in their place, the napkinwhich had bound the headstill lying in its folds, separately, on the stone pillow, where the head had lain, but the body gone, withdrawn from the embrace of death! And they go back to their own home. Next, the solitary return of Mary Magdalene, and that first appearance of the Risen Lord, with its strange utterance, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended. And then again that fuller manifestation to the disciples who journeyed to Emmaus, from which we draw our text.

Throughout the Resurrection records it is always the unexpected that happens. They are no work of human fancy. Who would have invented a first appearance to Mary Magdalene, and a second to these unknown disciples, of whom one only, Cleopas, is so much as named, while both alike have no other place in the Gospel history? Their home was within walking distance of Jerusalem, upon the road that led seawards towards Joppa. Emmaus lay some seven miles or more upon the route from Jerusalem. They had been of those who had gone up to the great Passover, full of hopeful, strange presentiments. They had shared the expectation that Jesus, in whom they believed, a prophet mighty in deed and word, whom they took to be the Christ, might at the feast manifest Himself. We hoped that it was he which should redeem Israel. And on them too had fallen the crushing disenchantment, the overthrow of all their hopes, the arrest, the crucifixion, and the death. They had seen Him numbered with the malefactors; they had perhaps helped to carry Him to the grave; and upon this miserable morning, sick at heart with grief and disappointment, they were gathered with the disciples plunged in speechless gloom of bereavement and spiritual despair. At least we know that, when tidings reached them of an empty tomb and of a vision of angels, it did not even keep them in Jerusalem. It did not kindle any gleam of hope. They thought of it, drearily, as one more unkindness to the dead. The festival was over; they must go their ways; and, with perhaps the customary prayer of parting in the Temple precincts, they took the homeward way.

It was noon, or later, as they passed out of the city gates, through the hot Syrian sun, and, like other groups of wayfarers, took the high road north-westward. Alone together, as friends will, they opened their hearts; they communed with each other of all these things which had happened. Sometimes they walked, talking rapidly, aloud, with the vehemence of Eastern men; and then again they stood still, looking sad. How graphic it all is! And may we not read in it an allegory of actual life? It is in the communings of friends, two and two, that not seldom Jesus Christ, perhaps at the time unrecognized, draws near. So absorbed were they in their own thoughts and griefs that they hardly noticed the stranger who overtook them and became a silent sharer in their conversation. It is the same Jesus who in the gospel narrative seems always so unmistakably Himself. O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe, He said, with His own accent of wondering, expostulating love. And yet their eyes were holden that they should not know him. How was it? We can only guess by interrogating our own hearts. What is it, as we go wayfaring through life, that holds our eyes, so that sometimes we perceive the voice of Jesus, and then at other times, though He is close and speaking audibly, and in the very way we might have expected, we do not know or recognize?

Lord Christ, if Thou art with us and these eyes

Are holden, while we sadly go and say

We hoped it had been He, and now to-day

Is the third day, and hope within us dies,

Bear with us, O our MasterThou art wise

And knowest our foolishness; we do not pray

Declare Thyself, since weary grows the way,

And faiths new burden hard upon us lies;

Nay, choose Thy time, but ah|! whoeer Thou art,

Leave us not; where have we heard any voice

Like Thine? our hearts burn in us as we go;

Stay with us; break our bread; so, for our part

Ere darkness falls haply we may rejoice,

Haply when day has been far spent may know.1 [Note: Edward Dowden.]

2. They were out of heart. They had so built on hope, they had so trusted it was He that should redeem Israel, they had looked for a national deliverance, for the proclamation of a king. And all had failed, irreparably, as it seemed, and on their hearts there lay the sense of void, of hopes not satisfied, of promises withdrawn. When we are cast down, when some spiritual expectation fails us, when that from which we had hoped most for ourselves or for others whom we care for turns out a failure, and only convinces us of weakness and of helplessness, it is hard to believe that Christ is even then and there preparing a revelation of Himself. Yet just when we are despondent and low-hearted, and once and again going over the grounds on which we built our hopes, and asking, Where was my mistake, why has He failed me so? even then, it may be, Christ is Himself near to make it plain.

We have all our times of perplexity and sorrow. I do not mean those who naturally take a pessimistic view of life, and whose outlook is usually dashed in with colours of sepia, but Christians generally, both as members of a corporate body and in their own personal experience. There are few who have not been conscious of an hour of darkness, a season in which they have a peculiar sense of spiritual loneliness and desertion, and which is followed by distressing doubts and troublessimilar to those which the two disciples felt on their way to Emmaus; similar, for of course they cannot be the same; their future is our past, and we are fully assured of the fact of Christs Resurrection, no less than of His life and death; but we may be like them in the bitter recollection of our desertion of Him, the uncertainty of His forgiveness, and apprehension lest He should hide His face for ever. If this be so, let us not escape from our sadness by letting our religion slip away from us or by plunging into the cares and pleasures of life. Rather let us meditate on all the Saviour has done and suffered for us, and the gracious promises He has made to us, and be assured, though we seem to be solitary, He is never really far from us. He can read our thoughts and note our sadness, but if we go on quietly, under the light of His presence, all doubt and anxiety will pass away.1 [Note: M. Fuller, In Terr Pax, 59.]

When Robert Louis Stevenson visited the leper settlement at Molokai in 1889 he had as fellow passengers in the boat nursing sisters going to work on the island. And when I found that one of them was crying, poor soul, quietly under her veil, I cried a little myself. I thought it was a sin and a shame that she should feel unhappy. I turned round to her and said something like this: Ladies, God Himself is here to give you welcome. 2 [Note: Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, ii. 154.]

How like my Master it was, to go after those two sorrowing ones on the very day of His triumphant resurrection! He thought it worth while to walk seven miles, and spend two hours in the work of comforting two obscure, lowly, dejected disciples. He seems never to have spoken, as the Risen One, to any but sorrowing disciples. And He spoke only comfort; nothing else. Never a word about their sin; never a word of reproof; only words of good cheer, unfolding His own glory, and their glory in following Him. Living Himself in the joy of victory, He only wished them to be sharers in that joy.3 [Note: G. H. Knight, The Masters Questions to His Disciples, 329.]

He is not far away:

Why do we sometimes seem to be alone,

And miss the hands outstretched to meet our own?

He is the same to-day,

As when of old He dwelt

In human form with His discipleswhen

He knew the needs of all His fellow-men,

And all their sorrows felt.

Only our faith is dim,

So that our eyes are holden, and we go

All day, and until dusk, before we know

That we have walked with Him.4 [Note: E. H. Divall, A Believers Rest, 89.]

3. He comforted them by opening to them the Scriptures. By a single word He might have revealed Himself, as when to that early watcher at the sepulchre He said Mary, and she cast herself at His feet; or, as He came at evening into the midst of the disciples, saying Peace be unto you, and showing them His hands and His side. But He chose to deal with them in a different and peculiar way, giving them at first no means of personal recognition, but leading them to a gradual discovery of His true spiritual glory through enlightening in the truth, not showing them so much what was, but what they would have known must have been, if they had understood the Scriptures which they professed to believe. He who spoke to them seemed a chance-met stranger, their eyes were holden that they should not know Him; but as word after word of ancient inspiration came glowing from His lips, and prophet after prophet passed before them, a long procession of witnesses to that kingly glory of Christ which was to be reached through sufferings, which but through sufferings never could be reached, it was as if a mist had passed from their eyesall things were beheld in a new light, and through the veil of His earthly lowliness as they remembered it, could they discern not only the light of the indwelling glory, but in the very crisis of His self-abasement, and sorrow, and weakness as He hung, desolate and forsaken, on the cross, as He cried, It is finished, and gave up the ghost, as He was borne in the touching helplessness of death to the grave and left therein all this they could see that which was essential to the consummation of His redeeming work. That lowest, darkest step of all was the necessary initial step to His manifest exaltation.

Jesus Christ is not only the Interpretation, He is the Interpreter of the Scriptures, for the Scriptures contain the various efforts of men in different ages and differing degrees of religious development to find God, and Jesus Christ is the solution of this supreme problem of the human spirit. We find in Him to-day the fulfilment of the law and the prophets: we find in Him the explanation of human history; we find in Him the key to all the tragedies of human suffering and shame and sorrow. He is our interpretation of life and death, grief and joy, success and failure. In His light, life grows to us more reasonable, and its mystery more clear. He gives purpose to its least intelligible events, and reveals a meaning in its darkest catastrophes. But what I am asking you to believe is something much more than this. All this might conceivably be granted by men to whom such a knowledge would bring only a certain degree of mental satisfaction. Even if they found in the history of Christs life and work an explanation of the various enigmas that human life presents, they would not necessarily be quickened to a strong and eager spiritual life, nor experience any special personal blessedness. Still the deep fountains of truth and life might be closed to them. For the quickening of the spiritual energies comes from the contact of a living spirit with our own; and the Scriptures become living books to us, helpful, stimulating, inspiring, when they cease to have only an historical interest, and, in the hands of a Living Teacher and Interpreter, become alive with new thought and power for the salvation and inspiration of the men and women of to-day.1 [Note: C. S. Horne.]

Slowly along the rugged pathway walked

Two saddend wayfarers, bent on one quest;

With them another, who had asked to share

Their travel since they left the city walls;

Their converse too intent for speed; and oft,

Where lingerd on the rocks the sunset tints,

They checkd their footsteps, careless of the hour

And waning light and heavy falling dews.

For from the Strangers lips came words that burnd

And lit the altar fuel on their hearts

Consuming fear, and quickening faith at once.

Gods oracles grew luminous as He spoke,

And all along the ages good from ill

And light from darkness sprang as day from night.

We, too,

Are weary travellers on lifes rough path.

And Thou art still unchangeably the same.

Come, Lord, to us, and let us walk with Thee:

Come and unfold the words of heavenly life,

Till our souls burn within us, and the day

Breaks, and the Day-star rises in our hearts.

Yea, Lord, abide with us, rending the veil

Which hides Thee from the loving eye of faith,

Dwell with us to the worlds end evermore,

Until Thou callest us to dwell with Thee.2 [Note: E. H. Bickersteth.]

4. Now it is not suggested that Christ taught these disciples something new about the Scripture. What He gave them was a new interpretation of the old. These travellers were no strangers to the Scripture. They were Jews, and had read deeply in every book of it. When they were little children in their village homes, they had clambered round their fathers knee on Sabbaths, and had listened to the stories of Moses and David and Daniel with the eagerness that our own young folk display. They had studied Jeremiah more intently than any of us, and they had heard it expounded in the synagogue. The Scripture was a familiar book to them. And what did our Lord do when He met with them? He took the book they had studied all their lives. He turned to the pages which they knew so well. He led them down by the old familiar texts. And in the old He showed such a depth of meaning, and in the familiar such a wealth of love, and He so irradiated the prophetic mystery and so illumined its darkness with His light, that not by what was absolutely new, but by the new interpretation of the old, their hearts began to burn within them by the way.

Christ does not startle us with unexpected novelties; He touches with glory what is quite familiar. It is the familiar experiences that He explains. It is the familiar cravings that He satisfies. It is the familiar thoughts which have filled the mind since childhood that He expands into undreamed-of fulness. We have known what sin was since we were at school. Christ meets us and talks about our sinand we learn that sin is more exceedingly sinful than we had ever thought in our most reproachful moments; we learn, too, that He died that we might be forgiven, and that there is pardon for our worst, this very hour. We have known what pain was and we have known what death was, and we have known that there was a heaven and a God; but when Christ meets us as we travel by the way and talks to us of these familiar things, there is such promise and light and love about them all that everything becomes new.1 [Note: G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, 140.]

5. What was the effect of the interpretation? Their hearts burned within them. Was not our heart burning within us? they said. This was the first utterance that broke from their lips in the excitement of the actual discovery. They had been so riveted by His words that they could not think of parting with Him when they reached their destination. He made as though he would go further, but they constrained Him to remain. And then, while joining with them in their simple meal, as He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to themwhether the action recalled what they must have heard, the scene in the upper chamber before His death, or they saw the print of the nailstheir eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished. A gladdening discovery, but it was not this that made their hearts burn within them; it was the spiritual discovery of Himself to the soul before they knew Him thus.

What set their hearts a-burning was not the mere word of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the Christ who was behind the word. It was their immediate contact with that personality, and the mysterious outflow of His life upon them, that stirred them as only personality can do, and moved their nature to its very depths.

When the essayist Hazlitt was a young man at home, his mind was dull and his faculties unawakened. But in one of those charming essays that he calls Wintersloe, he narrates how the poet Coleridge came to see his father, and young Hazlitt walked several miles home with him. Hazlitt tells, in his own eager and eloquent way, all that the walk with Coleridge meant for him. It quickened his intellect, gave him a new world, put a new radiance into the sunset for him, and a new note into the song of every bird. His heart began to burn, and it was not the talk that did it; it was the poet who was behind the talk.1 [Note: G. H. Morrison, The Unlighled Lustre, 141.]

Hath not thy heart within thee burned

At evenings calm and holy hour,

As if its inmost depths discerned

The presence of a loftier power?

Hast thou not heard mid forest glades

While ancient rivers murmured by,

A voice from forth the eternal shades,

That spake a present Deity?

And as, upon the sacred page,

Thine eye in rapt attention turned

Oer records of a holier age,

Hath not thy heart within thee burned?

It was the voice of God, that spake

In silence to thy silent heart;

And bade each worthier thought awake,

And every dream of earth depart.

Voice of our God, O yet be near!

In low, sweet accents, whisper peace;

Direct us on our pathway here;

Then bid in heaven our wanderings cease.1 [Note: S. G. Bulfinch.]

6. Here we have the first recorded instance of emotions kindled in the human soul which since that hour have never ceased. It was the movement of the higher spirit in man, illuminated and quickened by the Eternal Spirit of our Lord Himself. We must not trust to all emotions; they need to be tested by reason, to be confirmed by experience; they need to be examined as to their conformity to the will of God. But emotions, warm feelings in the soul, are a power, which, animating the soul, urging it onward, enable it to endure, and give it power to act. Intellectual conceptions are necessary, but they do not supply force of action, nor are they the kindling powers urging us on in the higher life. Even the conscientious sense of duty, noble gift as it is, grand as it is in its effects, has not the quickening active power, the animating sustaining force of emotions stirred by the Spirit of God, moving the affections. These inspirations, these movings of the Spirit, these burnings of heart, were what the Greek Paganism, in the midst of which the Church grew up, had to reckon with. The Pagan Empire brought all its power, all its cruelty, all the strength of ages of dominion, to bear on these emotions, on these burnings of heart of the weakest and poorest, even of the child. And all failed. It was these emotions, these kindlings of heart, filled with the Spirit of God, that met the Roman Empire in its desire to extinguish the infant Church.

True religion cannot afford to neglect any elements of mans complex nature; and so it finds room for emotion. That glow of the soul with which it should hail the Presence of its Maker and Redeemer is as much His handiwork as the thinking power which apprehends His message or the resolve which enterprises to do His will. Yet religious emotion, like natural fire, is a good servant but a bad master. It is the ruin of real religion when it blazes up into a fanaticism which, in its exaltation of certain states of feeling, proscribes thought, and makes light of duty, and dispenses with means of grace, and passes through some phase of frantic, although disguised self-assertion into some further phase of indifference or despair. But, when kept well in hand, emotion is the warmth and lustre of the souls life. It announces the nearness and the beauty of the King of Truth; it lifts the performance of duty from the level of mechanical obedience to the level of ordered enthusiasm. Often, as in the souls of the two disciples, it is as the brightness of the dawn, which should tell that the Sun of Truth is near.

Lift up your eyes, even now His coming glows;

Where on the skirt of yon heaven-kissing hill

The trees stand motionless

Upon the silvery dawn.

Deep ocean treasures all her gems unseen,

To pave an archway to the Eternal door;

And earth doth rear her flowers

To strew the heavenly road.

We have made great strides forward in every line of accomplishment except that of original, true, and emotional preaching, said the other, as if waking out of a reverie. I agree, said his companion; but emotion in itself is not an art but a gift. The business of the artist is to direct emotion, tone it into a rhythm, and make it effective.1 [Note: F. Grierson, The Invincible Alliance (1913), 49.]

In religion there is, there ever must be, an emotional element. Noble emotion, lofty and purified feeling, is ever the homage paid by human nature to the beauty of Goodness, and the attraction and even entrancing loveliness of Truth. Nature, in her tender and majestic moods of softness or of storm; human nature, in its external fairness of form or of expression, more still in its interior attractiveness of purity or of self-forgettingthese have a power unrivalled in force and persistence of awakening and stimulating the nobler and loftier feelings of the human heart. Sweet to the soul at eventide is the voice of the sweet singer; sweet to a generous heart and an earnest mind the burning word of encouragement, or the supporting glance of affection from a fair face speaking the thought of a soul beautiful and loved and strong. Human naturehuman nature, so sad, so wrecked, so erring, yet so beautiful, with the likeness of a Divine life, and the air of a better country still upon it, despite the Fall,this, above all, will waken the human soul, and send the heart throbbing in waves of noble, therefore of bravely controlled, emotion.

What else is the meaning of the high office of poetry, of painting, of music? By what else do you thrill in romantic literature under the touch of the masters hand? How otherwise, but through this response of feeling, come many of those re-awakings of nobler thoughts and intentions which often fill us with shame at shortcoming, and through sorrow and pity undoubtedly do us good? Naturally, then, when the better vision of a heavenly country, when the fairer vision of Him who is chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely, are presented to the human mind, these will kindle our enthusiasm and fire our feelings. This is not wrongon the contrary, it is right and real, and it may be blessed. Only let us remember that such feelings, indeed, are religious, but they are not Religion; if with them we allow ourselves to be content, we shall make a great mistake. They become dangerous if they are notto borrow a phrase from chemistryprecipitated into conduct, if they do not leave behind them a deposit of more firmly fixed conviction, a residuum of unassailable principle, and a calmer depth of conscientious resolve.1 [Note: W. J. Knox Little, The Light of Life, 125.]

An Open Bible and a Burning Heart

Literature

Allen (G. W.), Wonderful Words and Works, 1.

Burns (J. D.), Memoir and Remains, 399.

Burrell (D. J.), God and the People, 252.

Carter (T. T.), The Spirit of Watchfulness, 134.

Cobern (C. M.), The Stars and the Book, 28.

Fuller (M.), In Terr Pax, 50.

Gregg (D.), Our Best Moods, 9.

Liddon (H. P.), Easter in St. Pauls, 192.

Morrison (G. H.), The Unlighted Lustre, 133.

Mortimer (A. G.), Jesus and the Resurrection, 160.

Nicoll (W. R.), The Garden of Nuts, 123.

Ramage (W.), Sermons, 263.

Robarts (J. H.), Sunday Morning Talks, 104.

Smellie (A.), In the Secret Place, 279.

Temple (W.), Repton School Sermons, 325.

Young (D. T.), The Travels of the Heart, 221.

Christian Age, xxix. 260 (T. de W. Talmage).

Christian World Pulpit, xli. 292 (C. S. Home); lv. 100 (J. C. Lambert).

Churchmans Pulpit: Easter Day and Season, vii. 393 (J. C. Lambert).

Homiletic Review, xix. 356 (G. F. Greene).

Preachers Magazine, xii. 123 (J. T. L. Maggs).

Record of Christian Work, xxix. (1910) 855 (J. A. Hutton).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Did: Psa 39:3, Psa 104:34, Pro 27:9, Pro 27:17, Isa 50:4, Jer 15:16, Jer 20:9, Jer 23:29, Joh 6:63, Heb 4:12

opened: Luk 24:45, Act 17:2, Act 17:3, Act 28:23

Reciprocal: Neh 8:8 – and gave the sense Neh 8:12 – because Neh 8:13 – to understand the words of the law Son 2:5 – Stay Act 2:3 – like 2Ti 3:15 – the holy Rev 17:1 – talked

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

BURNING HEARTS

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?

Luk 24:32

It is surely one of the lessons to be drawn from this narrative of the Self-revelation to Cleopas and his fellow-wayfarer that these fires are not deceptive, but are incentives to advance from the oppressiveness of doubt and uncertainty to an appreciation of the glorious truth. If our natures are burning, is it not because God is inviting us to draw closer to the goal of religious knowledge? Do not let us think that these deeper hopes and sentiments are untrustworthythat they are such stuff as dreams are made of. They are from God, and are His loving discipline and education.

I. Burning hearts!

(a) They are aglow with Divine fire and not with the flames of illusion.

(b) It is not our own wayward imaginations which have kindled them, but the coming nigh to us of Him Who is the Way, the Truth, the Life.

(c) They are the preparation for the fullness of the Gospel.

II. In Christ incarnate, dead, triumphant, all needs find their full and sufficient satisfaction.In the Son of Man we see the true dignity and calling of humanity. No aspiration, no forecast, no vision, can surpass the revelation of human worth which is granted to us in His sacred person. In Him, too, we have an earnest of the future which awaits all of which He is the appointed Head and Crown. In Him all thingsthe things in the heavens and the things upon the earthhave been summed up by the Father, and there is nothing which can be beyond the issues of such a wondrous consummation. In Him not only the individual man but all nature is promised renewal and restoration. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. No interest, no pursuit, no joy, which is capable of receiving consecration, need go unhallowed by such an assurance. Unto the completeness of such assurance may God bring each one of us.

Rev. the Hon. W. E. Bowen.

Illustration

Be near me when my light is low,

When the blood creeps and the nerves prick

And tingle; and the heart is sick,

And all the wheels of Being slow.

Be near me when the sensuous frame

Is rackd with pangs that conquer trust,

And Time, a maniac scattering dust,

And Life, a Fury slinging flame.

Be near me when my faith is dry,

And men the flies of latter spring,

That lay their eggs, and sting and sing,

And weave their petty cells and die.

Be near me when I fade away,

To point the term of human strife,

And on the low dark verge of life

The twilight of eternal day.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

UNRECOGNISED BLESSINGS

I.The difficulty we have in understanding the real importance of many incidents in our lives at the time of their occurrence.

II.It was a question of self-reproach. They were morally and intellectually on fire, and yet it had led to nothing. Ought it not to have led to something?

III.The duty of making an active effort to understand truth when it is presented to us.

IV.Our Lords Presence with His disciples during the forty days after His resurrection was in many ways an anticipation of His Presence in the Church to the end of time.

Rev. Canon Liddon.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

2

Robinson defines the original for burn at this place, “to be greatly moved,” and Thayer gives virtually the same explanation. These disciples turned to each other after Jesus disappeared, and recalled how they had been impressed by the re marks which he made to them by the way; and that was before they realized the identity of the speaker. The whole subject flowed over their minds and filled them with a restlessness that was born of genuine interest. Under such a condition they could not be still, but must go and contact others with the interesting news.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

[Did not our hearts burn within us?] beza saith, “In one copy we read it written, Was not our heart hid? ” Heinsius saith, “It is written hidden; in the best copies.” Why then should it not be so in the best translations too? But this reading favours his interpretation, which amounts to this: “Were we not fools, that we should not know him while he was discoursing with us in the way?” I had rather expound it by some such parallel places as these: “My heart waxed hot within me, and while I was musing the fire burned,” Psa 39:4; “His word was in mine heart as a burning fire,” Jer 20:9. This meaning is, That their hearts were so affected, and grew so warm, that they could hold no longer, but must break silence and utter themselves. So these, ‘Were we not so mightily affected, while he talked with us in the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures, that we were just breaking out into the acknowledgment of him, and ready to have saluted him as our Lord?’

That is a far-fetched conceit in Taanith; “R. Alai Bar Barachiah saith, If two disciples of the wise men journey together, and do not maintain some discourse betwixt themselves concerning the law, they deserve to be burnt; according as it is said, It came to pass, as they still went on and talked, behold a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,” etc. 2 Kings_2.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Luk 24:32. Was not our heart burning within us? Extraordinary and tender emotion is meant; joy, hope, desire or affection, probably of all combined. The implied thought is: Such an effect ought to have made us recognize Him; but it did not.

While he opened. The particular form of His instruction is added. It is a good sign for their inner growth that at this moment it is not the breaking of bread, but the opening of the Scripture which now stands before the eye of their memory (Van Oosterzee).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Luk 24:32-35. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us? This reflection of the disciples, on this affair, is natural and beautiful. It is as if they had said, How strange it is that we should not have discovered him sooner, when we found his discourses have that effect upon us, which was peculiar to his teaching. For did not our very hearts glow within us, with love to God and our Divine Instructer, as well as to the truths which he made known to us by opening the Scriptures? They found the preaching powerful, even when they knew not the preacher; it not only made things of the greatest importance very plain and clear to them, but, together with a divine light, brought a divine warmth into their souls, and kindled therein a holy fire of pious and devout affections: and this they now notice for the confirming of their belief, that it was indeed Jesus himself who had been talking with them all the while. And they rose up the same hour Not being able to conceal such good news, or to defer the publication of that which they believed would give their brethren such joy, as they felt in their own breasts; they therefore, late as it was, rose up from their unfinished meal, that very hour, and made all possible haste to Jerusalem, that they might declare to the other disciples the wonderful story, and give them full assurance of their Lords resurrection. They were, however, in some measure prevented: for, immediately upon their arrival, the apostles, with the women, accosted them with this declaration, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon Before he was seen of the other apostles, (1Co 15:5,) he had, in his wonderful condescension and grace, taken an opportunity on the former part of the day, (though where or in what manner is not recorded,) to show himself to Peter, that he might early relieve his distresses and fears, on account of his having so shamefully denied his Master. The generality of the apostles had given little credit to the reports of the women, supposing that they were occasioned more by imagination than reality. But when a person of Simons capacity and gravity declared that he had seen the Lord, they began to think he was risen indeed. And their belief was not a little confirmed by the arrival of these two disciples, who declared that the Lord had appeared to them also, and gave a circumstantial relation of all that had happened.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Luke probably recorded this conversation to stress the supernatural power and convincing effect of the Scriptures on people when God empowers His Word (cf. Rom 10:17). All disciples need to remember that the Bible is what God uses to solve life’s mysteries. John Wesley also testified that he felt his heart "strangely warmed" at his conversion when he heard the Scriptures expounded.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)