Third Sunday of Easter
It was the way he broke the bread
‘When
he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began
to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he
disappeared from their sight. They asked each other “Were not our hearts
burning within us while he talk with us on the road and opened the Scriptures
to us”.’
Luke
24.30-32
How
often do we read certain Bible passages, stories or parables and they have left
us unmoved, bewildered or none-the-wiser? Sometimes familiarity does its best
to breed indifference rather than contempt. Then, in an unguarded moment, the
scales fall from our eyes and there is revelation that had not occurred to us
before. Whether in quiet contemplation, at a study group, in the middle of a
sermon or while reading a Bible commentary or devotional work, our hearts are
burning with excitement or ‘strangely warmed’ as John Wesley would have
attested.
Fresh
truth comes from old pages and we are set on fire. We often forget that careful
study of the Bible is supposed to bring together the emotion of our hearts and
the reason of our heads in understanding and practical application. But this
will only happen when we stop thinking in the way that our tradition and
culture have taught us and learn to look at the Bible again in the way that God
has set out for us. When we see the Old Testament through the lens of New
Testament revelation that points to Jesus as fulfilment of the entire sweep of
God’s story.
When
we grasp that, like the two on the road to Emmaus, we will find our hearts
burning too.
O
thou who this mysterious bread
didst in Emmaus break,
return, herewith our souls to feed,
and to thy followers speak.
didst in Emmaus break,
return, herewith our souls to feed,
and to thy followers speak.
Unseal
the volume of thy grace,
apply the gospel word,
open our eyes to see thy face,
our hearts to know the Lord.
apply the gospel word,
open our eyes to see thy face,
our hearts to know the Lord.
Of
thee communing still, we mourn
till thou the veil remove;
talk with us, and our hearts shall burn
with flames of fervent love.
till thou the veil remove;
talk with us, and our hearts shall burn
with flames of fervent love.
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
He
is risen indeed. Hallelujah!
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