WALKING WITH CHRIST BY FAITH

“And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, JESUS himself drew near, and WENT WITH THEM” – Luke 24:15

Today, we meditate on WALKING WITH CHRIST BY FAITH: “And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them” (Lk. 24:15). This is the only detailed account in the Bible of Jesus’ post-resurrection walk to Emmaus. The women at the empty tomb had testified of His resurrection to His disciples, but “their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them” (v.11).Thereafter, the risen Christ travelled about seven miles from Jerusalem alongside two grieving disciples, who in spite of the women’s testimony, failed to recognise the Lord!

People of the world usually put their trust on “god fathers” to whom they pay allegiance for achievement in life. However, the tune changes when such god-fathers are gone or become powerless. The “god-sons” lose hope and bearing and become disappointed. Cleopas and his companion were in this dilemma as they did not believe the testimony of the empty tomb and Christ’s resurrection. The Lord had said, “I’m with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt.28:20b). Their faith failed to stand on His Words, and the Lord had to seek out these straying disciples for a Refresher course!

The two disciples didn’t know it when Jesus walked with them; not even when He opened the Scriptures to them; but finally did, when He broke bread with them: “Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 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?” (vv.30-32). Walking with the Lord essentially involves communing with Him heart-to-heart: their eyes opened at the communion table!

With Christ, “we WALK by faith, not by sight” (1Cor.5:7). It takes Faith to recognise Him in our daily walk, especially when everything around portray the negative. He’ll show up in the most unexpected places, even in those moments when all hope seems lost. Many Christians easily wander off from the Way because they fail to recognise Jesus in their daily walk: in their anxieties, fears, difficulties and worries. Faith and fear cannot co-exist. When faith is eroded, fear, and despair capture the heart. “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk.9:62). 

mmaus typifies a place of disappointment, fear, and sadness. The walk to Emmaus is in opposite direction to where the truth about the death and glorious resurrection of Jesus is revealed. But for the Messiah’s intervention, it would have been a walk back into the bondage of doubt and darkness. Let’s be reminded in this song, what it means to walk with the Lord:

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word, what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil He doth richly repay; not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross, but is blest if we trust and obey. [Refrain]

But we never can prove the delights of His love until all on the altar we lay; for the favour He shows,
for the joy he bestows, are for them who will trust and obey. [Refrain]

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet, or we'll walk by His side in the way; what He says we will do, where He sends we will go; never fear, only trust and obey. [Refrain]

Beloved, it’s time to re-assess our fellowship with the Lord, and effectively rejig the strength of our faith in His Word.