The Road to Emmaus
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, we find two men walking on the road to Emmaus, a small town about seven miles outside of Jerusalem. They were talking about current events, when a stranger approached them. The stranger began to walk and talk with them. WE know that the stranger was Jesus, but they did not recognize him. He began to teach them about scripture and prophetic teachings. This was amazing to them. It was attracting to them. It is what they longed to hear. Their hearts "burned within them" as He spoke to them on the way.
It began to get
dark and they invited him to stay and eat with them. It was not until
he sat down with them to eat, thanked God for their meal, broke the
bread and gave it to them that they recognized him. "With that there
eyes were opened and they recognized him.." Luke 24,32.
Upon reflecting on this story and we see how it relates to us today.
We are all on a journey of life. Our journey can be just as confusing
as the journey of the two men on the road to Emmaus. We live in a
confusing world full of secular temptations. It is at times hard to
recognize where Jesus is at on our journey. The Walk to Emmaus has
become a primary symbol of the Christian Faith Journey.
The site where Jesus broke bread with these disciples and revealed Himself is marked by the ruins of this building at Emmaus:
Emmaus isn't called Emmaus anymore. It's called Canada Park. The Romans called the village Nicopolis. The Palestinians called it Imwas - until 1967.
Emmaus is located in the Latrun area of the West Bank - supposedly within the border of Palestinian lands, but controlled by the Israelis. The area used to be a buffer zone separating the Israeli and Arab forces in the aftermath of the 1948 war. Immediately following the 1967 war, Israeli forces completely destroyed three villages, including Imwas (Emmaus), and evicted the residents. Imwas itself was bulldozed under, and in 1976, a recreational area called Canada Park was established on the site by the Jewish National Fund, a Canadian fund-raising group.
Photos of Emmaus before its destruction in 1967:
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