Article January 6, 1917 Issue

The Emmaus Road

CHESTER A. NEWHALL

"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" These words from the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke's gospel bring to us the picture of a quiet country road and of two men walking sorrowfully along, reasoning together over some subject seemingly hard to be explained, and of one who, coming upon them thus and noting their sad demeanor, asks the cause. We picture their surprise as they say, "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? ... But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." We seem to hear Master's voice as, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets," he expounds unto them "in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

We follow them as they walk to the town of Emmaus, where the two men urge their unknown companion to sup with them. He complies with their request, and on breaking the bread, blesses it. Their eyes are then opened to know him; and as they perceive him, he passes from their sight. Then they in gladness speak the questioning words of wonder quoted above.

What a lesson this picture brings to us when viewed in the light of Christian Science. How many of us have found ourselves on this same road, looking only at the evidence of the material senses, discouraged, and perhaps saying, as the two men did, that we had hoped for this or that, and had felt that all our work was wasted and of no avail; and as we went along, perhaps nursing our sorrow, Truth came to us and turned our thought from the temporal and unreal, revealing the eternal and real verities of being. As we continued to take in the truth and apply it to our own experience, we found our false beliefs going, and realized that we were communing with the ever present Christ, Truth. How grateful we were that we had been met in the way, and that this truth made our hearts burn within us,—filled our consciousness with the presence of infinite Love, healing our sorrow and giving great peace.

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