The Upper Room Daily Devotional of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Stop, Look, and Share" for Wednesday, 13 April 2016 with Scripture: Luke 24:13 That same day, two of them were going toward a village about seven miles from Yerushalayim called Amma’us, 14 and they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed, Yeshua himself came up and walked along with them, 16 but something kept them from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you talking about with each other as you walk along?” They stopped short, their faces downcast; 18 and one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only person staying in Yerushalayim that doesn’t know the things that have been going on there the last few days?” 19 “What things?” he asked them. They said to him, “The things about Yeshua from Natzeret. He was a prophet and proved it by the things he did and said before God and all the people. 20 Our head cohanim and our leaders handed him over, so that he could be sentenced to death and executed on a stake as a criminal. 21 And we had hoped that he would be the one to liberate Isra’el! Besides all that, today is the third day since these things happened; 22 and this morning, some of the women astounded us. They were at the tomb early 23 and couldn’t find his body, so they came back; but they also reported that they had seen a vision of angels who say he’s alive! 24 Some of our friends went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”
25 He said to them, “Foolish people! So unwilling to put your trust in everything the prophets spoke! 26 Didn’t the Messiah have to die like this before entering his glory?” 27 Then, starting with Moshe and all the prophets, he explained to them the things that can be found throughout the Tanakh concerning himself.
28 They approached the village where they were going. He made as if he were going on farther; 29 but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us, for it’s almost evening, and it’s getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 As he was reclining with them at the table, he took the matzah, made the b’rakhah, broke it and handed it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But he became invisible to them. 32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn inside us as he spoke to us on the road, opening up the Tanakh to us?”
33 They got up at once, returned to Yerushalayim and found the Eleven gathered together with their friends, 34 saying, “It’s true! The Lord has risen! Shim‘on saw him!” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the road and how he had become known to them in the breaking of the matzah.
-------To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that “they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand.”[Mark 4:11-12 (NRSV)]
We were in a hurry to catch the bus. “But stop, Daddy,” said my daughter as she bent down to look at the caterpillar at her feet. She picked it up, marveled at its hairy-looking body, and chuckled at the number of feet. Only after she had carefully placed the caterpillar somewhere safe, where no one would step on it, did we continue on our journey.
My daughter’s curiosity offered me a fresh insight that morning. In today’s reading, Jesus offered the two companions a new understanding. After they spoke with Jesus, they saw things from a new perspective — a divine point of view.
How often do we need others to point things out to us that we cannot see for ourselves? But that’s not the end of the story in Luke 24. Just like my daughter who had to share her discovery of the caterpillar with me, Cleopas and his companion could not keep this discovery to themselves but had to share it.
The Author: Ken Kingston (Buckinghamshire, England)
Thought for the Day: Today I will look for God in nature.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, help us to be open to the new insights you offer us, from wherever and whomever they come. Amen.
Prayer focus: Curious children
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28 They approached the village where they were going. He made as if he were going on farther; 29 but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us, for it’s almost evening, and it’s getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 As he was reclining with them at the table, he took the matzah, made the b’rakhah, broke it and handed it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But he became invisible to them. 32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn inside us as he spoke to us on the road, opening up the Tanakh to us?”
33 They got up at once, returned to Yerushalayim and found the Eleven gathered together with their friends, 34 saying, “It’s true! The Lord has risen! Shim‘on saw him!” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the road and how he had become known to them in the breaking of the matzah.
-------To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that “they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand.”[Mark 4:11-12 (NRSV)]
We were in a hurry to catch the bus. “But stop, Daddy,” said my daughter as she bent down to look at the caterpillar at her feet. She picked it up, marveled at its hairy-looking body, and chuckled at the number of feet. Only after she had carefully placed the caterpillar somewhere safe, where no one would step on it, did we continue on our journey.
My daughter’s curiosity offered me a fresh insight that morning. In today’s reading, Jesus offered the two companions a new understanding. After they spoke with Jesus, they saw things from a new perspective — a divine point of view.
How often do we need others to point things out to us that we cannot see for ourselves? But that’s not the end of the story in Luke 24. Just like my daughter who had to share her discovery of the caterpillar with me, Cleopas and his companion could not keep this discovery to themselves but had to share it.
The Author: Ken Kingston (Buckinghamshire, England)
Thought for the Day: Today I will look for God in nature.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, help us to be open to the new insights you offer us, from wherever and whomever they come. Amen.
Prayer focus: Curious children
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