Two travelers walking a dusty road at evening, heavy with grief, talking about the death of
their hopes. A stranger joins them and begins to speak, and something begins to shift in their chests—a warmth
they can't explain.
Luke 24:32 "They asked each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us
on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?'"
The disciples on the road to Emmaus knew their Bibles. They had memorized more Scripture than most of us
ever will. They had discussed and debated, lived by it and made decisions according to it. They had walked with
Jesus for three years.
And yet they concluded he wasn't the Messiah.
All the information in the world couldn't ignite their hearts. They had data without fire, facts without formation.
The same Scripture that should have unveiled Jesus to them had become a screen hiding him.
Then Jesus walks alongside them. He explains Moses and the Prophets, revealing himself in every page. And
suddenly—fire. Their hearts burn. Their eyes open. The same words they had known for decades become living
flame.
This is what Scripture is for. Not ammunition for arguments. Not a checklist for religious performance. Not a
textbook to master. The Bible exists to lead us to Jesus and to set our hearts ablaze.
"If you approach this book as security cam footage," Chad observed, "or as a file of data that needs to be sifted
and sorted, you're going to miss what it's trying to do."
How do we read differently? The disciples' posture gives us a clue: they invited Jesus to stay. They made room.
They asked him to abide with them. Our hearts catch fire not through more rigorous study alone but through
making room for the living Christ to walk with us through every page.
When has Scripture felt more like data than fire in your life?
What posture of heart might help you read in a way that invites encounter?
Before opening your Bible today, pray: "Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to me. Walk with me
through these words. Set my heart ablaze."
Theological Insight: The Emmaus road story is a new creation narrative in miniature—chaos, divine presence,
word spoken, eyes opened, life transformed. The resurrection of Jesus inaugurates the re-creation of all things,
and we participate in that new creation every time we encounter the living Christ through Scripture and
sacrament.
John 5:39-40; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12