Luke 24:30-34 -- On Letting Belief Triumph

"And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon."
Luke 24:30-34


This is the end of the story of the road to Emmaus, but also part of the longer story of Christ's resurrection--Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and several other women went to the sepulchre and told the apostles what had happened, but they weren't believed (it wasn't just Thomas who doubted)... so Christ talked with some of them on the road, laying out the scriptures that talked about what had to happen, appearing to Simon as noted above, and likely making more personal appearances to try to get everyone on the same page.

It's interesting that Christ vanishes in this selection, which could be one of the reasons why everyone was afraid and thought he was a ghost in the verses after this... I mean, also that they watched him die, but vanishing has to be a pretty dramatic thing to experience as well, so he let them handle him to prove he was alive, and ate something in front of them as well. It was compassionate and awesome of him to convince all of them individually, but you have to wonder how *he* felt when everyone doubted and everyone was scared.

I think that this applies to our lives as well. How many times does God have to convince us, over and over again, that he is real? Why do we keep turning back and resisting the evidence... because we don't trust those people that saw? Because we block out our own spiritual experiences, doubting after the fact and thinking that we must have made it up, even though at the time we were certain? Because we let the ridicule of the world get to us?

Today, let's trust that God is who he says he is, and who he has been the whole time, even though on our own dark days, it is hard to keep believing. Let's keep a journal and record our spiritual experiences so we can look back on the evidence in hard times. Let's immerse ourselves in the scriptures and read what others saw and felt and knew. Let's pray our hearts out until we feel God's love for us again, and know certainly that he is there, and that he cares. Let's not let the storms and temporary hardships in life ruin our faith, or cause us to doubt God's plan of happiness. Let's allow belief to triumph over doubt, rather than the other way around.