The beauty of Easter is never past

With Easter just past — only the beauty of Easter is never past — there's a later-in-the-day story recorded in the Bible that doesn't usually get a lot of hype.

Most familiar is the dawn excitement of the women encountering an angel at the tomb saying of Jesus, “He is not here; but He has risen” — and the group then dashing for the disciples to share this momentous pronouncement. The men didn't think much of their news and it “appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.”

A couple of them followed up — running to the tomb, confirming there were only empty linen wrappings, and left “marveling at what had happened.” They were like anybody else, slow to believe something seemingly impossible, needing to check it out — and undone by a reality they could not explain.

That afternoon two of Jesus' followers were walking a country road headed for a village called Emmaus (E-may-us) — seven miles from Jerusalem. They could not stop talking about the events of the weekend. What a blow — the one who was “mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people” had ended up dead.

In this moment Jesus joined them and wanted to know what had them in such deep conversation. Perhaps they were too distracted and sorrowful — they did not realize who He was. They were surprised He didn't seem to know what had happened in Jerusalem — and proceeded to inform Him.

He answered, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe …” The whole rest of the journey Jesus traveled with them and opened “the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” — going back 1,500 years to Moses. A written record familiar to these men.

They reached Emmaus and the friends invited Jesus to stay as it was nearing evening. It was at the dinner table — when He blessed and broke the bread — that “their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.”

The biblical story says Jesus “vanished from their sight.” The astonished pair exclaimed, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” They were so pumped they “got up that very hour” and walked the seven miles back to Jerusalem. There they announced to the disciples, and others who were gathered, the same thing the women had been saying all day. “The Lord has really risen …"

The account of the journey to Emmaus has always drawn me. When I can, I try to walk Easter afternoon — and feel close to the story. What that conversation must have been.

There are so many conversations swirling about the world. Which do I choose to hear? Which to believe? Which to count on? Which to follow? It's a vital choice — because the conversation contains my life.

For these two men who had thought all was lost, what was shown to them — what they believed — caused them to reverse direction. Their reason for traveling to Emmaus all but forgotten.

They had a jubilant message to deliver that could not wait. A life-changing conversation for any who would enter in. Hope is alive. Christ is risen.