Bible Stories for the Young
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The same day the disciples discovered Jesus was no longer in the tomb, two of those disciples left to go to a town called Emmaus. As these two friends were walk, walk, walking, they were also talk, talk, talking about all the things that had happened. Just then, a stranger came up behind them and began to walk along with them.
The man said to them gently, “Whatcha talking about so seriously?”
The two friends looked surprised. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him sadly, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what has happened the last few days.”
The stranger asked, “What things? Tell me.”
The two friends answered Him, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth! His powerful miracles and words convinced us all that He was a prophet; but our religious leaders handed Him over to be killed. We had hoped that He was the Shining Rescuer, the Messiah. Today is the third day since He died, and some women who loved Him too amazed us! They were at the tomb early this morning, and Jesus’ body wasn’t there! They told us they had seen some angels who said Jesus was alive! So some of the men went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said. But they didn’t see Jesus…”
The stranger said to them, “You people are so sloooow to believe what all the prophets in the past have said! Didn’t the prophets make it clear that all of this would happen?”
Then the stranger started explaining things to them, starting all the way back with Moses. He started piecing together all the scriptures that talked about the Shining Rescuer—fitting the scriptures together like a beautiful puzzle!
“Remember how it was told that one day someone would come who would crush satan’s head? Remember how God told Abraham that all the nations of the world would be blessed through one of his children? Remember how Isaiah wrote that a young maiden without a man would have a baby boy named Immanuel, God with us? And didn’t Isaiah also say that the Shining Rescuer would come but that people would miss him? That He would be treated cruelly and hurt badly by others, but that He would be like a quiet lamb and not whine, or cry out?”
The stranger smiled and winked, “Does any of THAT sound familiar?”
Cleopas and his friend nodded eagerly. They DID remember and their hearts were starting to feel a familiar feeling.
As the men listened to the stranger, they didn’t feel sad anymore. In fact, they didn’t feel hot from the sun or tired from the walk, walk, walking. Their hearts felt different now. Their hearts were thump, thump, thumping faster and faster. Their hearts were lighting up!
That seven-mile-long walk went by so fast that they didn’t even want it to end! When they reached the village, the stranger acted like He was going to keep walking on past the village, but they wanted to keep being with Him!
So the two friends begged Him, “Please, please, stay with us; it’s going to be dark soon anyway. Please!” So He went in the house to stay with them.
When the not-so-strange stranger sat down with them at the table to eat, He took the bread, blessed it and broke it. Then with a kind smile, He gave them each some.
Ahhhhh!! Suddenly as He broke that bread, God opened their Heaven-Eyes, and they could see that this was no stranger! It was Jesus!
Just then… Poof! Jesus disappeared.
The two friends began to laugh together with happy tears rolling down their cheeks. “Yes!!! It all makes sense now! Didn’t our hearts burn inside of us as we walked along the road listening to Him explain the Scriptures? A Hope for tomorrow. A reason to live. A reason to change. The world makes sense when Jesus speaks! Who else could make our hearts light up inside us like that!? This. Is. The Guy! We have to go back and tell the other disciples!”
So that same hour, they packed up and headed back to Jerusalem — in the dark! But, this time, they didn’t just walk — they walked, skipped, danced, and sometimes even RAN!
