"That same day two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus,...as they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them...He asked them, "What are you discussing so intently as you walk along."
Luke 24:13-17
There is no walk with Jesus without talking to Jesus. Talk about walk the walk and talk the talk all you want, but without talking to Jesus you are on a blind man's journey. Only Jesus can make sense out of the senseless, give hope to the hopeless and turn the impossible into the HIMpossible.
Jesus invited these two discouraged disciples to stop talking about Him, and to start talking to Him. There is a huge difference. Talking about Jesus ignores His Presence, and magnifies the crisis. Talking to Jesus embraces His Presence and releases the crisis to Him. No matter what the crisis is, it always shrinks in His hands.
The empty tomb has meaning, only if our hearts of full of Jesus. Talking about the empty tomb without talking to Jesus robs us of a sense of His Presence. He is here. He is listening. He knows the subject under discussion, and He hears the intensity of the anguish of every human heart. He still asks the question, "What are you talking about?" His Spirit still prompts the human heart to stop talking about Jesus, and to start talking to Him.
Every Easter people rush to the empty tomb and still miss Jesus nine ways from Dallas. For those in the north, that is a big miss. Easter Egg Hunts, Bunny photo ops, new clothes, family dinners, overblown pageants, well-rehearsed concerts, massive mail outs, and multiple services all provide opportunities for an encounter with Jesus. The problem is that after all the Easter excess, the question of Jesus has gone begging. "What are you talking about?" A great deal was done for Him and said about Him, but not much was said to Him.
When these two folks on the road to Emmaus encountered Jesus , they missed him. People still do. More than that, they were annoyed by Him. People still are. Jesus interrupted their conversation, and when He did, one of them gave Him an earful of Aramaic angst.
"You must be the only one in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days."
The next two words will turn a talker into a walker. The answer to the question forces the talker to turn away from the problem and to turn and face Jesus.
" 'What things?,' Jesus asked."
Luke 24:19
What happened next was a spewing out of all the pain of the past tense. They had been eye-witnesses to what looked like the worst thing that man could do to another human being. They could not see God's hand at work in it. Sometimes God wraps up His greatest gifts in some of the scariest packaging. Receive them.
Talking to Jesus began the healing process, by taking the pain of the past and moving it into the present tense. Prayer is a matter of talking to Jesus, and allowing Him time to make sense out of whatever tense is filling your life with tension. Sometimes it is the pain of the past, the intimidation of the present or the fear of the future. Prayer covers them all, and places them all in the hands of Jesus.
NOTE TO SELF: This Easter, don't miss Jesus. His tomb is empty, but let your heart can be full of Him. When Jesus asks you, "What things?" Like the old song says, "Tell it to Jesus."
TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!