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 risen Jesus has walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and they only recognize him when he breaks bread with them. But before that recognition, they felt something: their hearts burning.
Luke suggests that the Holy Spirit's work sometimes precedes explicit understanding. You feel something. Your heart responds. You sense alive-ness in conversation or Scripture or music. And only later do you understand why. I love this because it honors intuition and feeling as legitimate forms of knowing. I've had moments where something in me said yes, and I didn't have words for why. I trusted the burning in my chest. Sometimes recognition comes later. Sometimes not at all. But the burning itself is real presence. That's enough.
No comments yet. Be the first.