Heart Burn

As we get older many of us experience that burning sensation in our chest known as heartburn. It is usually attributed to factors such as too much stress or too much spicy foods. It may last for a few minutes or for a few hours. Usually it subsides with an antacid or just some rest. I can share with you from personal experience that heartburn is not a pleasant episode.

I was reading in Luke's Gospel the other day and discovered some men who also experienced a heartburn situation. However, the cause of theirs was not stress nor spicy foods. And the remedy for their heartburn was not an antacid or rest. You will find their story in Luke 24.

Two men - one named Cleopas, the other unnamed - were returning to the little village of Emmaus on Easter Sunday. Yes, they had heard the news that Jesus had risen from the dead, but they had not accepted this report shared by an excited group of women. Somehow it just didn't make sense. They all knew that Jesus had died. Shoot, everyone in Jerusalem...in fact, everyone in Judea knew that for a fact. Mysterious things, unaccountable things had happened when he died. But the fact that Jesus was dead no one could deny.

As they traveled that dusty roadway, suddenly they were joined by another. They did not know who he was, but it was obvious by his questions that he was relatively new in town. He inquired as to why they were so "down in the dumps." So, they shared the whole story. Then this stranger began one of the most insightful monologues the world had every heard. He shared with them, using Old Testament Scriptures from Genesis through Zechariah, exactly what had been prophesied concerning Jesus. These two men had no idea who the teacher was, but they were riveted by the lecture, so much that they experienced heartburn (read verse 32).

Friends, when was the last time that the Word of God so moved you that it caused your heart to burn with excitement? When was the last time you read a passage and all you could do in response was to say "Wow!"? When was the last time you were riveted by a passage of Scripture and sat immobilized because of it? Those are moments of real heart burn. And the only remedy is to share what you have received with another, just like these two disciples did by running back into town to share the good news. Perhaps it is time that we all experience a little heart burning for the Word of God.