Down The Road To Emmaus
I have often traveled on the road to Emmaus. Saddened and downtrodden by events in this world and in my life. I think that a change of scenery might do me some good so I start down the road to Emmaus. And, behold, I go, sometimes alone and sometimes with a fellow traveler. And as I walk I talk to myself or my companion about all these things which have happened to me and my people.
Today it came to pass, that, while I was in this communion with myself, YashaYah himself drew near, and went with me. But my eyes being filled with tears and sorrows were such that they did not know him. And he said to me, What manner of communications are these that you have, as you walk, and are sad?
I said to him, brother, Are you a stranger in this country, and do not know the things that are going on here in these days?
He asked me, What things? I answered him, Concerning how everything is lost to us. We have no material wealth, no land, no language, no nation and very little memory of who we are or where we come from. Do you not know that we are shot down in the streets and hanged and no man does us justice? Did you not hear that we had one person our Massayah YashaYah, who loved us and gave us food and healed our sickness of body, mind and heart, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before Yahweh and all the people: and how the chief priests and those who rule over us delivered him to be condemned to death, and had beaten him mercilessly and hanged him from a tree?
But we trusted that he was the Massayah who should have redeemed Yasharahlayim: and beside all this, to this day those who have done these things to the best of us continue in doing them to the least of us. How can we live in the body when the head is cut off?
Yea, and certain men and women also of our own people make us astonished, when they lead us to cast away our morality and join in the debauchery and materialism of the world. Saying, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” (Isaiah 22:13) Surely our people are dead.
And yet some say that Yasharahlayim, these dead people, are alive. They say that they have seen a vision of angels, which said that YashaYah and Yasharahlayim are alive.
Then YashaYah said, Is it not written that such things will happen in this world?
Yes brother, I answered, and were my heart a stone I could bear them. But as my heart is flesh and blood I must weep and walk because I am full of sadness at these events.
Were you not taught the basics of this world that all flesh and blood things begin and end? YashaYah asked. Do you know that love is not flesh and blood. Love is the manifestation of Yahweh in you? Do you feel the love that is in you right now?
Yes, I answered. I certainly do. It is there at the source of my pain. So greatly did I rejoice in the company I kept in the presence of the MassaYah, that now I can not gather the strength to continue on without it.
YashaYah asked, Did your Massayah prepare you so poorly for his death? Did he not instruct you to continue on loving others and keeping the commandments? O why then are you so slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken?
Ought not the Massayah to have suffered these things, to glorify Yahweh? Was it not written in Zachariah 13, Mark 14, and Matthew 26 that the shepherd would be smitten and the flock scattered? Did not the 22 Psalm, Matthew 27, and Mark 15 inform you of the current condition of the people who, like you, cry out, because they feel forsaken by Yahweh, having lost their way and their land having been divided and lots cast for it?
And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he expounded on them and in all the scriptures including Deuteronomy 28, and the things concerning himself.
And as we came close to Emmaus he looked as if he would have gone further. But I asked him to Abide with me: for it was toward evening, and the day was far spent. And he came in to tarry with me.
And as he sat at meat with me, he said “You must be about your work now. Go give food to the hungry, heal the people of their sickness, of body, and heart and mind. The Holy Spirit is alive in you. That love that is Yahweh and was in Massayah is now alive in you. All the works of Massayah are now your works. Stay connected to that love which is Yahweh and do according to the way you are instructed LOVE YAHWEH YOUR POWER, WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL (MIND), AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH. And LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. Then YashaYah took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to me.
My tears dried up and my eyes were opened, and I knew it was him! And he vanished out of the sight of my eyes.
And I ate my blessed bread of this entire communion for it gives me new strength. And I say to all who would listen. “My heart burned within me, while he talked with me in the way, and while he opened to me the scriptures?”
And in this hour I rise up, and return to the world, and to find those others who love Yahweh and gather them together, and those that are with them,
Saying, “The Massayah is risen indeed, and has appeared within the hearts of those who love Yahweh. And we must tell what things are done in the way, and how he is known of us in communion and in the breaking of bread one with another. Blessed are we who have the love that is Yahweh within us.”