In the story of the Emmaus disciples (Luke 24), the disciples are listening to Jesus preach to them all that the Old Testament taught about the Messiah. When He blessed and broke and gave them the bread, they realized this fellow was Jesus. And He disappeared from sight. Then they said, "Whoa. Hey! Yeah. Our heart burned within us as He taught us!" And they skeedaddled back to Jerusalem to tell the others.
Did you notice? When they were listening to Jesus, their eyes and ears and minds and hearts were captivated by HIM. They weren't evaluating their feelings. They weren't thinking about their faith. They paid no attention whatsoever to their response to His preaching ...
because all they cared about was Him.
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This post was very timely for me. My extended family is currently going away on Emmaus Walk Retreats, where the attendees focus on their lives and the lives that they have touched during their life journey. Close family members are supposed to write letters telling the how much they love and appreciate the attendees. The point of the 3-4 day retreat is to shower the participants with feel good experiences, while they study the Emmaus disciples.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a struggle to find appropriate responses to these people when they continue to pressure us to attend future retreats. While I have no problem if someone wants to get away for a few days and feel pampered, it upsets me when it is represented as a religious experience when it's not focused on Christ and what he has done.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom.