Evening star., 1940-03-24
Member of the Associated Press
Easter

VAIL ooA44e, Vic WOIlO Keeps GdSIeI.
It was on such an afternoon as
todays will be that two disciples of
the Martyred Christ went forth from
the city of Jerusalem toward the
village of Emmaus, "threescore fur
longs" distant. They were sorrowful
men, as well they might be, knowing
their Master dead; and they talked
together of all these things which
had happened" "communed to-
gether and reasoned" as they paced
the dusty road. Millet, had he lived
in that time, might have painted
them. They were proper subjects
for his brush-for they bore upon
their shoulders the weight of the
centuries that we're gone and those
that were yet to be. Small fault in
them, surely, if they believed that
the Vision of Jesus had failed; that
Jesus Himself had been destroyed
and with Him all that He had taught
the multitude to hope.
What the future held, neither
Cleopas nor his companion could
guess. They only understood that
they were bereft of the Guidance
which they had learned to trust A
promise made to them, it was clear,
had been broken by the force of
hostile circumstance Now they
would return to the earth as it had
been before. They would toll, they
would suffer, they would die; and
there would be no rescue from that
fate. Slowly, but with an irresistible
compulsion, it dawned upon their
puzzled minds that they had ceased
to matter. They were at one with
millions of other men who had been
crushed by relentless destiny.
And then, quite suddenly, Jesus
Himself drew near, and went with
them" Their eyes were clouded, SO
that they recognized Him not. Even
when He said to them: What man
ner of communications are these
that ye have one to another, as ye
walk, and are sad?" they were blind
to His glory. Cleopas answered Him:
art thou only stranger in Jeru-
salem. and hast not known the
things which are come to pass there
in these days?" To which He replied
with the question: What things?"
And they explained as best they
could: "Concerning Jesus of Naza-
reth, which was a prophet mighty
in deed and word before God and
all the people; and how the chief
priests and our rulers delivered Him
to be condemned to death, and have
crucified. Him"
1t was to Him (which should have
redeemed Israel" that they spoke,
trembling with their fears. The
Tomb, they insisted, was empty, but
the Saviour was dead. That was the
logic of their bewilderment. What
else could they think? The dust
under their feet confirmed them, yet,
as the evening fell, the stars ap-
peared to contradict their skepti-
.cism. And Jesus patiently "ex-
pounded unto them in all the Scrip
lures the things concerning Him
self" showing them how His story
had been finished from the begin
ming. OF course, they we're i'm
pressed, so much so that they begged
Him to "tarry with them" for the
night. And it came to pass as He
sat at meat with them. He took
bread. and blessed it, and brake, and
gave to them. And their eyes we're
opened, and they knew Him; and He
vanished out of their sight And
they said one to another, Did not
our heart burn within us, while He
talked with us by the way?'"
The world, all it's troubled peoples,
Is on the road to Fnnmaus in 1910.
For those whose faith is strong and
pure, the Great Teacher has no work
to do; for those who are weak and
timid of spirit. He will tell again the
Pledge of Salvation. He was the
.Qiscoverer, the Revealer, of the
.sanctity and the integrity of each
human soul; and in a time of war
His Message is valid with a new and
"a mightier meaning.