The Journey

Have you ever had the experience of feeling that someone was looking over your shoulder -- or maybe in the room with you when you thought you were alone?  Then you look up or look around and, of course, no one is there.  There is something like this -- only more in our scripture reading from Luke.

This story is especially significant for people like you and me.  The people Peter Marshall called "saints of the rank and file." You see, the two disciples in our scripture reading were not a part of the original 12 apostles... the inner core of Jesus' followers. Yet they are central characters in what may be the most heart warming of all the resurrection accounts.

Why them? How did they get picked for this precious experience?

Here is the first spiritual truth that comes from the story.  The Good News of Jesus Christ is not about who we are, but about who God is.  It does not matter that these two disciples were not a part of the "inner circle" what mattered was that Jesus loved them and they needed his presence. They had been broken hearted and shattered by his death on a cross three days earlier.  We don't even know both their names.   One is called "Cleopas", but the other is simply a person on the road who happened to be a follower of Christ.

How many countless hundreds of thousand of nameless disciples across the ages are unknown to anyone but the Lord? It is so very significant that Jesus cared for each and every person who came to him. Whether they were leaders or followers, rich or the poor, significant or insignificant, he cared.

One of the things the story of the disciples on the Emmaus Road teaches is that Jesus cares for your hopes and your dreams. Everyone who speaks his name in prayer is the object of his affection and devotion.  If we will open our spirits to him, he will join us along the way. He desires to bring healing in those times of heartbreak that are inevitable as long as we are on the journey.

A cloud of disillusionment and despair hung over the two followers of Jesus on the Emmaus Road. The whole scene calls to my mind the character Joe Pfzzzt in the 'Lil Abner comic strip who had a black cloud hanging over his head wherever he went.  It was that bad. By the time they headed out of Jerusalem on their seven mile walk to Emmaus, it was late in the afternoon.

The road was lonely and desolate.  Though you have likely never been to this particular road in a physical sense, perhaps you do know what it is like to travel a lonely and desolate road in a spiritual-emotional sense.

It was still hard for them to believe! Only a week before they had been riding the crest of a wave of enthusiasm. A crowd was singing the praises of the one they believed was Messiah.  The future had never looked brighter.

Today -- Messiah... or whoever he happened to be, was dead. His reputation was enshrouded in shame and his followers were scattered from one end of Palestine to the other. Instead of the Kingdom of God and the long expected triumph of the Christ had come the most horrible defeat. Despair instead of hope had taken hold of their hearts. They were on their way back to Emmaus now... back to the old routines, the "same old, same old..."

Have you ever been on a road like that? Have you had a time when your hopes and dreams were shattered? If so, you know what it is like when heartbreak wrings your very soul. Heartbreak and grief can be exhausting and it colors your world.  I can recall actually wondering if there would ever be a day when I would feel at peace -- to say nothing of feeling joy.

A Stranger Who Cares

Notice now what happens. In the midst of the disciple's bewilderment as they walked along trying to make sense out of tragedy, a stranger overtakes them and begins to talk with them.

They do not recognize their guest...perhaps they are preoccupied with their turmoil... perhaps he chooses to remain hidden from their recognition.  In any case, he begins to help them focus on their pain and disappointment.  They are telling him about the things that have happened and Jesus asks, "What things?"

Now this is a crucial point in the story. The point of deepest despair in our lives can also become the point of healing.

When you lift up your broken heart and maybe even cry out, "Why .... O, God why?" It is then that the presence of the Risen Christ is already beginning to emerge.  It may be that he will remain hidden from your recognition for a time.   But when we "hit the wall" and begin to reach out -- even with our questions, we are facing the stranger on the road! This is a crucial recognition for the life of faith. Crying out to something beyond ourselves -- even if it feels like there is nothing there --  that very act of reaching out is a tap on the shoulder from God.

Jesus, still veiled from their sight spoke to them of how God-intended to reach the world through the tragedy of Calvary. He opened up for them a new understanding of who Messiah really is. Slowly, but with loving certainty, the whole experience began to glow with a deeper meaning.  The sting and shame of the cross gave way to hope. They began to understand.  And that's the operative term.  They began.

Invite Him To Stay

Time passed quickly and soon they were nearing the village of Emmaus. The sun was beginning to sink behind the hills, the evening shadows began to creep into the narrow valleys. The laborers had left the fields and bleating sheep were winding their way back to the security of their sheep pen. The disciples came to their home and urged the stranger to stay...they invited him into their place to share a meal. And pay close attention to what the scripture says here... "He (Jesus) walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, 'stay with us for it is early evening , the day is almost over!"

How crucial when we are in the midst of our tough experiences to invite the stranger in.  That is, to make a place for the presence of Christ in our lives. he will always respond! Jesus enters the home of the two disciples and sits down in the lamplight.   There is a simple meal to share. It was the very natural thing for them to ask him to say grace and as he took the bread in his hands, a miracle of recognition took place. Suddenly he was revealed to them! Perhaps it was the way in which he broke the bread or the old familiar blessing which they must have heard on his lips before, maybe it was the light on his uplifted face or in the dim light they caught a glimpse of the nail prints in his hands... we can not know for sure.

But this one thing we do know. As he took the bread in his wounded hands and broke it, they knew him as Jesus Christ. This was the very same Jesus who had three days before died on a Roman cross.  They hear him cry his last.

They saw that the answer to their broken hearts and shattered dreams was indeed here in the presence of the one who had poured out his life for them on a cross!

The seeming tragedy of crucifixion was transformed into triumph.  It was not after all, a hideous, heartbreaking mistake, but a rich heart-healing revelation of God's power and love! Never again would their hearts be broken beyond repair.  The divine healer had conquered even death.

And so my heart is filled whenever I read this story!

It is It is no accident that we are most likely to reach out to Christ when our hearts are broken... and there is no shame in that.  It is exactly a time like that when Jesus came to these two disciples who were crushed. How it must have lifted their spirits to know that even though they were not a part of the twelve, Jesus cared enough to come to them personally!

Personal Commitment

All of us are standing this moment on the road of our life’s journey. I suspect that most of us have encountered the stranger at some bend in the road -- some experience when we cried out to the heavens for help and hope. I ask you once again today to be very conscious of inviting the stranger who is Christ into the very depths of your life.   The story in Luke makes it clear that we encounter him along the way of our life's journey.  Our paths intersect frequently.  But he enters by invitation only.  The gentle love of God will not violate our personal freedom nor smash down our resistant doors. The invitation is ours to make.

There is a real difference between knowing about the love of Christ and knowing (experiencing) the love of Christ. The disciples on the Emmaus road knew about Jesus before they met him on the road. But it was in their invitation to him to enter and in the breaking of bread that they came to experience who he really was.

The bible's Easter stories are powerful reminders that each of us has a unique journey.   We've seen hat throughout the Easter season.  Cleopas and his companion, Thomas, Mary, Peter -- all of them were on their own particular journey when Christ met them.  So it is with you and me.  Each of us has the wonderful opportunity and the responsibility to make the faith our own.  To invite the stranger into our own journey.

[If You are celebrating Holy Communion]

Perhaps there is no more significant time to reflect on this than in the prayerful moments of Holy Communion to relive once again the time when Christ broke bread for the disciples of the Emmaus Road.  Just as they did, you opportunity to reach out and invite him in.  May he be known to you once again in the breaking of the bread.