Sometimes it seems that, because Jesus had told the disciples about being raised on the third day, they therefore knew what would happen. But on that first Easter morning the fact that the women reported that the body had gone did not lead the two on the road to Emmaus to conclude that ‘Christ is risen’. Indeed it made matters worse, compounding their anguish about all that has happened to Jesus in the previous few days. It just did not occur to them that Jesus had been raised; in fact they were more worried about being arrested as his followers. As the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were approached by this stranger they might have wondered if he was a spy, but one of them was beyond caring and he began to tell of all the recent events in Jerusalem. And it became clear that their disappointment is because, like many of the Jews they thought that he would be the one person to redeem Israel. Israel was still under Roman oppression and the expectation was that in this Passover week God would intervene again and Jesus would establish God’s Kingdom. After all Jesus had been a great prophet, powerful in word and miraculous deeds.
But now they were walking away from Jerusalem, because Jesus had died at the hands of the oppressors and there wasn’t even a body to show for it! As Frederick Buechner says in his book The Magnificent Defeat; “Emmaus is whatever we do or wherever we go to make ourselves forget that the world holds nothing sacred: that even the wisest and bravest and loveliest decay and die; that even the noblest ideas that men have had – ideas about love and freedom and justice – have always in time been twisted out of shape by selfish men for selfish ends.” I find this statement extremely sad and very true!
The resurrection made the difference! They, like everyone else, had been looking at the Bible story through the wrong set of lenses, seeing it as God’s story not of how he had set them free FROM suffering, but free THROUGH suffering. Jesus uniquely bore upon himself this suffering as Israel’s representative. The whole story from Genesis to Chronicles points towards this, and the execution of Jesus was not disproof, but proof, vindication, that he was God’s Messiah. God undoes the evil; in weakness and suffering he releases the world and brings it to freedom. The two disciples on their way to Emmaus did not recognise the story. We will only get it and have our hearts opened when we hear the right rendering of the way the world is. It is our story too in that we share in His sufferings and then enter glory. We will recognise Jesus also when we stay faithful to the way the story is communicated to the church.
On arriving in Emmaus they invited Jesus to stay whereupon he assumed the role of host. In contrast to Genesis 3 where eating the fruit opened the eyes of Adam and Eve and brought to the shame, death, decay and futility, here we have another meal where a couple, on eating with Jesus, discover that the curse has been broken, death has been defeated and the God’s new world has broken in. It is the Great Reversal, not shame but dignity, because we are loved by the living God.
Through the Word and the Sacrament Jesus is risen in His Church – that’s why Sundays are so important. Here we catch a glimpse of the world to come, our hearts are warmed, we are clean again and we can hope again. This is the Risen Jesus Christ and we can take this resurrection power to a dying world. Jesus has led God’s people out of slavery, and now invites them to accompany him on the new journey to the Promised Land.
You see these two men did not know when they left Jerusalem that they were to return and in a sense these two journeys were the only things they had control over. They could not control the meeting with Jesus on the way to Emmaus, they could not control the fact they did not recognise Him, they could not control that they DID recognise Him and they could not control Jesus’ disappearance after the meal. They could control their going back to Jerusalem and what a contrast in those two trips. A slow, sad, hopeless trip from Jerusalem to Emmaus. A quick, joyful, hopeful trip from Emmaus to Jerusalem. They came back with their ‘happy feet’.
All of us will experience our own ‘road to Emmaus’. There will come a time in our life when we will have a personal encounter with our Saviour. Right now we might still be too preoccupied with making our first million, raising a family, looking for a job, Caring for someone, or struggling up the corporate ladder, but sooner or later, we will eventually meet up with our Lord, like Cleopas and the other disciple, or more dramatically, like St. Paul’s encounter with Jesus on his way to Damascus. Jesus just bides His time, but He knows that somewhere along the way in our journey through this earthly existence, we will discover our true destination, and He will be there to offer His assistance. After all, He is the Way, all His promises are true, and in the Holy Communion, which we will all partake in, in a little while, He is the Source of eternal life.
My journey to ‘Emmaus’ ended on the evening of Easter Sunday in 1983 at St. Mary’s Church, when the guest speaker invited the congregation there to rededicate themselves or make a commitment to Jesus. He talked about God love for everyone and in the quietness of the silence I heard the words as if someone was sitting next to me, but nobody was, ‘that means you too Kim’.
And why did Jesus appear to the two men on the road? Because he knew they needed to hear what we all need to hear when we feel crushed by disappointment. We need to hear that God is in control. We need to be reminded that it is not all over until he says it is. We need to believe that life’s tragedies and disappointments are not sufficient reasons to bail out but to sit tight. It was Corrie ten Boom who as a Christian spent much of her youth in Ravensbruk concentration camp who said, ‘When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.’
And perhaps, like these two loving disciples of Jesus that is where you find yourself at the moment, in the middle of a dark tunnel. If so then remember that Jesus tells the story of God’s plan to let his followers know that the engineer still controls the train. This story is God’s story and our story. It is a story of divine love, searching for and seeking out the lost. It is the story of sheep wandering and the shepherd gathering. It is the story of betrayal and rebellion and God’s faithfulness and offer of amnesty. It is the story of death and the gift of life. Our own mini resurrections. Read the story and you will discover that you are not the first person to weep and will not be the first person to be helped.
Do you feel lonely and abandoned? Then read of Ruth and God’s provision.
Do you feel frightened? Then read of Daniel and his deliverance.
Do you feel betrayed? Then read of Joseph and his offer of forgiveness.
These were ordinary people like you and me, caught up in the great story of God’s salvation.
And when you realise that, the most natural thing you want to do is to tell others about it too, which is exactly what happens-v 33 to 35, ‘They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.’
Who are you going to tell?
Questions
1. Suppose you had been in the room to hear the first news of Jesus ‘resurrection’. Would you have believed it? What makes you believe it now?
2. The disciples didn’t recognise Jesus walking with them. Who or what kept them from recognising Jesus? And what stops us from seeing Jesus in the difficult situations we find ourselves in?
3. We believe that the Messiah, Jesus, which the ancient prophets spoke of, has already come; how then do you explain the present state of the world?
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