Third Sunday of Easter / April 10, 2005

Luke 24:13-35

Rev. Gayle M. Highness

On the Road to Emmaus – Again!

Two companions were walking away from Jerusalem toward Emmaus – away from the place where everything had gone wrong – where their hopes for the future had been dashed. They were sad and disappointed. They were talking it over, trying to make sense of all these “things” when this stranger joined them – this stranger who WE know is Jesus.

“What are you discussing?” he asked.

“Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have taken place there?” they answered with disbelief. “What things?” Jesus asked, as if he didn’t know.

And so the conversation began – at Jesus’ invitation. Jesus knew “what things,” but he let them tell it in their own words, then he retold it according to HIS own Word – the Word revealing the Word!

They didn’t recognize Jesus, but when they thought back on it later, they remembered how their hearts burned within them. At the time, though, they just knew they wanted to spend more time with this man who came alongside them as they were journeying away from Jerusalem. So they invited him to stay, and he did. And finally, when he took the bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them to eat, they recognized Jesus.

That was the big Ah-ha moment – the epiphany moment when their eyes were opened. All of a sudden everything changed. Everything clicked. It all made sense.

Jesus was alive. He had risen from the dead, just as he said – just as all the Scriptures revealed he would, if only they could have understood them fully.

He had opened their ears on the road and now he had opened their eyes. And once that happened, he was gone. It was as if they didn’t need to see him in the flesh anymore. In that Ah-ha moment when they recognized him in the breaking of the bread, they came to know Jesus in a new way that transcended earthly knowledge.

And immediately, they turned around and went back in the other direction – back to Jerusalem – back to the friends with whom they had gone through the whole ordeal. They had to tell this story. When they arrived, they found out they were not the only ones to have seen Jesus. So, together they shared their good news with one another.

Let’s review this story again and this time, keep in mind that we’re told right up front that these two are DISCIPLES – followers of Jesus. And then notice the pattern revealed in the story.

It starts with two disciples walking AWAY sad – away from an experience of confusion, fear and disappointment.

Next, Jesus comes alongside them. First, he just listens. THEN, he explains what is really going on and the disciples LISTEN, but don’t fully UNDERSTAND. However, they do invite Jesus to stay with them, since it was getting DARK.

Then comes the revelation – the turning point when they recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread and then they’re off and running to share the good news.

The revelation has transformed them. They know that their redeemer lives, even though he has disappeared from sight, and they know with 20/20 hindsight that he was there all along. They see EVERYTHING with new eyes.

The story has changed and now they are a PART of it. They are no longer just watchers on the hill, but participants. They are not just talking ABOUT what happened, watching and analyzing from the sidelines, they are LIVING the good news, proclaiming it, rejoicing in it, sharing it with fellow believers.

In our second reading today, when Peter tells the story of Jesus in his Pentecost sermon, the Word he speaks results in CONVERSION among the hearers. There are many wonderful conversion stories in the Scriptures, just as there are many great conversion stories unfolding today. The Emmaus story, however, is not a conversion story. It’s a discipleship story.

This is a story about people like us who are followers of Jesus and who live with the HOPE that Jesus is the savior and redeemer of all things, but who don’t always “get” what God is really doing in us and around us and through us at any given time.

Sometimes we are on the fringes of our faith – walking AWAY from the source and center of our calling – walking AWAY from the Body of believers with whom we are meant to share this life of faith – but still talking, pondering, thinking, analyzing – wrestling with the view of the world we are seeing or experiencing, trying to make sense of things.

We may not know it, but Jesus is with us on this journey. He hears us and gives us room to struggle. He invites the conversation, saying “what things” have happened to you, my child? But then eventually he says, “You are so slow. You just don’t get it. Look here – look what the Scriptures are saying.”

And maybe we’re interested, but still holding back, still not seeing. Then comes the tipping point – it’s getting darker and Jesus is about to let us continue struggling. Do we let him go? Or do we invite him in to stay with us like the disciples on the way to Emmaus?

Do we allow Jesus to open our eyes so that we see him in broken bread and poured out wine – recognizing that by his death he has saved us and we are forgiven and cleansed and united with him and that’s all that really matters?

Do we run to share this good news and hear about how the same thing has happened to our brothers and sisters?

As I look back on my own life, I can see times when I was on that road to Emmaus:

…in college, wrestling with my commitment to Jesus – resisting his call to give him my whole life until finally my eyes were opened to see that nothing else really mattered.

…the years between hearing God’s call to ordained ministry and finally entering seminary

…the years of struggling with a broken marriage trying to fix what I didn’t have the power to fix until finally realizing God could forgive mistakes and bring healing through starting over

Those are some dramatic examples of major forks in the road, but truly, our journeys are filled with briefer, shorter excursions down little Emmaus side roads. Certainly there are times when serving as your pastor is like walking to Emmaus – wondering what is it the Lord is trying to do here, and just what is it I’M supposed to be doing in His service?

As we hear about the disciples on the road to Emmaus we can see that they are flawed and slow and not really with the program. It’s tempting to think, “Gee – that’s not the way a disciple is supposed to be. They are examples of poor discipleship and we should avoid being like them.”

But you know what? It’s NOT a bad thing to be on the Emmaus road. It’s a NORMAL thing because we ARE flawed and slow and blind. We can EXPECT to take those side trips to Emmaus because that is the NATURE of our walk of faith while we are still here on this earth where darkness still abounds.

Praise be to God that JESUS IS WALKING ALONGSIDE US, ready to listen and lead us through. Let us pray:

Dear Jesus, Risen Savior and Son of God:

V Make our ears more attuned to hear your Word;

V Make our eyes sharper to see your presence;

V Make our wills more eager to invite you in;

V And make our hearts quicker to recognize and receive you and understand your will.

May our trips down those Emmaus roads become ever shorter so that, more and more, we know the joy of communing with you and with our brothers and sisters in the faith. Amen