Luke 24:13-35

Watch this Israeli filmmaker walking forward, yet backwards….

This creative illusion is an example of two things:

How what we see can play tricks on us [depending on our conditioning]

Walking forward, even when it’s actually walking backward…is moving.

Look, if any of us are healthy enough to walk—we should walk, and as much as possible. If we know someone who physically cannot walk, we ought to walk with that person, pushing his/her chair or whatever they need to get around. Walking helps us to notice things around us.

Walking is not just a physical act, though—it’s a metaphor for life.
Life is a journey and we walk on that journey.

At times, we journey through harsh storms and incredibly low moments.
Other times on the journey, we walk in joy and gratitude.
Sometimes the journey is confusing and we’re not sure where to walk.
And at times, life can get so heavy and so overwhelming that we decide to stop walking all together.

But there is a story, I think, that can give us some rich perspective about our journey in life.

It’s Luke’s walking to Emmaus story.

This particular account only appears in Luke’s gospel and features two mysterious characters who meet another mysterious character on the road to a town called Emmaus. So where was Emmaus? Most scholars believe it was about 7 ½ miles Northwest of Jerusalem.[1] Two followers of Jesus of Nazareth were on their way there from Jerusalem where they had just celebrated the Passover. Maybe Emmaus was their home?

But who in the heck were these people anyway?

Good question.

Many believe that they were among “the rest” that Luke 24:9 mentions and so they were not part of the eleven remaining disciples. In fact, the only clue we’re given as to their identity is the name of one of them—Cleopas.

Yet, it’s not much of a clue, because Cleopas is not mentioned in the other gospels at all.

So who is the other person? Do we assume that he was a man? If we believe that Cleopas was walking to his home in Emmaus with his companion, was it their home? Maybe they were family. It’s up for grabs, folks, who the other person [male or female] was.

It gets even more interesting if you consider that this New Testament story seems similar to an Old Testament story in Genesis.
Abraham and Sarah, in their walking story, discover three angels in Genesis 18, i.e. the presence of G-d. They, like the two mysterious disciples of Jesus, do not recognize who it is they are with.

Or perhaps it’s better to say that both Abraham and Sarah, and the two disciples had their eyes closed.
And so they couldn’t see what they were walking past or with whom they were walking.

Deep depression can do that to us, right? Confusion, or just being in a hurry, or desperation.

Anxiety, anyone?

Jesus was dead and so was their dream of something changing.
So they couldn’t see any present or future that had hope or promise.
I think they probably dragged their feet.
I think they were not walking forward.

Even when this mysterious stranger is telling them the whole story about what happened before, during, and after the events of the cross at Golgotha—they still didn’t seem to wake up.

You see, like most of us, when we’re really, really down on ourselves and the world, they didn’t hear hope in anyone’s story, really. They could not see it, either. Cleopas’ disappointment and nostalgia is obvious when he tells the “stranger” his side of the story…with a lot of impatience, it seems.

It’s not until they hear this word:

Fools!

That they wake up.

At least, in English, it’s fools.
Perhaps a better translation would be weak.[2]

The two of them wake up a bit when they realize that they are weak.

Not weak because they were sad or frustrated or angry. This is not weakness. They were weak because they had sold their hope and left behind their joy in exchange for nostalgia and misguided expectations.

And yet, then they make it to Emmaus, they invite the stranger into their home and offer great hospitality.

This is when I think the change happened.

Cleopas and his companion could have laughed in the face of the stranger, paid no attention to him, left him alone, and then gone home to try to forget the whole thing.

But they didn’t.
They walked forward with the stranger and not only that–they opened up their home and shared a meal with him.
The stranger shocked them, though, when he sat at the head of the table and took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.

Flashback!

Jesus of Nazareth…he’s back!
Or was he?

Just after their eyes were opened, Jesus was gone again.

Here’s what I like about this story—it is not your typical resurrection appearance, at least how we are conditioned to view resurrection. Often we become so separated from resurrection stories because we feel that they have to be supernatural like something out of comic book or a sci-fi movie.

Sorry–I just cannot resist the “risen Jesus” with peeps pic to illustrate the point.

We feel that we have to have some incredible religious or spiritual experience to “see” Jesus or G-d, and so when we don’t, we stop believing in resurrection.

And then it’s really tempting to journey through life like a robot and never see meaning or hope; to ignore or miss beauty all around us; to keep walking forward when your feet hurt and your head is full of fear and anxiety and you just don’t see anyone walking with you at all.

But here’s the thing—we don’t know who these two disciples were, and I think that’s on purpose.

They could be anyone, of any gender, of any sexual orientation, of any cultural background, of any social level or walk of life.

Jesus or G-d or the Spirit or however you refer to the Divine Presence—this Divine does not appear to people in the same way.
Regardless of what we try to formulate in our doctrines and theologies, the thing is—everyone has a different experience with faith.

The merciful, hopeful thing in this story, at least for me, is that G-d seems to be whatever and wherever people need G-d to be.

Sure, we can try to define G-d and how G-d appears, but come on…

A person suffering from deep depression finds Jesus in a friend who has coffee with him and listens to his story.

Another sees G-d in a child who smiles and laughs with someone who is very sad, and then that sad person breaks down and starts laughing, too.

Somebody else sees Jesus when the rent is due and there’s no money and then someone just decides to help with no strings attached.

The Spirit is seen and heard when a fifteen-year-old stands up against bullies who constantly abuse her gay classmate.

The Creator is present in the decisions of people to choose justice over money, love over convenience, and community over isolation.

You see, walking forward and believing in resurrection does not mean that everything is great and Jesus wipes away all your suffering and problems.

Walking forward is recognizing that suffering is real.

Resurrection is life after death, so…new life rises from the ashes.

When we suffer, that’s not the end of the journey.
When we don’t know where our destination is, we shouldn’t go back.
We should walk forward, and if someone needs help walking, we should walk with her.

Either way, we won’t walk alone.
We’re meant to see that the Divine Presence appears in many ways to many people.

How will your eyes open to that this week?
With whom will you walk?
To whom will you show hospitality?

Journey on.

 

[1] Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Bible Commentary.

[2] Barnes New Testament Notes.