The Road to Emmaus

Colin Bird

Luke 24: 13-35  “The Road to Emmaus”

The Walk to Emmaus is another familiar story from the New Testament. What starts out as a stroll with a stranger end with a miracle affirming the Resurrection. Before we delve into the story let’s first get our bearings. Emmaus was a village about 11 km southeast of Jerusalem. It was the site of a Jewish military victory, just the kind of victory many had hoped Jesus would deliver. Significantly archaeologists today can’t find the ruins of Emmaus. Back to the time of the crusaders they have searched for Emmaus, but it has vanished without trace. This historical footnote tells us that the destination has no significance. Emmaus has not endured. But Christs returning and enduring presence in the lives of believers is the punchline of the story. Following the crucifixion and death of Jesus, our Gospel lesson from Luke takes us with a couple of disciples travelling out of Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus. Two travellers? Friends perhaps? Brothers, maybe? Husband and wife, possibly? We have no idea. Just Cleopas and whomever. It is interesting that only one of the travellers is named. Perhaps the reason that one remains unidentified is to allow us to insert our own name into the story. The idea of including our own names into the story personalises it for us and lets us live through the events of that walk. Why were they on the road that day? They left Jerusalem on what would become Easter day. The women had already gone to the tomb, found it empty and had returned to the other disciples and reported their encounter with the angels. Remember from earlier in the chapter, Luke tells us that they did not believe the women. So, for these disciples, Jesus was still dead. Thomas declared that unless he saw Jesus for himself and evidenced his wounds, he would not believe that Jesus was alive – and now his body was missing as well, everything they had believed in had been taken away. The Messiah – the Christ – the one they had called “the Son of God” had been arrested and dragged off like a common criminal…. And then summarily executed. They must have wondered how could that have happened to the true Messiah? So, these two left Jerusalem, disappointed, dejected and downtrodden. All they could do was walk and talk and reflect on how badly things had gone. Where were they going? They were leaving Jerusalem. The question becomes, were they going in the right direction? Have you ever gone anywhere just to get away from something. Maybe that’s what’s happening in this story. These disciples have just suffered what was probably the biggest disappointment of their lives. If they were like the others, they had probably given up everything they owned and everything they knew, just to follow Jesus. And now that seemed to have gone up in smoke, so to speak – leaving them empty and wondering what to do next. So, they walked away from what had happened. They just walked away. For us just like them Emmaus is a place where we go when life gets too much for us, the place we go in order to escape. A place where we feel at peace, not threatened. Emmaus isn’t necessarily a place but could be an activity, sometimes a little retail therapy makes us feel better in the short term at least. Emmaus is whatever we do or wherever we go to make ourselves forget the struggles, pain and disappointments of this world. Emmaus…. Where is it for you? It may not be the same every time you need it. It may change depending upon what or how bad your hurt is. We all need to get away from life’s bad news sometimes. Our two disciples talked about the events of the past week as they walked along. Their friend Jesus – his teaching, his healing, the way he seemed to love everyone he met. What about the events of the past week. Was it really a wise decision for him to have come into Jerusalem knowing the authorities were out to get him? Why did he take such a risk that day in the temple, overturning the money changers tables and shouting at the priests about the temple being a den of thieves? If only he had kept a lower profile. If only he had done this, if only he had that. If only… if only. You get some sense of the mood on the road. Despair, defeat, dejection weighed them down. The last thing they expected to see as they ambled along was the risen Jesus. And so, they didn’t see him. Even though they had been with him for some time and could pick him out in a crowd, at that moment, encapsulated in their own thoughts, they were not expecting to see him. They looked but didn’t see. Patiently Jesus walks with them. They set the pace on the road they have chosen. There is no rush. He listens. He wants to know what is important to them, so he asks about what they are discussing. Shocked that this stranger is unaware of the events of the past few days, these disciples begin to share with the stranger how Jesus, whom they hoped would redeem Israel, had been crucified, was dead and buried. But some women were now telling an amazing story about not finding his body in the tomb and seeing angels who claimed Jesus was alive. After letting them unload their grief and confusion, not so patiently Jesus says to them, “foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter his glory? “. Jesus goes on to interpret the scriptures for them and show how the prophets had foretold all that had occurred. When they finally get close to Emmaus, their destination, Cleopas invites the stranger to come and eat with them. And then and there, at the dinner table, it happens. Jesus sits down, takes a loaf of bread, blesses and breaks it, and gives it to them, together in community. Suddenly in an instant they recognise Jesus and in the next moment he vanishes from site. Cleopas and his companion meet a stranger on the road, and his teaching of the Gospel story, complete with an understanding of how it fits in with the Old Testament, sets their hearts on fire. And then when they share the holy eucharist with this stranger they discover that he is the Risen Lord – and they run back to Jerusalem in the dark to share the news with all the other believers. So, what is the moral of this story? Simply this…. It is human to suffer disappointment, pain and setbacks in life. Those things are as unavoidable as tomorrow’s sunrise. And when those things happen, we need an Emmaus through which we can temporarily block out the pain and let the loss sink in before we start to deal with the pain. But….. and this is the real point. We need to lift our downcast eyes from the dust and the stones on the road, so we don’t miss the fact that Jesus is walking next to us. Jesus the risen Lord is always on the road with us. That’s one of the things he has promised us – “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age”. And when we have had enough of walking away from our pain, Jesus is there to rekindle the fire in our hearts, to turn us from looking inward at our self-pity, to looking outward and upward toward the Good News of the Gospel. Earlier I posed the question when our two followers left Jerusalem. Were they going in the right direction? These two had left Jesus in the tomb and were walking away….. Yet there was a story circulating from some credible witnesses who were confronted by angels who told them that Jesus was not dead but had risen. Surely, you would think that they would want to stay and check out this revelation because this was huge. But no they left Jesus in the tomb and headed out on their road to Emmaus in the wrong direction. Fortunately, after sharing the eucharist and seeing Jesus they ran back to Jerusalem leaving Emmaus behind to excitedly share the good news. Perhaps after sharing the Eucharist this morning, we too can run out from here, excited to share the good news. One commentator likened our churches to a tomb. A quiet, peaceful place where we expect and are content to meet Jesus. But then just like those in our story we leave Jesus in the tomb and head out through the doors on our own road to Emmaus never expecting to encounter Jesus. If Jesus’ resurrection story tells us anything, it is that there is hope – even in loss, even in despair, even in death. There is the hope that can only come from the God who sent his son to demonstrate that a life based on love for one another would redeem us. The consequence of Jesus’ life and teaching led him to the cross. The consequence of Jesus death and resurrection bring us, through faith, to life everlasting.
Jesus has Risen! He has risen Indeed! Hallelujah!
​Amen