Thursday: Day 32

While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?”  Luke 24:15-17a

              The story is familiar. Two little known disciples – Cleopas and an unnamed disciple – are leaving Jerusalem and walking on the road to Emmaus. They had just been in Jerusalem where they had witnessed the horror of the crucifixion of Jesus. They had just had the most terrible experience of their lives because they had put their hopes in Jesus as the savior of the world. But now he had been crucified and was dead. They had just been in Jerusalem, which had now become a place, and an event, and a time that shook them to the core and made them lose their sense of direction.

  

            And they were on their way to Emmaus, just 7 miles from Jerusalem. Emmaus was the place they were going to escape; to go back to the way their lives were before they met Jesus. Frederick Buechner describes what “Emmaus” stands for. He writes, “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….Emmaus is where we go, where these two went, to try to forget about Jesus and the great failure of his life.”

    

            Jerusalem. A place of tragedy and loss. And Emmaus. A place of escape and denial. Most of us have both of those “places” in our lives. Loss. Disappointment. Unmet expectations. And escape. Loneliness. Isolation. That’s what the disciples were facing. Maybe you’ve faced that in your past. Perhaps you’re facing it now.

  

            But Jesus walks with them on their escape to Emmaus. He joined them as they were escaping. He asked what they were discussing on their way. He joined them on their journey.

  

            Frederick Buechner again wrote, “In other words, it is precisely at deep and dark times that Jesus is apt to come; into the very midst of life at its most real and inescapable moments. Not in a blaze of earthly light, nor in the midst of a sermon, not in the throes of some kind of religious daydream, but….at supper time, or walking along a road….Jesus never approaches on high, but always in the midst, in the midst of people, in the midst of real life, and in the midst of the questions that real life asks.”

   

            The two disciples had a companion on their journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And thank God, that you do, too.

    

Questions to Ponder:

• · Is there a “Jerusalem” in your life; a place or time or event in which you experienced hurt or pain that shook the foundations of your life? What was it like?
•   · Is there an “Emmaus” in your life; a place you go to escape, or something you do when you’ve lost your sense of direction?
•  · While you travel from your Jerusalem to your Emmaus, do you experience Jesus walking with you? Why or why not?

   

Prayer for Today: Precious Lord, gentle Jesus; life sometimes just gets really difficult, and sometimes, Lord, we just lose our sense of direction. At those times, be with us. Help us know that you are there for us. And help each one of us experience your presence with us, in the midst of whatever joys or sorrows that we are experiencing. In the Holy and Present name of Jesus. Amen.

"I am new."  On your journey from your Jerusalem to your Emmaus remember that the One who is making everything new doesn't see me the way that I do.  I am new.  I am new.