The Road to Emmaus 2026

 I have to admit right off that this is one of my favorite Gospel stories.  I identify with it, I suspect you do, and I believe that church has a lesson to learn here also.  So forgive me if I have brought it up in sermons, Bible studies, and in newsletter reflections.  And yet every time I encounter the road to Emmaus I find something – some insight – that I had not seen before.

Emmaus is seven miles from Jerusalem….. – 22 minutes by car.  But these guys were not driving.  They were walking - and probably slowly - as their world had just fallen apart.  They were in the midst of despair, not knowing to whom to where or to what they might turn.  How long is the road of broken dreams...

Two Israelites, one named Cleopas and the other … was he or she a friend? Wife? Father/mother?  We don’t know…  We do know that they were walking alone, having little purpose left.  From the sound of it, I would say that they were headed back home.  The euphoria was gone, the  revolution had been quelled, there was nothing left to do, but to trash the signs, post the pictures on Facebook, go back home and get back to work.

And then a man approaches and walks with them.  They have no idea who he is.  As they walk he asks them about their conversation and they sort of freeze.  First of all they did not see him coming and second of all they could not be sure if he was one of them or one of the other guys.  Is talking to this stranger going to identify us with the guy they just executed?  Kind of like how much can I post on FB without getting trolled by the guys in the other opinion camp.  All of this and more had to be swirling in their minds.  They were staring deeply into God’s eyes and yet not knowing that it was God. 

As Jesus approached Luke tells us they did not recognize him.  Have you ever encountered one of those moments when someone comes up to you and there is something familiar about the person, but not for nothing you have no idea who it is or where you met him or her.  It happens to me a lot and it seems to be happening more often, but that’s another story.  Or have you ever been in a situation where something unexpected happens and you are just not sure what has happened to you.  When your perspective on life is challenged by some stranger - and you know that you are standing at a point of intersection – do I listen to God speaking to my heart or do I run with the herd – hearing only the voice of a broken world.

Once Cleopus and his buddy recover they seem incredulous.   They almost seem to mock the stranger..  “Are you the only clueless person around.  Have you been living in a barn?  Don’t you know that the one person who had given us hope and energy has been executed.  Those arrogant, two-timing temple (expletive deleted) temple leaders deleted ratted him out and turned him over to the Romans – who murdered him in plain sight.  Jesus doesn’t chide or become defensive – he simply tells them about who they are, how they are loved and cared for by God, and what God has done to intervene in their lives.  Then he moves away as if to continue on without them.  And that is the first message that I think this story holds for us.  Jesus walks away from their rant without attacking.  God’s love for us does not hold us hostage – rather God invites us into the surety of Grace and promises us that we are never alone on our journey if we choose to walk with Jesus.

But these two travelers want to know more and so they ask Jesus to stay.  And then at Table Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives the bread and they become aware of God’s presence with them.  And that’s the second message here…  It is in the breaking of the bread, the sharing of gifts, the welcome of the Table that God is made known to us.  They have come to understanding, to knowing and the physical manifestation is no longer necessary for them to hold onto their faith.  God has offered life, they have accepted, and the awareness of their own burning desire for God overwhelms them.  Jesus is no longer physically in their presence, but the burning in their hearts remains.

And the third for me…  It is that same burning desire that gives voice to Peter as he speaks to the Israelites in Jerusalem.  His passion is not rooted in anger, or fear, of a need for revenge or condemnation.  Peter’s passion comes from his own experience of having been forgiven by God for his betrayal of his friend and teacher.  Peter just like the rabbi in my newsletter story, knows what it means to have raw human emotions of hatred, terror, and guilt swirl about in his heart and he knows intimately the healing power of God’s love.  And he wants desperately to share it with his kin.  Christ is not about assigning blame or seeking retribution.  Christ is about helping, loving, and reconciling.

Our world in in chaos right now.  Opinions and feelings are running higher and carry more venom than I can ever remember.  Dennis Hollinger, president of Gordan Conwell University in MA was quoted after 9/11 as saying “Emotions are good gifts from God, but they must always be tempered by virtues of justice, goodness, and wisdom,  Otherwise we begin to mirror the very acts we deplore.’’  I fear we have become our nightmare.

I am appalled by the rhetoric and the hateful accusations and threats, the images in my newsfeeds.  My country has been engaged in war for almost all of my life and long before I was born.  I haven’t counted, but I suspect in our 250 year history we have been at war more years than in peace.  I know that sometimes standing up to oppression, injustice, and aggression is necessary.  I support the thousands of police, fire-fighters, emergency personnel whose job it is to protect the public.  I am grateful for our military for standing in the way of danger, so that I do not have to see my house destroyed or my children blown to bits or my country decimated.   But when I see, hear or read the news… that’s not what I see happening – just the opposite.  Remember Pogo…  “We have met the enemy and he is us”  Peter says that we are to repent and be baptized…  live into our promises that we made – respect, care for, understand, learn, be in community and in the face of our failures - we are cut to the heart. 

Not easy to stand in the middle of the road and say “You know I don’t think God is cheering the loss of even the most evil of creation.  I don’t think God sees this as a win win or a win lose.  Rather I think God is mourning the brokenness of all our lives and calling to us to be aware of the burning in our hearts.

Last week Laureli talked about encountering Jesus.  Yes – that’s it isn’t it.  Just like Cleopus and his friend, we need to encounter Jesus in order to see God’s presence in our lives.  Those encounters - when Jesus becomes known – are about making sense of all this jumble of experiences in our lives, about sorting through the black the white and the gray areas where we stumble and making the path a little clearer for our journeys and it is about distinguishing between the right road and the wrong road.  About choosing death or life.

It is in the breaking of the bread that Jesus is revealed.  It is in the brokenness of our lives that our lives are made whole.

We are each on the road to Emmaus. Each of us nursing wounds and wandering through disappointments.  Jesus meets each one of us there – loves us – gives us an opportunity to be transformed by love.  And each of us must discern when and where we are to go in response.

Amen