Luke 24.13-35 is this week’s Revised Common Lectionary gospel. It tells the story of two disciples traveling the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, roughly seven miles. While discussing the events that had transpired, they were joined by a stranger who asked what they were talking about.
Cleopas responded, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” The stranger asked, “What things?” They told the stranger about Jesus of Nazareth, “a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” whom the chief priests and leaders handed over to the Romans to be tried and executed. And they added, “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24.13-21; NRSV).
The people of Israel had eagerly awaited the Messiah, the Great Redeemer, for centuries. All the signs — giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, restoring hearing to the deaf, casting out demons, multiplying loaves and fishes — indicated that Jesus might be the Messiah. All their longings, all their hopes and dreams, came crashing down when Jesus died the most humiliating death possible — naked, alone, and forsaken on the cross.
The Emmaus story is a beautiful story. I marvel at how much human experience is captured in a few well-turned phrases: “But we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel;” “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” and “…how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
We have all experienced disappointment — times when our hearts are crushed and we are filled with despair. We have traveled, or will travel, the road to Emmaus where God longs to meet with us.
How often have you read the scriptures or some other source where you have felt your heart strangely warmed? On these occasions, God’s Holy Spirit is at work in our lives; truth is being confirmed; Spirit is speaking to spirit. We may have such experiences when reading the scriptures, or the works of Christian mystics. I have experienced the Spirit’s presence when reading some of my favorites, e.g., Sóren Kierkegaard, Thomas Merton, and Henri Nouwen. Yes, I realize the arguments for the closing of the canon of scriptures, but we must always remember that the Holy Spirit is wild and free. This warming of the heart reveals God at work in our lives.
With some reflection, might we come to realize the Lord meets us and journeys with us in our despair? We might not always know how the Lord appears, perhaps through the presence of a friend, but as we journey on the road to Emmaus, as we remain faithful, our hearts are strangely warmed. Our life, our hope, and our joy slowly return. Once again, we recognize Christ in the breaking of the bread, in fellowship with one another.
— This week’s Reflections colum was written by the Rev. Larry Ort, retired Episcopal priest.
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