“They stood still, looking sad.” -Luke 24:17b
In Luke chapter 24, just before we join these two men on the road to Emmaus from the Gospel today, an important context is provided. Basically, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women told them of their experience at the empty tomb and the two men in dazzling clothes who confronted them and said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.”
Luke details that Peter got up and ran to the tomb but that it, “…seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (vs 11).
So, we join two men on the road to Emmaus who do not believe the “idle tale” they heard earlier in the day. The reason why they are going to Emmaus is unclear but we do know they are sad, likely because the man in whom they had placed their hope was dead. Maybe they are going back to their previous lives of fishing or carpentry and to re-establish the normal routine of life in a land overrun by the Romans.
Have you ever had an experience in your life when all your hope in a certain outcome vanished? Have you even been left socially, mentally, physically or financially broken and in a state of great sadness as you consider all that had taken place and how it just didn’t work out the way you had envisioned? Did you ever have a time when you had no clue what you were going to do next?
When Jesus approached these two men he asked them, “What are you discussing with each other as you walk along?” The next words are, “They stood still, looking sad.”
A person they didn’t recognize as Jesus caused them to stand still.
A moment of stillness, in the presence of Jesus, even if you don’t know he is present, is a good time to take stock of the journey you have walked thus far in life. How are you feeling? Can you take a moment to allow how you are feeling to be interrupted by God’s presence in the midst of it? Maybe this stillness will allow you to see that it’s not the distance you have walked that is of foremost importance, it’s being open to a moment of stillness in the midst of it all for the inbreaking of Jesus. Be open to this moment in time being consumed by the eternal.
It’s okay if you don’t understand right away. The disciples on the road didn’t either. But in the stillness God is providing an opportunity for you to reflect on the meaning of everything that has taken place on your journey. And, this is an opportunity to revisit Scripture, where we allow the person of Jesus to interpret his own suffering as he joins us in own own suffering. The suffering of Jesus is not a defeat of hope but a necessary pathway to hope.
At the breaking of bread, the fullness of the truth of Christ’s presence became clear and their response was the return to their community of friends to tell them all about their encounter with Christ. May we too be filled with such hope.
“Take this, all of you and eat of it, for this is my body, which will be given up for you.”
For you.
No comments:
Post a Comment