The Emmaus Road

Luke 24:21 is the saddest verse in scripture.

In a book full of death, suffering, and lament, what is it about this verse that makes it the saddest? Well, you might know the context of the story. It's the Sunday after Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by the Roman authorities. His followers are scattered and scared; rumors have begun to surface that some women from his group saw him alive. The rumors are too much to believe -- and you know how hysterical women can be. Two of his followers are walking away from Jerusalem on the Emmaus Road. It has all gotten to be too much for them and they are going home. On the road a stranger meets them and asks why they have such downcast faces. They look at him with surprise and ask, "are you the only stranger around here who hasn't heard about the things that happened this week?" The stranger asks, "what things?" And they begin to tell him about Jesus of Nazareth -- a prophet who spoke of God's kingdom, yet also brought God's kingdom into being. They told the stranger how the religious authorities and the Roman occupiers had put Jesus to death. But, they say -- and here is that saddest verse -- they say, "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel." We had hoped. Had hoped.

For you grammar buffs out there "had hoped" is in the past perfect tense, the tense used for action completed in the past. Action that is over and done. Finished. Such a tense should never be used with hope. Who knows how long these disciples -- Cleopas and his companion -- had followed Jesus. Maybe they had just seen him in the temple earlier that week or maybe they had heard about him back when he was still in Galilee and had traveled north to see him, had seen his miracles, had experienced his healing, had heard his message about the peaceable kingdom of God. Maybe they had walked with him to Jerusalem, had watched him take on the religious authorities, and had waited for him to amass his army and rid Palestine of Rome. Who knows at what point their hope had begun to rise in them? But now that hope was dead. Had hoped. Their hope was as dead as that body that had hung on the cross the previous Friday. The death of hope is, perhaps, worse than death itself.

After the disciples told the stranger these things, something unexpected happened. He began to tell them how all the things that they had seen -- the things that had robbed them of hope -- were a fulfillment of the scriptures. When they came to the house where they were going, they invited the stranger in with them and while they were at the table he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them to eat. And in that moment, in the breaking of the bread, they saw that this stranger was none other than the Living Christ. And when they tried to grab hold of him, he disappeared. Then the disciples returned to the road, running back the way they had come, with their hearts burning within them, to tell the others what they had seen. They arrived back in Jerusalem, breathless, and heard the other reports that Christ is Risen. Their hopelessness was replaced with burning hearts. On the Emmaus Road, Cleopas and his companion experienced resurrection.

I believe that our lives are lived on the Emmaus Road. At one time we might be walking away from Jerusalem, away from the death of our hopes, our dreams, and even our faith. Certainly we all have lists of things we "had hoped." I had hoped that by age 33 I would be married. I had hoped that I would have children. I had hoped that I would have found a way to make a real difference in the world. The death of such hopes is real death. Yet, walking the Emmaus Road, we know that our hopes will not stay dead. Walking the Emmaus Road we trust that we will be met by those who can resurrect hope -- the people, the words, the community and the God who will cause our hearts once again to burn within us. And so there are other times in life when we are on the Emmaus Road, running with burning hearts, full of new life, new possibilities, and new joy.

I welcome you to journey the Emmaus Road with me -- let's walk together, reveal truths to one another, break break together and experience, together, the resurrection of the hope that is within us. May it be so.