More Roads to Explore

 Wednesday 4-7-21

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

What kind of road have you been walking lately? Has your road been like a narrow path in the woods, overgrown and hard to find? Is your road uneven and full of rocks? Is your road forked with a choice
you have to make? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel, but you are wondering if it’s a train or not?

Easter just happened, and now we celebrate for the 7 weeks that follow. This is my favorite post-Easter story, called, for obvious reasons, “The Road to Emmaus” Two of Jesus’ followers are walking the long road home from Jerusalem on Easter afternoon. Theirs is a road of bitterest defeat. It is no wonder that they didn’t recognize Jesus when he began to walk with them - the cloak of sorrow around them was thick and heavy. It wasn’t until the travelers invited Jesus to stay with them for the night, to rest at their Air BnB with them, and to share a meal, that they truly saw Jesus. In their excitement, they jumped up and ran BACK the seven miles they had already traveled from Jerusalem, so that they could tell the rest of the disciples, “It’s true! We saw Jesus alive!”

The actual road these followers traveled from Jerusalem to Emmaus was likely a dusty afternoon’s walk, and pretty much the same distance from my house to Emmanuel, which by car is about 20 minutes. But they not only journeyed a literal road, but also an emotional one. Over the course of seven miles, they traveled from darkest despair to soaring hope, all because they had encountered the risen Christ along their way.

In contrast to the rest of the disciples, who were presumably still locked in a room in Jerusalem, THESE TWO took Jesus’ message to heart. They heard the word and acted on it. They welcomed a stranger into their midst and sought to create a new relationship. They practiced what Jesus preached. They embraced radical hospitality. They created space in their hearts and in their lives. And remember, at this point, they didn’t know yet that is WAS Jesus. 

But isn’t that what being a disciple on the road is all about? Welcoming one another, creating space for each other for all of our stories and all of our experiences… not just because these people MIGHT be Jesus…. But because these ARE JESUS. They are where we meet the risen Christ – in the faces of one another.

After all, Jesus told us that whatever we do to the least of these, we are doing to him. This means things like continuing safe practices for our non-vaccinated friends and neighbors, even if we ourselves are vaccinated. This means carefully choosing which of the former things we want to resurrect, and carefully burying what should be left in the tomb. This means thinking about ways to be the body of Christ in a post-resurrection, post-vaccination, post-pandemic world.

When we see Jesus in one another, we invite, we welcome, we reach out, and we go out. Be the Church, not “go to church.” Create deeper relationships, not packed calendars. Open not just our doors, but our homes, and our hearts as well. Not to go back exactly the way things were before. Because for us, like for these two travelers, even if the road they traveled was the same, THEY would never be the same again.

Like the two on the Emmaus Road, where have YOU encountered the risen Christ?

Where have you seen Jesus on the road with you? How has Jesus shown up in unexpected ways along on your dusty highways and byways? Or, where have you missed seeing him, only to recognize his handiwork in hindsight?

What would make you run seven miles in the dark? Would it be for something that you didn’t expect? What has caused you some “holy heartburn”?

This Easter season, what questions do YOU have for the risen Lord?

These two Easter travelers asked themselves, “where not our hearts burning within us?” As with this past Lent, our questioning faith continues to challenge us with questions and "holy heartburn," even after the seeming certainty of the resurrection. Because were we though to find certainty, instead we find more wonder, and more roads to explore. Thanks be to God. Amen.