Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
Today’s Gospel reminded me of a scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, with Steve Martin and John Candy. The bumbling salesman played by John Candy is in the car with the put together white collar business man played by Steve Martin. John Candy sees what he thinks is an on ramp to the highway, completely missing the do not enter and one way signs. As they are driving on the ramp, toward on coming traffic a car beside them tries to tell them to turn around. Which John Candy mistakenly understands as an invitation to drag race. The driver yells out, “Your going the wrong way!” to which John Candy says, “How would he know where we’re going?” At which point there is a nerve wrecking scene with the car just making it between to transport trucks. I often wonder if Jesus ever wanted to yell out to his disciples. “Hey! You’re going the wrong way!”
Two of the disciples are leaving Jerusalem and heading toward the small hamlet of Emmaus. Are they leaving Jerusalem because they too are afraid of the Jewish leadership, as we heard last week, or is it because, with Jesus gone, there is no point for them to remain in the Holy City, despite Jesus requesting that they remain there. We know one of them as Cleopas. The other disciple remains unnamed. Some commentaries argue that it is one of the twelve disciples, others say it is Cleopas’ wife-which only makes sense if they are heading back home. I like to believe the other disciple remains unnamed so that it is everyone of us. The disciples are deep in conversation, going over all that had happened. Again, we find ourselves a few weeks away from Easter while the disciples are actually still living that one day. These disciples have heard that Mary believes Jesus to be alive and that Peter has confirmed that there is no body in the tomb. But as yet, they have not experienced Jesus’ resurrection for themselves and therefore are discussing the recent events. The Greek verb used implies not just a discussion but that they were examining evidence together while walking on the road away from Jerusalem.
Journeys, and no not the band but the act of travelling, are a major theme in Luke’s Gospel. The entire second half of Luke centres around Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. The story of Emmaus reflects many themes in the Gospel. Luke begins by stating to Theophilus, the recipient of this Gospel, that Luke’s goal is for Theophilus to recognize the certainty about Jesus. The Greek term is epignosis. It is Luke’s desire for Theophilus to experience epignosis, a deep “AHA” moment. The kind of sight that is revelatory. It is also the term is used in describing what happens with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Epignosis opens the eyes of the disciples to recognize Jesus’ presence in their midst, walking alongside them on their journey. Even when they are going in the wrong direction. In a wonderful act of ministry and accompaniment, Jesus is wiling even to accompany the two disciples as they walk away from Jerusalem. If he accompanies the disciples in their walk in the wrong direction, how often is Jesus accompanying us in our walk.
In the middle of their walk and talk, in the middle of their debate, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But the disciples are unable to recognize who it is. This is certainly the case as we walk too. I don’t know how many times I have been on my walk and only too late do I realize Jesus was walking with me. But Jesus, nevertheless, does not give up on these disciples and stop walking with them. Instead He asks, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently?”
The disciples, feeling shame and grief are also surprised that this traveller has no idea what has occurred in Jerusalem. They see him as a transient sojourner, someone who clearly has not been up-to-date with the world. “Obviously sir, you have been living under a rock these three days. But let us explain why the long faces. The man we had hoped was the one to redeem Israel has died.” Again the Greek term and tense helps us understand what the disciples are truly feeling. The word is hlpizomen and it is in an imperfect tense meaning the disciples had once had hope in this man but that hope is now gone. We all have our “we had hoped” moments. We had hoped that the results would be better. We had hoped that the treatment would work. We had hoped that this was the last time. We had hoped that it would heal and things could be back to normal. Theologies of hope surround the Easter story but it is in this moment that we realize that there were deep moments of disappointment. A crucial hope has collapsed. I can pretend that the Easter story easily and automatically overcomes all disappointment but it doesn’t. What I can say is that we are all invited to lay our “we had hoped” moments at the foot of the cross, or in the bowl on the communion table and begin ever so slowly to connect our moments of disappointment into the larger journey of transformed hope. A hope that only comes through the long awaited “aha” moment. A moment that can happen even when we’re headed in the wrong direction.
Jesus, who at this time remains a stranger to the disciples, tells them they are fools. Not exactly the kind of support they were expecting. He does, however, provide them with an alternative way of regarding the events in Jerusalem. He places their story about Jesus’ death, his death, into the larger story of God’s action in the world, as recorded by the prophets and Scriptures. It was necessary for this to happen, for Christ to suffer and die, but it is not the end of the story. It is only in the second portion of this narrative, the meal, that the disciples have their epignosis, their aha moment, their recognition that this stranger is not a stranger at all but rather Jesus!
The Emmaus story is foundational for the church and for ministry. We are invited to recognize Jesus in the Scriptures- as we discuss and debate along this road and when we break bread together. Walking, bread braking, Scripture sharing are central to the recognition of God’s presence in our story. It reminds us to take time to walk with our neighbour and to be willing to greet the unexpected stranger.
This morning we welcome new members into our congregation. They are both the disciples who travel with us and Jesus in our midst. As the disciples walked together even as they headed in the wrong direction Jesus accompanied them. Today we all take the vow to accompany each other in this journey. We invite these new members to be our friends on the road, to stand with each other when we have our “we had hoped” moments, to pray with and for us in our daily living, to celebrate hopes realized and mourn with us when we face hopelessness and one never knows how or when Jesus will be revealed in those relationships. We come with our debates and doubts, all of us, but as we worship together we have the opportunity to encounter and recognize Christ.