Yesterday I looked at a familiar and beloved story that occurred in Luke shortly after the resurrection of Jesus. Join me in the next few days as we consider this text and reflect on it. Here is our text, our story:
The Journey To Emmaeus
“13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread” Luke 24: 13-35.
On the walk to Emmaeus, Luke invites us to explore the relationship between absence and presence in the midst of our ordinary, every day daily life. The disciples in this case are experiencing absence after the trauma and death of Jesus, and this trauma pushes them to experience absence in their own suffering. They experience the absence of Jesus Christ, and they experience the absence of meaning and hope in their life. What they were beginning to embrace and accept regarding Jesus and His teachings and miracles is now gone. All that Jesus promised and stood for is absent, and the disciples must land on their feet and decide how they are going to move forward. So what do they of? They begin to return to their previous lives and occupations. In this story they are their way home to Emmaeus. They feel only the absence of what they once had, the feeling of tremendous loss.
But as the Hound of Heaven is fond of doing in all of our lives, Jesus catches up with them and presents Himself to them, initially in disguised form. But He is present, none the less, walking with them in their overwhelming moment of loss and absence. h\He listens to them after having invited them to share with him what they are discussing. When Jesus returns to their lives, when He presents Himself to them once again. Note what the text says about the disciples: “They stood still, looking sad” verse 17. They feel what we all feel when we give up on Jesus Christ. They feel what we all feel when we experience absence in our life.
It is no coincidence that Jesus becomes present to them, not they who become present to Jesus. It is Christ who catches up to them, not they who catch up to Christ! As the disciples move towards a sense of presence again they must emerge from a place where absence and loss abound. Only Jesus Christ can make that possible for them. Is that not also true of our own life, that we experience and come to the presence of God out of absence and loss, often caused by or a result of our sin, or by our own seductive thinking. We believe that our own thoughts are true. We distance ourselves from the One who is present.
Today I invite you to consider your own sense of loss, your hunger from what is absent in your life. What do you learn about the Presence of God in your life experience of Absence and Loss? Today how can you come to the Lord and pray for God’s presence? How can you return to the Lord today?
Take time and consider this story. How are you like one of the disciples?
Pray. Read and think deeply about this story.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy”
Psalm 16:11.
“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” Exodus 33:14.
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:13.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” John 14:26.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” James 4:8.
“But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge” Psalm 73:28.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.
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