Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognising him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. 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?’ 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, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 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. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 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. 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.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 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. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight. 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?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Alleluia Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed Alleluia.
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Lord God still our hearts as we read the words and help us to recognise your presence beside us as we journey on and guide us into a deeper knowledge of your love. Amen.
I often get ear worms, not the biological creepy crawlies, although as some of you know I do suffer with ear related problems so perhaps I shouldn’t use the term ear worm…
I have had a song in my head this week that just won’t go away it’s a reggae song from Jamaica by The Slickers and called Johnny too bad. I think the reason it’s been there all week is because it begins with the lyrics ‘Walking down the road’ and of course this week’s Gospel reading from Luke tells the story of two friends walking the road from Jerusalem to a small village called Emmaus. The song in my ear however is about Johnny who is basically a bad lot, he walks down the road with a blade in his hand and the song is sung by his friends who hope that one day he will change his ways. Very different from the gospel reading?
Yet the song and the gospel reading echo a few sentiments. The song is about despair, despondency, fear and chaos, but ultimately hope and in some respects so is the story of the journey to Emmaus. The friends are suffering despair at the loss of their friend Jesus in such a horrific and chaotic way. They are despondent and fearful to what will happen next, the hope they set in Jesus as the saviour of Israel has disappeared, along with his body from the tomb.
However at the centre of this story is the fact that these two friends who have perhaps spent the last three years of their lives living and breathing in close proximity with a person who they knew very well, whom they loved admired and looked up to, do not recognise him. They do not find anything remotely familiar with this stranger they meet on the road. Why?
A few years ago I watched one of those BBC documentaries that try to explain the circumstances behind how and why the disciples did not recognise Jesus after the resurrection. Numerous scientists, psychiatrists and doctors came together to try and shed light on the phenomenon. Some said that they thought Jesus cloaked himself in a way that alien space ships do in Star Trek so that his friends wouldn’t see who he was. Some also believed that as he was divine he shifted his physical perspective so that his features became distorted almost pixelated. The psychiatrists on the other hand looked at the phenomenon in a totally human way, they didn’t try to understand how Jesus had fooled his friends into not seeing him, they looked at what psychological reason there was to the disciples not recognising Jesus. It all came down to fear, absolute fear, although in the story we don’t necessarily sense fear in Cleopas and his friend, but there must have been some degree of fear in their hearts as they walked and talked as they headed towards the sanctuary of Emmaus.
If we look back to the events leading up to Easter, we see a band of twelve happy brother disciples. Bound together by the same experiences and the love of Jesus Christ, a shared mission and trust in one another. These friends had lived and laughed together and now it was all gone. Their world turned upside down. A friend betrayed and put to death, a friend denied and a scattering and shattering of all that was held dear. All this followed by fear, fear for their lives and those of their loved ones. Fear that someone extremely close may do the say to them, betrayal, denial.
Imagine what it must be like to hold that fear close to your heart, always waiting for that creak on the stairs and always looking over your shoulder. The hour of shadows felt by Jesus Christ in Gethsemane was now upon them in every waking hour. The light in the rumours of Christ’s resurrection are only known by a few fearful followers, the authorities want the body, have the friends removed it? Paranoia floods into the fear.
And then there’s a man on the road as they flee Jerusalem, travelling the same way who has no knowledge of what has happened during the last three days. A stranger who on first appearances they seem to trust, but I think it’s more like curiosity and underlying suspicion, they want to know what he knows, could he be working for the authorities?
Even so, they tell him all about the events that have occurred. They also open up to him about being part of Jesus’s group of followers. Jesus the stranger somehow subdues them into close dialogue, but they still do not recognise him, even when he responds with words of scripture and prophecies. The fear in their hearts has closed their eyes. Or maybe it’s merely human nature, they are not expecting to see Jesus so they don’t see Jesus.
We all know what happens next, it’s in the reading. It’s late, they invite the stranger to eat with them. He breaks bread in a familiar way, their eyes and hearts are opened they recognise Jesus amongst them, he disappears , they return, in the dark to Jerusalem, their fear abated. For us a familiar Easter story in a very unfamiliar Easter.
This Easter we have perhaps felt for the first time in our lives akin to the disciples and that first Easter. The fear and isolation of ‘lockdown’ has taken away the typical mass celebrations of this Resurrectiontide. Watching the Pope addressing the worlds Catholics on Easter Sunday in an empty Vatican was eerie. The closure of our own churches resulting in our church families celebrating and worshipping through a socially distanced medium has been and continues to be both strange and strained.
With separation and isolation comes fear and dread. The disciples felt it keenly in those first few days and we too feel it now. Where is Jesus when you need him? A woman recently said to me, ‘why are the churches closed? We need to know that God is with us’. To which I replied, graciously, ‘he’s with us all the time, we just don’t recognise him’.
The fear that we have in our hearts and minds stops us seeing Jesus beside us, not just now through these dark times of ‘lockdown’ but always. Fear stops faith, it halts hope, it barricades belief and it destroys love. However unlike the disciples during the first Easter we know the outcome from those events, so we have the light of Christ crucified and risen from the dead in our hearts. We have no need to fear the future because he is with us walking beside us on whatever road we choose to take.
In the song I mentioned earlier, Johnny’s friends tell him ‘one of these days when you hear a voice say ‘come’ where you gonna run to’? Unlike Johnny I pray that we know where we ‘gonna run to’. Amen.
Let us pray…
Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your disciples, ‘I am with you always’.
Be with us today, as we offer ourselves to you.
Hear our prayers for others and for ourselves and keep us in your care. Amen
Lord God, you are always with us.
You are with us in the day and the night.
You are with us when we are happy and when we are sad.
You are with us when we are healthy and when we are ill.
You are with us when we are peaceful and when we are anxious.
Today we ask you to be visible to all those who call your name in desperation and grief.
And help them to see that you love each and every one of us and walk beside us in everything we do. Amen
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Ann Hilton
Reader St Wilfrid’s and St Thomas’s Kirkby in Ashfield
