This week, we're talking about the Road to Emmaus story. Again, we're gonna walk slowly through the story. We pick up where the last one ended. The two disciples are walking, talking about what had happened. Seems like they're just as confused and perplexed as the women and Peter. They're wondering out loud with one another. Then Jesus shows up; they don't know it's him. He asks them what they're talking about. They start telling Jesus about Jesus. That's kinda funny. Then they say, "We had hoped." It's a sad thing to hear someone say we had hoped. There's grief in those words, the kind of grief that comes from expectations that have imploded. We know those words, "we had hoped." We feel them because we've experienced them. Then comes an interesting part of the story. Jesus is going to transform their walk of disappointment , they just don't know it yet. What I love about this story is its simplicity, how ordinary it is. These disciples are on a walk. In those days, people walked wherever they went. Walking is important, physically and mentally, and even spiritually. These two were on a pilgrimage and didn't know it. We're kinda like that. We spend most of our days on a pilgrimage but we rarely think of it that way. How often do we wake up in the morning and think, what does God have in store for me today? But Jesus is with these two. And the first thing he does is show up with a question. He invites openness. They talk, and Jesus just listens. We have a God who listens, who takes us seriously even when all we have are complaints and doubts and a lack of imagination. Still, he listens. Then Jesus speaks. He reframes their experience. Their hearts burn. Transformation often works that way. You feel something emerging inside before you can fully explain it. They arrive in the village. They ask him to stay. He does. Then he takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to them. And their eyes are opened. Then he disappears. But what happens next? They go back to Jerusalem. Resurrection does that; it reorients our direction and gives you hope. When they get there they explain to the disciples, at first they didn't recognize him, then after the bread thing, their eyes were opened. That's what I like about this story: it gives us permission, permission to NOT always recognize where God is at work, permission to be in process, permission to walk slowly, really slowly through confusion and doubt and wondering and still be on the road with Jesus. So keep walking; maybe the ordinary spaces will eventually become holy and you'll realize you were never alone. Not for a second. Not alone even on the road AWAY from hope, and maybe especially there. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Luke 24:13-35 http://bible.com/events/49597299
