On the Road Together
/I’m continuing to explore Jesus’ post-resurrection experiences and this Sunday we’re a couple of weeks behind the lectionary. We’re going to be looking at the road to Emmaus story. It’s a favourite of mine for many reasons - the earthiness of it, the mystery, the reassuring presence of Christ on the road.
I love the idea of two people walking together in their grief, chatting and supporting each other after trauma. I love that Jesus accompanies them and doesn’t allow them to get stuck in their commiseration but instead patiently explains the scriptures and helps them to pivot and see why His death needed to happen. I love that He doesn’t leap to reveal Himself but instead is just a helpful companion on their journey. I love that His compassion draws them to invite Him to dinner, and that it’s only in His breaking the bread and blessing it that they finally recognize Him. And then He vanishes, and in their excitement they get up and run back the long trip to where they started in the dark to share the amazing news that they had seen the risen Jesus.
One of the two says to the other, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us as He talked to us on the road?” That line sticks with me, especially on this Giving Tuesday. Because we may be going on a lot of walks and talking with a lot of people by phone or online video these days, but are we truly seeing those around us, those who are our companions on the journey? Are we hearing what these people are saying and needing? Are we listening to their cries for care, for a tender heart, for personal protective equipment, for environmental justice to save lives, for assistance with basic tasks and to not be left behind? Many of us may have social justice or health or environmental or humanitarian issues that are burning in our hearts. Do we recognize this as being connected to the Spirit’s direction, and are we taking care to understand how our passion links to scriptures to help us to determine how we should respond?
In our privilege we can miss the many companions we share the road with each day. We can be tempted to be stuck in our own response and the immediate impact of tragedy on us happening in our communities and the world. We can miss the wisdom of others walking with us who can help us re-frame and see truth in teachable moments in our lives. We can miss that Jesus is with us in the faces of friends and strangers, sharing important words and stories, and encouraging us to offer hospitality and to meet basic needs for food and shelter and fellowship. We can miss the gifts and privilege of walking with others we don’t know, only to understand later that in serving others we would have seen the face of Christ.
On this Giving Tuesday I’m going to consider carefully what organizations I will support. We are all a global family, we are all on a road heading home, and we all have the opportunity to look out from the people we know well to see the companions around us, all just trying to get home. As the journey gets long and hard, Jesus walks with us. And as Jesus is a source of inspiration and reassurance for us, we find the energy to re-trace our steps, to better understand where we have been, to backtrack if need be, and to share the blessings of the presence of the risen One who overcame so much, even death itself, to be with us and for us on our journey.
What passion is burning in your heart today? What is the Holy Spirit nudging you to do to serve those walking the road with you? Despite the trauma and disorientation and losses we’ve all been experiencing, Christ calls us to look outwards and to serve and to see His face in those around us. May we find peace and joy in knowing that we are serving Christ Himself as we feed the hungry, care for the planet, help the sick and outcast and build a better and more just world, all in His name.