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The
Road To Emmaus
I
recently read a beautiful legend about a king who decided to set aside a
special day to honor his greatest subject. When the big day arrived, there
was a large gathering in the palace courtyard. Four finalists were brought
forward, and from these four, the king would select the winner.
The first person presented was a wealthy philanthropist. The king was told
that this man was highly deserving of the honor because of his
humanitarian efforts. He had given much of his wealth to the poor.
The second person was a celebrated physician. The king was told that this
doctor was highly deserving of the honor because he had rendered faithful
and dedicated service to the sick for many years.
The third person was a distinguished judge. The king was told that the
judge was worthy because he was noted for his wisdom, his fairness, and
his brilliant decisions.
The fourth person presented was an elderly woman. Everyone was quite
surprised to see her there, because her manner was quite humble, as was
her dress. She hardly looked the part of someone who would be honored as
the greatest subject in the kingdom. What chance could she possibly have,
when compared to the other three, who had accomplished so much? Even so,
there was something about her the look of love in her face, the
understanding in her eyes, her quiet confidence.
The king was intrigued, to say the least, and somewhat puzzled by her
presence. He asked who she was. The answer came: “You see the
philanthropist, the doctor, and the judge? Well, she was their teacher!”
That woman had no wealth, no fortune, and no title, but she had
unselfishly given her life to produce great people. There is nothing more
powerful or more Christlike than sacrificial love.
The king could not see the value in the humble lady. He missed the
significance of the teacher. Often we miss the value of those around us. I
think it would surprise us to know how often we miss the presence of
Christ just as Cleopas and his brother missed the significance of the
stranger on the road to Emmaus.
It is likewise easy for us to miss the significance of the resurrection.
So on the road to Emmaus…
I.
Don’t miss the significance of the resurrection
Don't miss the significance of the resurrection: It transforms us. Look
closely at what happens to these two brothers as they journey from
Jerusalem to their home in the city of Emmaus seven miles away. A
stranger, whom we know is Jesus, joins them. He asks them what they are
talking about and they stop dead in their tracks. They can hardly bring
themselves to discuss it they are so saddened by the events of the last
three days. Their friend, their master, their rabbi, the one they describe
as a mighty prophet, has been unjustly condemned to death and violently
killed on a cross. They say to their companion, “Are you the only person
in all of Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place?”
This would be enough to unsettle anyone but new and disturbing information
is being told. Reports about his tomb being empty and the crazy notions of
some who say he is alive. Listen to what happens next on that dusty road
at the end of the day. This is the part that intrigues me.
Jesus begins to interpret the Old Testament and explains to them how all
these things were spoken of by Moses and the Prophets. He opens the
Scriptures to them. He transforms their thinking. They had no idea these
things were supposed to take place. They had concluded that Jesus’ mission
had failed. They now understand that the last three days was the plan all
along.
Finally the two brothers invite Jesus into their home. He has dinner with
them. Again Jesus transformed the event. There at that ordinary dinner at
the end of the day this stranger takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, gives
it to them…and their eyes are opened. In that moment they were
transformed.
Where may he be found? Where may we
see him again?
It is the breaking of the bread in the
Blessed and Holy Sacrament. If we are broken, we see him broken. If life
seems to be seeping out of us, we see his blood seeping out of him so that
we might have life.
For it is in the breaking of bread that
he tells us, no more than that, gives us himself, broken and shed for us
that we might know he is with us whatever comes.
It is why we come the altar to receive
him, for we are more frail than we want to admit, more harmed by our
disappointments than we believe, more frustrated with God than we would
like to say. Here he says "I am with you always." "I will never leave you
nor forsake you." "All power, all authority is mine. It is not in the
events of your life."
So we are give him who is the way, the
only truth, life itself honor and praise. Then we can say as St. Paul who
went through more than we can image says: "I am persuaded, convinced that
neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, not the present
situation I am in or the future who looms so dark ahead of me, not any
forces out there, not highs or lows in m life, nothing else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is Christ
Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8).
There’s a story about a young boy named Walter Elias. Born in the city,
his parents one day moved out to the country to become farmers. Walter had
a vivid imagination and the farm was the perfect place for a young boy and
a wondering mind. One day in the apple orchard he was amazed when he saw
sitting on a branch of one of the apple trees an owl. He just stood there
and stared at the owl. He thought about what his father had told him about
owls: owls always rested during the day because they hunted throughout the
night. This owl was asleep. He also thought that this owl might make a
great pet.
Being careful not to make any noises he stepped over sticks and leaves.
The owl was in a deep sleep because it never heard Walter Elias walking
toward it. Finally, standing under the owl, he reached up and grabbed the
owl by the legs. Now, the events that followed are difficult to explain.
Suddenly everything was utter chaos. The owl came to life. Walter’s
thoughts about keeping the bird as a pet were quickly forgotten. The air
filled with wings, and feathers, and screaming. In the excitement Walter
held the legs tighter. And in his panic, Walter Elias, still holding on to
the owl, threw it to the ground and stomped it to death. After things
calmed down, Walter looked at the now dead and bloody bird and began to
cry. He ran back to the farm, obtained a shovel, and buried the owl in the
orchard.
At night he would dream of that owl. As the years passed he never got over
what had happened that summer day. Deep down it affected him for the rest
of his life. As an older man he said he never, ever killed anything again.
Do you see it? Something significant happened after that event. Something
that Walter didn’t miss. Something which transformed Walter Elias,
something that redeemed him from the pit of despair, something that
resurrected him, something that made Walter Elias Disney give life to
thousands of animals on the big screen.
The resurrection changes everything. It transforms us. It moves us from
despair to new possibilities of life. It takes us in our blindness and
opens our eyes. It transforms ordinary bread into a holy meal. It takes
two sad and lost brothers on the road to Emmaus who had lost the only the
world they knew and gives it back to them. Jesus comes to them and says
see I am not dead. I am alive. Now tell the world.
II
On the road to Emmaus, as we travel home, don’t miss the significance of
the resurrection. We can be transformed and secondly we can be renewed.
Look at verse 32. When the brothers realize that it is the risen Lord who
is with them he vanishes. They turn to each other and say, “Were not our
hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he
was opening the scriptures to us?” Isn’t that true to life? We usually
don’t understand what is happening to us until we change. Then we look
back and we see the conviction of our hearts.
One of the greatest voices of the church was St. Augustine. He lived
between the 4th and 5th centuries in Rome and was a Bishop. After Rome
fell and faded into dust it was largely Augustine’s writings that kept
Christianity alive and made it the most influential movement the world had
ever known. It is remarkable that between the 8th and 12th centuries his
writings were more widely read than any other. And that was 400 to 700
years after his death.
But he was not always a saint. Before he was converted at age 29 he lived
to fulfill every lust and pleasure. But Augustine had one great quality
that saved his pitiful life—a praying mother. She never gave up on him
until one day he stopped long enough to listen to the voices around him.
Augustine had just heard a sermon by Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
“One day, under deep conviction: I cast myself down I know not how, under
a certain fig-tree, giving full vent to my tears; and the floods of mine
eyes gushed out…So was I weeping in the most bitter contrition of my
heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighboring house a voice, as of boy or
girl, I know not, chanting and oft repeating, "Take up and read; Take up
and read." Instantly, my countenance altered, I began to think most
intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such
words; nor could I remember ever to have heard the like.
So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no
other than a command from God to open the book, and read the first chapter
I should find... Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius (his
friend) was sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle. I
seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first
fell: ‘Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provision for the flesh...’ No further would I read; nor needed I for
instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity
infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”
Convictions do not always lead to conversion but Transformation cannot
happen unless we are first convicted. We may not recognize the conviction
at first but on the road to Emmaus don’t miss the significance of the
resurrection: It convicts us. And that conviction can change us and the
world around us.
III
Finally, don’t miss the significance of the resurrection: It can make us
witnesses. And this is perhaps the area where most of us fail. You are
certainly not alone if you have never spoken to another person about the
death and resurrection of Jesus. Very few people live the life of Billy
Graham. I recently read that Billy Graham has “preached the Gospel to more
people in live audiences than anyone else in history -- over 210 million
people in more than 185 countries and territories” (source:
billygraham.org).
You can measure the numbers but you cannot measure the effect upon the
world when one man reaches millions. Try to calculate the homes kept
intact, the marriages saved, the children given spiritually mature
fathers, the young saved from drugs, and thousands of other influences
that Graham has had. You cannot. The significance of that one life cannot
be calculated. Even more, there is no lab or library that can account for
the impact the resurrection has had upon history.
You take the resurrection out of the Gospel and the house of cards of
Christianity will fall to the ground. Paul recognized this when he wrote
to the Corinthians. Some were saying that the resurrection never happened.
Paul made it clear. He said, if Christ has not been raised then your faith
is in vain and the Gospel is nothing but a charade.
At
the end of this story the two brothers do what is only natural. The get
up, walk back to Jerusalem and tell the disciples whom they have seen.
That’s being a witness. Telling your friends what you have seen. You do
not have to be Billy Graham. You simply tell what you have seen. The
resurrection is significant enough to do the rest of the work for you. It
was the power behind the witness of the disciples, it was the power behind
these two brothers on the road home to Emmaus, it was the power of Paul
who brought the gospel to Rome, it was the power of Augustine, and Billy
Graham. And it is the power behind your witness as well. On the road home
don’t miss the power of the resurrection to convict, to transform, and to
make you his witnesses.
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