The Road of an Early Disciple:
As we walked, we talked, in our confusion, of all the things that we had witnessed: of the miracles that we had seen Him perform; of the vast crowds that had gathered to hear Him speak; of the wisdom of His teaching; of the tangible love that he exuded and which, in return, many people gave to Him.
We spoke of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, of how the crowds had welcomed Him. We spoke of the sham of a trial that he had endured at the hands of both pagans and those whom He had come to lead: His own people!
More than all, we spoke of His death. How could it be? If He truly was – or is – the Son of God, how could He die so humbly, in such apparent disgrace, in the manner of a common criminal, nailed and bound to pieces of wood, flanked by rebels?
We spoke, too, of the emptiness of His tomb, and of the vision of angels, witnessed first-hand by some of the women of our group.
We assumed – as all folk who witness death at first hand might – that we would never see Him again. In truth we were frightened. In truth, our faith was disturbed. Faith can be lost if the heart does not ordain the destination, nor drive a willing spirit.
The journey had been long. Seven miles is hard to the body on poor roads in intense heat, surrounded by nothing but desert. Seven miles is also hard to the soul, when anguish is at a peak: and we were deep in anguish, deep in shock. And, although it may not be recorded, we wept, too, for the loss of our Lord.
The appearance of the stranger who came to us was a surprise. We had not expected to be joined on our lonely journey; we had not seen or heard his approach yet, he was very really, and very suddenly, with us.
We responded politely to his questions about our subdued discussion, even though we were incredulous at his apparent ignorance of the recent, highly public and much-discussed events. ‘How could he possibly not know of these things?’ we wondered. But he pressed us to tell him of the things that had so recently passed. He listened intently, before gently chastising us for our shallowness of faith in things foretold in the prophets of old. We felt suitably rebuked! We had placed great faith in the prophecies relating to the glory of the Messiah, but ignored those that pointed to the darker side of His mission, those things that we would prefer not to know of, to have witnessed, or to understand!
He fully opened the scriptures to us, as we slowly walked along, reminding us of all the writings that spoke of the Messiah, including the accounts of the death that He would have to suffer, before coming into His eternal glory. Slowly we began to understand that Jesus, as Messiah, had to die on the cross; slowly we began to understand that His death in this manner was all-important for, through this, our sins were expiated and the love of God truly revealed.
We neared our destination, our sanctuary. The stranger walked on, as if indifferent to our plight or as if he had said all that he had wanted. The seven miles that we had walked no longer seemed so hard to endure, and our anguish had been replaced with hope.
Darkness was gathering, for the day was drawing to its end. But the darkness that we had felt in our hearts was lifting, due to the wise counsel of the stranger.
We pressed him to remain with us, not only because the day was almost ended and the road ahead might well have been dangerous for the stranger, but also because we had been so moved by his words that we wanted him to remain with us a little longer, so that he might give us more insight into the Scriptures. We wanted him to dine with us, and to help us to further understand and accept those things that we had closed our minds to.
He blessed the meal and broke the bread: an unusual act indeed for a visitor to a household. When he began to do this, we may have wondered why he would do such a thing: after all, he was not the master or owner of this house!
Then he was revealed to us, and we realised the significance of his act, for the Lord was indeed truly risen and among us!
Our road to understanding the scriptures had been long and hard. We had chosen to believe only what we had wanted, whilst blindly ignoring those things that we thought could not come to pass about the Messiah. ‘After all’, we had reasoned, ‘the Messiah was to come to save and to unite, not to horribly die.’
His death brought us close to chaos. His rising from the dead – and allowing his followers to witness this – brought renewed faith and hope, and filled us with love.
Now we understand the importance of our recent journey: it was to teach us that, with faith in Him, He is with us always – even when we do not expect or believe Him to be. Our faith is strengthened, and will remain steadfast throughout the ages.
The Road of a Contemporary Disciple:
Roads and journeys: they can be difficult things at the very best of times! Just as soon as we believe that we know exactly where it is we are going, the stops that we will make, the things that we will do, the length of time it ought to take, perhaps even the most significant people that we will meet, a fork or a road-block appears and confounds our path! Which way do we go now?
The Bible contains numerous accounts of road journeys and the impact that these have had on the ‘central character’ of the story being related: our Reading today is one such story; another is that of the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. There are many others.
Each one present today, each one who reads this will have been on a similarly frustrating journey. The place where we ended-up is not always to be the place that we thought we were heading to. We are human, we are prone to getting lost, though we do, eventually, find the right road again.
Some folk might find this fact altogether too distressing: there are those who believe that they hold complete control of their destinies, who go to great pains and lengths to map-out their lives, and who would not happily permit or tolerate any change of direction. Yet, even they are powerless when faced with important crossroads that they are unable to navigate alone.
Yet the majority of us ultimately realise that we are not always the mistresses and masters of our own destiny. For example, how many of us began our ‘religious lives’ in a church other than MCC, thinking that we would remain always with the church of our formative years?
A brief personal account
Until relatively recently, I assumed that the Church of Rome would always be my spiritual home, my sanctuary, the church of my lifelong faith, and I sang with true belief and gusto the words of that very Roman Catholic and introspective hymn: “Faith of our fathers! Holy faith! We will be true to thee till death.”1 How things have changed!
What was it, then, that changed my direction? Did Jesus meet with me on a long, lonely road? Was I “blinded by the light” that blinded Saul? In physical terms, of course not. But in spiritual terms, neither of these analogies is too far removed from the truth!
My “road” consisted of a self-imposed exile. For years I denied my faith. Finally, led by the hand of friendship, I discovered that I really could fully be the person that God made and intended me to be, whilst both maintaining and practising my faith in the Lord Jesus. This truly was a revelation to me! It was akin to the Lord revealing Himself to the disciples in today’s Reading: and it had an equally profound and lasting effect. Faith can be lost if the heart does not ordain the destination!
Whilst it may be wrong to suggest that I now fully know the paths that I will take in my life, I do at least know that my heart, inspired by Jesus, will lead me to my ultimate destination: salvation with and through Jesus the Christ!
Conclusion
The disciples whom we earlier heard about failed to recognise Jesus when He approached and walked with them, because their faith in Him had died with His death.
We are not told why they were going to Emmaus, but the fact alone that they were on a journey is significant even to modern readers of the scriptures. We are all on our own voyages, our own journeys of discovery and self-discovery, our own paths to true enlightenment, especially when this is through faith in Jesus Christ.
We may not know the roads that we will have to travel; we may frequently get lost. Without doubt, some of us will find that we have been going entirely the wrong way, and need to change direction. Some will be clear about the precise path, whilst others will need help from friends, from maps, from the AA, from GPS, or from Christ Himself.
Yet, irrespective of how often we might get lost, if we maintain our faith in Jesus and make Him our goal, if we ensure that He remains our life’s ambition, we are certain to come safely to the end of the journey, and to find peace and eternity with Him.
As we travel the roads of our lives, we must do so in faith, in hope and in love. And we should constantly promise Him one thing: “Jesus, I am coming home!”
Amen.
(John Stanway)
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.