As we all know, the Gospels include a number of stories about people seeing Jesus after his resurrection – conversations in the garden outside the tomb; interactions behind locked doors where the disciples were huddled in fear; long and meaningful interactions over a breakfast on the beach. Some of those resurrection appearances occupy only a few verses, others present longer narratives, but none present as long a continuous story as the one that we find in today’s reading about the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
On the most literal level, we can read the story as simply a story – a recounting of a specific incident. The questions that such a literal reading invites us to ask are fairly straightforward – what happened?
But when we reflect, a bit deeper, on such texts, we cannot help but ask ourselves other questions – why was this story of the two individuals walking along the road to Emmaus written down? What was the author trying to convey? And are there meanings and messages for our life and for our faith, even today?
They are big questions. But they are worth asking.
When we begin to ask these deeper questions of the text, it can be good to remember that the Gospel texts were written, in the form that we now have them, a number of decades after the incidents that they describe. Although there is some debates about the dates when the earliest manuscripts were composed, it is generally agreed that the earliest of the Gospel accounts – namely, the Gospel of Mark – was probably written around the year 70; and that the next two Gospels, Matthew and Luke, were probably written in the 80s or 90s.
If Jesus’ death and resurrection took place somewhere around the year 33, as it would come to be designated, and although there may have been oral, or perhaps even written accounts, of the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in existence prior to the compilation of stories into what we now know as the Gospel of Luke, it is interesting – and perhaps important – to realize that this story was likely written at least 50 years after the events that it recounts.
To put this into some kind of perspective, it is as if an author were to sit down, this afternoon, and write a story about an event that happened in or around 1967.
In reading the story, we would know that the author had a very specific intention for writing the story, and for including the various details that she did. As such, our questions about such a story, from 1967, would be ones about meaning rather than a preoccupation with details. Why did the author choose this story? What meanings is the author trying to reveal or to convey to us – not simply about what happened so long ago, but for life today?
So how do we read Luke’s story differently when we remember that each and every detail likely had – and has – both a descriptive or narrative purpose, and a metaphorical or spiritual meaning?
One of the first details that is worth noting is that the two disciples are on a journey. While such a situation makes sense, in purely descriptive terms, there can be a different layer of meaning when we remember that the earlies followers of Jesus frequently described themselves as the people of “the Way???. Even before the words “church??? or “Christians??? were used, it was common for Jesus’ followers to refer to themselves as people of the Way.
And the two disciples in today’s story were – like all of the members of the early church – on the way. The crucifixion had taken place, they had heard the various claims about an empty tomb and appearances of the risen Jesus; but they found themselves perplexed, confused, uncertain of what it all meant, what could actually be believed, and why such terrible things had happened to Jesus.
And in the midst of their confusion, their perplexity, and their questions, they were on the way to Emmaus.
Again, it is interesting to note that archaeologists and historians are not entirely sure where the village of Emmaus may have been located. This is the only reference to Emmaus in the Bible, and references to it in other ancient literature are infrequent and somewhat unclear. But there may be deeper meanings to be found in this ambiguity about the actual location of Emmaus.
Poets and preachers and theologians throughout the ages have derived significant latitude from the lack of clarity about where Emmaus was actually located, inviting readers instead to ask questions of ourselves – that is, where is our Emmaus? That is, where do we find ourselves heading if and when life presents us with situations and circumstances that challenge our understandings of what we believe, and even our assumptions about how the world is supposed to work? Where do we want to get to, or where do we find ourselves wandering when perplexity, confusion and incomprehensible questions confront us? Our Emmaus roads may not be a physical or geographical place, but rather a spiritual or metaphorical location – those two disciples were trying to get back home to the safety and certainty of Emmaus in the midst of their confusion and perplexity. So where is our Emmaus?
Only one of the two disciples is named, as Cleopas. Cleopas is not a significant character in any other part of the New Testament, leaving us with very little insight into who he was or what significance we might attach to the fact that he appears in this long post-resurrection story.
But we know even less about his travelling companion. Of course, from a narrative perspective, this leaves us with an intriguing possibility – that of imagining who this other character could be. Many, over the course of the centuries, have even suggested that the anonymity of this second traveler invites us into the story. If we – you or I – see ourselves in the role of that unnamed traveler, how would we be trying to comprehend all that we had seen and experienced?
In any case, the two were discussing what had happened, and eventually they expressed their disbelief that the strange companion, who mysteriously joined them on the way, did not seem to know what had taken place, in Jerusalem, over the past few days.
But, then, one of the story’s first ‘twists’ is revealed. That is, the two disciples might have expressed their surprise and disbelief that their companion did not know what had just happened, but suddenly, their strange companion began to express his surprise and disbelief that they did not understand what had just taken place. “Oh, how foolish you are, and so slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared…???
Although his true identity was still unknown to them, Jesus walked them through the Scriptures to help them to realize how they could come to understand the meaning of the cross, and the resurrection — and in fact all of the Messiah’s work — against the backdrop of hundreds of years of history, poetry, prophecy and law.
The story’s description of Jesus’ explanation about how his followers were to read the Hebrew Scriptures offers us an important insight into an essential dimension of Christian faith and spirituality – that is, that we are meant to remember that the Hebrew Scriptures offer us the interpretive “lens??? for understanding who the Messiah, or the Christ, was, and what he had come to accomplish. Without the framework of the Hebrew Scriptures, we cannot understand the meaning of Jesus.
This is an important, yet somewhat complex and potentially controversial insight into Christian use of the Hebrew Scriptures, or what we as Christians refer to as the Old Testament. While it is vitally important for us to read the Old Testament in relation to Jesus, there are challenges and pitfalls, not only for the ways that we interpret those ancient passages, but also because of the misinterpretations that can lead to strained and sometimes even conflicted perspectives on the relationship between Jewish and Christian people. Even as we accept that the Hebrew Scriptures contribute to, and shape our understandings of who Jesus was, we must also remember that those passages have an integrity within themselves, and within the history of Jewish interpretation. As Christians, Jesus is the interpretive lens through which we understand the Hebrew Scriptures – but that does not mean that every passage from the Hebrew Scriptures has to be understood to be about Jesus.
Nonetheless, the intention of the author of Luke, in today’s story, seemed to be to remind his readers – both those of his own time, and even of our own – that the ancient Hebrew Scriptures were an essential and revelatory “lens??? through which to understand the meaning of the Messiah. Look to those old passages, the author was suggesting, and you will begin to understand what Jesus was all about.
But even then, the two disciples did not fully realize who their companion actually was. They reached Emmaus. The night was coming, so they invited Jesus in to stay with them rather than making him continue his journey. He accepted their invitation.
And that is when another intriguing ‘twist’ in the story is introduced. By inviting him into their home, they were his hosts; but when he entered their home it was he, in turn, who started playing the host. He took bread, he blessed and broke it, he gave it to them, and their eyes were opened and suddenly they realized who it was who had been with them the whole time.
Again, as Christians, we cannot help but read these words within the context of our understanding of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. Next Sunday, in fact, we will once again gather together in this place, and break bread, and share the cup, and remember what Jesus has done for us. And to hope, as these two disciples experienced, that we might catch a glimpse, however fleeting, of Jesus’ real presence among us.
Which, again, is a very intentional “signal??? that the author of Luke is including in this story – that the presence of the risen Christ can be experienced in the breaking of the bread.
And, with that, the two disciples realized who had been with them; and they went to tell the other disciples, and the world, what they had seen and heard.
So why was this story written down, and told, for the past two thousand years?
Consider the various messages that the author of Luke weaves into this seemingly simple story.
Christ is risen. That is what we claim. But if it is true, where is he to be found?
Well, you may not always realize that he is with you.
But look for him when you find yourself in the midst of conversations with seeming strangers, on the way – perhaps especially when you cannot make sense of the confusing and perplexing eventualities of life. He may just be walking with you, speaking with you in the voice of a seeming stranger.
Look for him in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, as you wrestle with their meanings and their messages. They may be helping you to begin to see and understand his presence. So read them carefully.
Look for him when you extend hospitality to strangers. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
Look for him in the breaking of the bread. There are mysteries to behold in even the simplest things – a loaf of bread, a cup of wine. This is my body; this is my blood; do this in remembrance of me.
Look for him. Christ is risen. He is alive.
He is on the way. And he is looking for you.
Amen.
