I reckon there is an awful lot of people around at the moment dealing with broken dreams and shattered hopes. I know I am. Chances are, you had plans or schemes in mind that have now been thrown into chaos thanks to the pandemic. Whether it was something major like a wedding or holiday being cancelled or something as everyday as a weekly catch up with a friend in your favourite café, things have not turned out as we’d hoped. Therefore, we are feeling disappointed, frustrated or angry (or even a mix of all three). I suppose one upside to this is that it doesn’t take a lot for us to empathise with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that we encounter in our reading today.
These two are returning home after being in Jerusalem with Jesus and the disciples for the Passover. They had followed Jesus there as they believed He was the Messiah, the one to redeem all of Israel. Instead of seeing a glorious revolution, they witnessed Jesus being betrayed, tortured and executed by the very people He was supposed to be overthrowing. So dejected, they head off thinking it was all for nothing. But as they go, they encounter Jesus who explains that God’s plan was always to redeem Israel through His suffering. Rather than His death signalling failure, His death reveals He is the Messiah and that He has fulfilled God’s plan. They had not only misunderstood scripture, they had failed to see Jesus next to them because they could only see their own misery and disappointment based on their limited view of the world.
There’s a lot in here for us today. Firstly, there is the same concern that we are closing ourselves to the meaning of scripture. Jesus is clear that all scripture points to Himself and what He will do. Instead of relying on our own limited understanding, assuming we know what it means or taking another person’s word for it, we should be seeking God’s wisdom in every situation we are in. Secondly, we are all feeling frustrated and disappointed over our plans not coming to anything. If we remain looking inwards at our sense of loss, we miss Jesus walking beside us in our misery. It takes a lot of strength to lift up our heads at a time like this, but if we can, we will see Jesus active in our lives and communities. We will know the presence of Jesus as close to us as our next breath as He speaks life and peace into this current situation.