Luke 24:13 Now that
same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles
from Jerusalem. 14 They were
talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these
things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing
him. 17 He asked them,
"What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood
still, their faces downcast. 18
One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to
Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these
days?" 19 "What
things?" he asked. "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.
"He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the
people. 20 The chief priests and
our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the
one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since
all this took place. 22 In
addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning
23 but didn't find his body.
They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was
alive. 24 Then some of our
companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him
they did not see." 25 He
said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the
prophets have spoken! 26 Did not
the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27 And beginning with Moses and all
the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures
concerning himself. 28 As they
approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he
were going farther. 29 But they
urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost
over." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks,
broke it and began to give it to them. 31
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from
their sight. 32 They asked each
other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on
the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found
the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has
appeared to Simon." 35 Then
the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them
in the breaking of bread.
How did
the writer of Luke’s Gospel know Jesus? If we go with the traditional understanding,
Luke was a convert of St. Paul; his Gospel was likely written in the mid to
late 80s AD. Luke the investigator and narrator of the Jesus story—Luke the one
who told the world about Gabriel’s visit to Mary, Jesus being left behind in
Jerusalem at age 12, and those wonderful parables of the Lord about the Good
Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, …. THAT LUKE… had no more intimate relationship
with Jesus than his readers did. What’s more, THAT LUKE had no more intimate
relationship with Jesus than WE DO.
Now
& then it’s important to remind ourselves of this detail. It is so easy for
us to think of ourselves as ‘impoverished’ to some extent because while we can
sing about the Lord “walking and talking with us along life’s narrow way”…. we
know that we cannot experience it in the physical world. As we confess in the
creeds, he ascended into heaven and is
seated at the right hand of the Father. His relationship with his Church
has been different since that day. It’s been BIGGER; ETERNAL; and UNIVERSAL…. but
different nonetheless.
This is
part of the beauty of Luke’s gospel. Though he lived 2000 years ago…. approximately the same time as Jesus,
that approximation does not get him any closer to the physical Lord than we
are.
And so, two key verses pop out at me in
the Emmaus Road story:
--They
asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked
with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (v32) In other
words, the power of Christ in THE WORD. The power of Christ in the Word… the
ability for our hearts STILL to burn within us when we encounter Jesus in the
Word of Scripture is something that transcends the Ascension; it’s something
that transcends time and space.
The
Bible is a LOT of things, but occasionally I get perturbed when well-meaning
Christians get side-tracked trying to PROVE its historical or scientific
viability. To be clear, to the extent that our salvation depends on
historically or scientifically verifiable detail, we can rest assured God’s word will not return void. Yet
having said that, I find it to be misdirected that some people have drawn lines
in the sand and made these issues the MAIN point of the Bible. They are not.
The Bible is first and foremost a JESUS STORY. It is about HIM. HE is its
content, plot, and story; not science, and not history. When we remember this,
and open our Scriptures… either in public worship or private devotion, we can
rest assured that through the work of the Spirit, WE TOO can encounter, and
know the risen/ascended Christ. Our hearts can also burn with this love and
knowledge.
And then the other verse: Then the two told what had happened on the
way, and how Jesus was recognized by them in the breaking of bread (v35).
Of course within the narrative itself, the meaning of this sentence is likely
that they had supper together; bread & fish, or whatever. But who among
Luke’s readers within the context of the
worship service of the Church could not hear this verse sacramentally? The meaning becomes crystal clear. The
excitement of those Emmaus Road disciples that had dinner with the risen Lord
is translated to the thrill,
excitement, peace, joy, and renewal that the Church of all ages can experience
through sharing the sacramental meal OF AND WITH the risen/ascended Lord. We
STILL recognize him in the breaking of bread!
It’s passages such as this that
convince me of the richness of the sacramental tradition. How, for instance,
would a non-sacramental church interpret such a verse? If one negates the
mystical/sacramental element, all one is left with is the fact that either (a)
those original Emmaus Road disciples had something special and the rest of us
are impoverished—a position I’ve been trying hard to argue against in this
article--**OR… the greatest experiential thing that can happen in the Church
would be the ‘pot luck dinner’… an actual, real, meal. As much as I enjoy a
good church pot luck dinner, however, I prefer taking the sacramental view.
And so not surprisingly, when all is
said and done, what we’re left with is WORD & SACRAMENT. The dual
focus/ministry of the Church. One is not greater than the other; one should not
displace the other; both are legitimate ways of encountering the risen/ascended
Christ. It is in this reality that St. Luke lived his Christian faith; it is in
this reality that his readers lived their Christian faith; it is also what is
offered to us to live in our Christian faith.
Cheers,
T.M.
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