All That We Do Not Know

Scripture — Luke 24:13-35 (NRSV)

Now on that same day two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?”

They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Devotion

In the Episcopal lectionary, certain Gospel stories are always heard at certain times during the Easter season. On the Second Sunday of Easter (last Sunday, April 12), we hear the story of Christ’s appearance to Thomas, and on the Third Sunday of Easter (coming up on April 19), we hear the story of the Road to Emmaus. (It’s also commonly prescribed to be read on Easter evening—which is when it actually happened—but most churches don’t have a service at that time unless they are very large.)

As with the miracle story of the raising of Lazarus which I wrote about last time I was a Life for Leaders writer, the story almost stands on its own and it’s hard to find something to say about it that it doesn’t already say itself. Nevertheless, something struck me this time around as I was looking at it in conjunction with the Acts passage from yesterday. Everybody in this story thinks that everybody else in the story is clueless.

Think about it. Cleopas and his fellow traveler (who many scholars think may be his wife Mary, referred to in John 19:25) don’t recognize Jesus. And Jesus presents himself as not knowing anything that has just happened during Holy Week. It is the conjunction of both those things which fuels the narrative. Because Cleopas and Mary don’t recognize Jesus and because Jesus claims not to know the news, they share the story of their sadness. Because they share this sad story, Jesus is able to share with them how it fits into a much bigger story.

I talked yesterday about how Peter’s sermon in Acts lays out a template for later sermons in Acts as the Gospel spreads across the Mediterranean world: explain the background to the coming of Christ in terms the hearers can understand, and then confront the hearers with the claims of the Gospel. (This is, in fact, an excellent model for sermons in general.) Peter learned from the Master, however—literally—because Jesus follows this exact same model here, only with a tweak.

As his disciples will do later, Jesus explains how all the scriptures point to him. And as his disciples will do later, Jesus confronts people with his claim on their life. But he has no need to do so in words, because he himself is the Good News to which all the scriptures point. All he has to do is sit at table and break bread with them.

And then Cleopas and Mary suddenly experience an overwhelming transfer of the Resurrected Christ from a thing they do not know to a thing which they profoundly, transformingly, life-changingly know.

May it be so for us as well.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).