| [Q is a question asked of the congregation.]
Q : How many of you have been on a journey over Easter-time?
Q : How many of you used a sat nav to help you with it ?
In the Barr household, we've so far resisted the help of sat nav - it's still the old-fashioned atlas and also Mary's navigation!
Yet for many, sat nav is now viewed as essential, help for journeys that is increasingly relied on. Whether we use maps or sat navs, they imply that we aren't always very good at finding the way on our own, that we often need something or someone to guide us. And it's just the same with the journey of faith. We can't do it alone; we need someone alongside to help guide us on the journey. Those of you who are trying out the Maze in today's Young Church Mag may also need some help!
Today's Gospel which we've just heard is all about a journey - a journey to, and of, faith.
Q : Where did the journey begin, and where was it going to?
Q : How long was it? About the same as Malvern to Upton.
Q : Who were the two people making this journey? A man called Cleopas and someone else, quite possibly his wife.
Then we're told that they were joined by someone they didn't recognise at first.
Q : Who was it? Jesus. The Risen Lord didn't appear in a blaze of glory, or say to them 'Here I am - look at me!' Instead He came alongside them, and simply walked along with them in the direction they were going.
Q : What was the first thing He uttered? A question, not a statement: "What are you discussing with each other?" Jesus finds out what they're talking about - what's on their minds.
Just as a sat nav asks something before providing a route, so the journey of faith relies on questions before answers. It is not about ramming doctrine down people's throats or a crash course in theology. Rather it is about finding out where people are, in order that an appropriate course back home can be navigated.
The Start! Course is based on just that principle…
Q : Where were Cleopas and his companion on the journey of faith? Were they in a good, a happy place? No, they were devastated by what had happened to Jesus, who they regarded as "a prophet mighty in deed and word", the One they had hoped would "redeem Israel." The bearer of their hopes was crucified, dead and buried, and so were their dreams. And yet, now - on the third day - had come astonishing news that some women had been to His tomb earlier in the day, and had seen angels who said He was alive.
Having gauged where the two disciples were - or were not - on the journey of faith, we're told that Jesus then responded.
Q : How did He do that? He opened up the scriptures : "Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things about Himself in all the scriptures." Jesus helped them to enter into the story of God's people, to see it through the right end of the telescope. Like so many others, they had expected God's promised Messiah to redeem Israel from suffering, not through suffering.
Q : What effect did the words of Jesus have?
They made the disciples' hearts burn within them. What Jesus said, and the way that He said it, imparted truth into their hearts, and not just their heads. In a culture like ours today, which engages so much more with heart and gut than head, churches do well to learn from Jesus that truth needs to be imparted into the heart, as well as the head. And that the connection made with the heart may well come first. That was certainly the case for Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus.
When they got near the village, Luke tells us what happened next: "Jesus 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." And, offering hospitality, they shared in a meal.
Q : Can you remember the very first meal we're told about in the Bible? It is the one that Adam and Eve shared in the Garden of Eden : "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food … she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked" (Genesis 3 : 6,7). This story was told, over and over, as the event which marked the beginning of the woes that had come upon the human race. Death itself was traced to that moment of rebellion. From now on, the whole creation would be subjected to decay, futility and sorrow.
Now Luke, echoing that story, describes the first meal of the new creation: "When He was at table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised Him; and He vanished from their sight." The couple at Emmaus discover that the long curse has been broken. Death itself has been defeated. God's new creation, brimming with life and joy and new possibility, has burst in upon the world of decay and sorrow. And Jesus Himself, risen from the dead, is the beginning and the sign of this new world. Yet He isn't just alive again in the way that Lazarus was, who would have to face death again in due course. No, the One Cleopas and his companion recognised in the breaking of bread had gone through death and out the other side into a new world, a world of new and deathless creation, one that was still physical, but somehow transformed.
Q : What happened next? After a long hot tiring walk, you might have thought that the disciples would get an early night. But no, they were elated and re-energised to return at once to Jerusalem, in order to share the Good News with the others.
Their journey to faith also became a journey of faith. Faith that was for sharing, and also for living.
So it is with you and me. Wherever we find ourselves on life's journey, the Risen Lord seeks to walk with us, and to make Himself known to us. He still speaks to us through the Scriptures, and opens our eyes to His presence when we come to share in His Sacrament of bread and wine. And, like the first disciples, the Holy Spirit is also given to us by the Lord to be our inner sat nav, the One who seeks to guide us, and to help us share the good news of Jesus. For we, too, have a gospel to proclaim, good news for all throughout the earth; the gospel of a Saviour's name: we sing His glory, tell His worth.
John Barr
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