And that’s the whole point, isn’t it?

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Luke 24:13-35

Now on that same day two of them 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.

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A young man, name of Mike, had had a bad year. It began with his mother getting sick, and although they had expected her to recover, she had weakened and died.

Then his sister had called him and told him that she and her husband were getting a divorce.

Then he had been working on the roof, and as he was coming down the ladder, he stepped off – two rungs from the ground – fell and broke his ankle.

And to cap it all off, he had heard from the Income Tax department about the Tax return he had so meticulously worked on. He didn’t get the refund he had been counting on. He got a letter asking him to send in the back-up to his last two year’s returns, for audit.

So now, he was sitting on a bus, heading for the coast, to take a couple of week’s holiday, to try and settle his mind, to recuperate, but most of all, to try and put his life back into some sort of order.

He chose a seat near the back of the bus hoping not to be disturbed. He wanted to read his book, or to sleep. He didn’t want company. He just wanted to be quiet.

But a large man with two suitcases, and a couple of shopping bags, was pushing his way down the aisle, saying “Sorry. Sorry,” to the people he brushed against with all his stuff, and seemed to be heading Mike’s way.

Mike pretended to be asleep, but he couldn’t help peeking when he heard the grunts and the sighs as this big passenger rammed his stuff into the overhead luggage rack.

The man sat down, right next to Mike.

So Mike closed his eyes again, and tried to sleep. But it was hard. The big guy was taking up more than his fair share of seat, and Mike was feeling a bit claustrophobic.

“I’m Maurice,” Mike heard. Then again, “ I’m Maurice,” and Mike wondered who the guy was talking to, so he opened his eyes, just for a moment, and he saw the man was talking to him.

With his hand outstretched, the big guy said again, “Hi, I’m Maurice.”

“Oh, ….Mike,” he said, reluctantly taking the other’s hand, and receiving a firm, but friendly shake.

Well, to make a long story short, and it was going to be long, because Maurice was going the whole way, they got into conversation. Mike realized he would have no choice, so he resigned himself to listening to this bore.

Turned out that Maurice wasn’t a bore, really. He had a ready smile, and a look of happy serenity about him. And somehow Mike found himself doing most of the talking. He told Maurice about his terrible year, his own temporary disablement, and the feeling he had that his life had fallen apart.

Maurice appeared to be genuinely interested in what Mike had to say. He listened quietly, made encouraging noises along the way, with his eyes always on Mike.

About noon, the bus stopped for passengers to get off to buy refreshments if they wished, but Maurice rummaged in one of his bags, and pulled out two packages of sandwiches. He offered one to Mike. It seemed so natural a gesture that Mike accepted. Maurice pulled two cans of coke out of the same bag and handed one over.

Mike opened the can and was just about to put it to his mouth when Maurice asked, kind of shyly, “Do you mind if I say grace?”

“Oh….. yes…. go ahead,” said Mike, wondering if he should close his eyes, and if the other passengers would think them crazy or something, but he went along with it.

Maurice gave thanks for the food, and asked God’s blessings on it; then he did a remarkable thing. With eyes still closed, he asked that God would bless his new friend Mike, and help him see beyond his troubles to a brighter and happier life.

And Mike felt moved by that, and although he was a bit embarrassed, he thanked Maurice.

They ate in silence, then Maurice put away the cans and wrappings, and settled down to sleep.

Mike wanted to ask Maurice about himself. He felt bad that he had seemed to be the only one talking.

But the big guy’s eyes were closed, and there was nothing for it but to try and sleep himself. There would be plenty of time to talk to Maurice before they got off the bus when they reached the coast.

He dropped off right away.

In what seemed like a only second later, he was awakened by the bus driver shaking him, and saying, “We are here. Time to get off.”

Mike looked around and the bus was empty, except for him and the driver. All the passengers, including his new friend Maurice, had disembarked.

He got up, took his bag and got off the bus.

The sun was shining. He could smell the sea. He felt excited, and relaxed, all at the same time. He squared his shoulders. His mind was at ease. It was as if he had left the darkness of his life behind, at home. As if a burden had been lifted.

He felt ….better….healed?

It seems to me that is how we meet Jesus – he comes to us in our life’s journey. He comes to us when we need him most. Like a friend he drops in for a short while. It is like being with someone who really understands you.

He is there for a while, as we need him, then slips off, leaving us to try it on our own.

To see what we can make of it.

That’s what happened on the road to Emmaus, isn’t it? The two men – we read that they were disciples – were walking along, depressed, eyes downcast, when a man fell into step with them, kind of joining them on the road.

He listened for a while as they told him of their sorrows, and their feelings of defeat – they had expected something else of their rabbi, Jesus. They had thought he would bring about a transformation of Israel, and restore the old glory. Isn’t that what the scriptures had foretold?

But this stranger told them about the prophets, and explained to them how the Messiah would come, and would be rejected by his own people, and would be mistreated, and would have to die on a tree, but would rise again, and bring another kind of glory to the world.

This Messiah would live and act and be, in a way that glorified God.

And would enable others to glorify God.

(How much better it would have been throughout history if people, instead of seeking to glorify their country, or their clan, or tribe, had instead been about glorifying God? )

The two travelers didn’t recognize the stranger as Jesus until he broke bread with them.

But they had been helped on their journey, not the physical journey – although his presence must have made the seven mile walk from Jerusalem less tedious – but in their life’s journey, which was soon to include going out into the world and telling people about their Lord.

And they would continue to be helped on their life’s journey by the spirit of Christ within them.

Then he was gone.

He would be always within call – within prayer – as it were – he had always promised that – but they were now to take their knowledge of him, and his teachings, and the example of his life, and help bring others to know him as they knew him

Help others to want to be more like Jesus.

It wasn’t quite their time yet, of course. They were still to receive the Holy Spirit; still to be energized, if you like; still to be empowered to do the big job that Jesus had given them.

But they would always remember this time, the time they spent with Jesus, on the road to Emmaus. They had met their Lord, again – a man declared dead, buried, and supposed to be forgotten.

They had witnessed Christ alive. The Risen Christ.

They could say without doubt, and they did say it, on their return to Jerusalem, “He lives! “He lives.”

Meanwhile, back at the seaside, Mike, breathing the sea air, felt renewed. He had met Christ. Living in his erstwhile friend, Maurice.

The two disciples who had met Jesus on that dusty road, along with the other disciples, were not given rules to live by. If you remember, Jesus had merely said, “Love others as I have loved you.”

And they would try to be like him, live like him. In fact some of them went to their deaths, like him. But by his example, they had also learned how to shoulder another’s burden.

The way Maurice had shouldered Mike’s burden.

There are a few lessons for us here, aren’t there?

One is that we ought to try and live as Jesus did.

Another is that we should be ready to share someone else’s burden.

Another is that we should be open to finding Jesus in others, and in ourselves….

…..and that Jesus comes to us, in whatever guise, when we most need him.

And again, he may just put us on the same road as someone else – someone who needs us to be Jesus.

See, it’s not all taking, nor is it all giving. And that’s a good job, because there are times when we need help and there are times when we can give help.

And he seems to put us in the right place at the right time, as either giver, or receiver, of his blessings.

A Canadian soldier, in London at the end of the war, walking among the bombed-out ruins, was struck by the number of orphan children living there. Street kids in what was left of the streets.

He came to an area where a few shops were still standing, and smelled the unmistakable aroma of fresh baked bread. There was a bakery shop, and there was a young boy, tattered and mucky, with his face pressed against the bakery window. The glass was steamy from the heat of the ovens. And that smell of freshly baked bread wafted out through the open door.

The boy saw the baker bring a tray of freshly baked confections and place them in a glass display case in the window. He sighed loudly, and rubbed his empty stomach.

The soldier, on an impulse went over to the urchin and asked him, “Would you like one of those?”

“ I really would, mister.”

So he went in and bought a dozen, came out and gave the bag to the boy.

As he walked away, the little boy caught up with him, grabbed his sleeve, and as the soldier turned to see what was up, asked, “Are you God?”

At that moment, at that time, in that little boy’s life, that Canadian soldier was God, wasn’t he?