Being alone.
We’ve all probably had that experience at one time or another. Now, I’m not talking about being devoid of people around us in a physical sense. I’m talking about that sense in our heart of hearts. When we’ve just had a big party leave our home and we clean up. Perhaps we’ve just attended a funeral of a close relative and everyone has gone back home. Maybe we are just home alone, and it is rather unusual, and there is a storm that is rolling up to the west, and causing us just a little more fear and anxiety. It’s a feeling that likely most of us have experienced in some form or another, and it truly is unsettling.
Yet, that is something of a reality for our own human condition, but it is also a reality for us in faith as well. Many times, our faith will feel fully alive, and we will feel Christ’s presence in our hearts. Perhaps we will be filled with joy and with exuberance at our faith, and we have a passion and conviction in going forward and telling the world about it. Yet, what happens when that passion is gone? What happens when everything seems to fall into ruins around us and we are left wondering where it all went wrong? What happens when such great evils confront us- and we are left hurt, upset, or perhaps angry with God- wondering “Why God, would you let this happen?!”
What happens when we become like the disciples walking the road to Emmaus, and we ask the question, “Where is our God?” and we wonder and search for Him?
As we continue the season of Easter, the first reading for us this evening\morning starts out in the Acts of the Apostles. Peter is filled with newfound conviction in the Gospel, and this shows quite easily every time we hear him speaking, because he is not just speaking in times and ways that are comfortable, but even in ways that are rather uncomfortable, and to people that may not be ready to hear his message. He is going out and preaching the truth- and continuously at this point, as we focus on the Resurrection. He goes up in the faces of the Jews, and announces to them how Jesus was given to them, and how He was mighty in word and deed, and how He did and performed so many mighty wonders and signs. Yet, eventually there comes a breaking point- and some of the lead men of the community at the time had delivered Jesus over to death- using lawless men.
Yet, that is not the end of the story- because God raised Him up in a new way- a very real and powerful way. Here, Peter ties in David- and reminds them of the way that Jesus fulfilled that same strength that David gave witness and testimony too. Yet, eventually, it comes to pass that David was not the strong one, but it was, in fact, Jesus who was the most strong. Jesus, though He was once in our midst, and eventually overcame the hardship and the impossibility of death, now lives eternally, but because of this, there is the promise that Jesus was not abandoned to death- but rose again.
We move on to the second reading, and we rejoin the First Letter of Peter, who is still speaking powerfully in regards to the fact that we are sojourning- or that we are on a journey. Yet, he does not wish the reader of his letter to simply crumple in fear because of this time of sojourning, but He wants them to cling to the need to act with reverence. To acknowledge God and His teachings- and to realize that we are redeemed from futile- or worthless- conduct. We are to be a people washed in the blood of Christ- and to be spotless. Yet, we are again reminded- He was given to be raised from the dead and given glory, and that we are given, through this, faith and hope in God. Thus, Peter again reiterates that the Resurrection is a challenge to live out- but one to live out in faith and hope.
Finally, we arrive at the Gospel with tells of the Road to Emmaus. This is a sort of classic encounter that occurs after the Resurrection, and it is striking, simply because these two disciples- these followers of Christ that would supposedly be able to identify Him quite easily- are unable to see Jesus. The encounter starts out simply enough- there were two disciples going from Jerusalem to Emmaus- and they were talking about all that had happened. Eventually Jesus walks up and joins them on their journey, and as He approaches, He asks them what they are discussing as they walk along. They barely raise their eyes- as they are tremendously downcast at this time- and they speak of the things that had happened to Jesus. They are filled with bitter disappointment- and therefore when they speak you can feel the sorrow that is there.
The turning point in this entire Gospel is a sort of rebuke of them by Jesus- oh how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! He starts to break down the scriptures and begins to relate to them all that had been said and how it all started to tell the story of Jesus and how He was not only to be great in deed and in word- but even in death would he also be great. So Jesus relates all of these things- and with such grace that the disciples want Him to stay with them. They sit down, He breaks bread with them, and immediately their eyes are opened to who has been walking with them all along- Jesus Himself. At this moment, the encounter with Jesus ends as He vanishes- and disappears before them. They then are filled with such joy and admiration for what has just happened that they go and tell the disciples- who have also have encountered the Lord as well.
Yet, as great as this encounter may have been- is it something for us to recount and recall as well? The disciples are going along- they are downcast, and feel as if they have been abandoned by their Lord. What are they to do? Eventually, in the midst of their misery and confusion- the Lord appears to them. Even in the midst of being alone- and wondering where the Lord is- eventually the Lord does appear and reveal Himself to them!
The reality of what we are being given right now is that simple reminder to each of us- first that we too are on a sojourn- a type of journey. We are going from one place to another- and we likely can guess and are informed by faith of where the final destination is to be- the kingdom of Heaven and union with God. That is something of a tremendous calling and one that really calls us forward into a new way of thinking as Peter reminds us.
Yet, if we are approaching heaven, shouldn’t life feel like heaven? If we are doing things rightly and living out the commandments, praying, and doing what we feel we are supposed to do, aren’t we going to experience a much better form of life? Aren’t we always going to feel as if our Lord and our God is with us and stepping right alongside us? Well, sometimes yes, and sometimes no.
The reality of the road to Emmaus, brothers and sisters, is a reminder that our Lord is always with us, whether we feel it or not. Certainly, if we always felt that our Lord was with us at every waking moment, it would be easy to live out faith. If we never felt that we were alone, we would never have to seek to enter into that relationship more deeply. If we felt that our God was always visible to us, we would never wonder if we were blind or missing something. Yet, the thing is, our God may not always feel like He is with us. He may, at times feel like He is far away, or that He is such a distance- perhaps even lightyears- away. We may feel as if He is mad at us, or upset with us, and so He has left us to whatever comes our way- or perhaps given us a bad way to go. Yet, that is not true at all. The road to Emmaus was a journey- and it was one that was leading them away from the promised city of Jerusalem- yet, our Lord encountered them and reminded them of His presence- even when they had doubts, and when they were alone, confused and afraid.
And perhaps, brothers and sisters, that is my last point for this weekend. We are a people of hope and faith. This does not mean that pain, grief, suffering, anger, or frustration will ever come our way. What it does mean though is that our God will never abandon us, even in the times when we feel alone, lost, confused, or afraid. Jesus appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and He wishes to appear to each one of us as well.
Brothers and sisters, we are never abandoned- and Christ has never been defeated, no matter how bleak things may look. May we always seek after Him, no matter where the journey of life takes us, or how bleak or downcast we may be. Truly we are never alone, and our risen Lord is always with us- especially when we need Him most.
