What are you discussing together as you   walk along? Luke 24:17

Easter was several weeks ago but it seems much longer ago, even months. Spring is here in the mountains with blustery winds and still quite cool night-time temperatures. April showers and May flowers, as the saying goes, don’t necessarily follow the order of the calendar. Liturgically, the Church moves into the season of Pentecost as believers anticipate the Holy Spirit’s outpouring on all flesh as prophesied by Joel and promised by Jesus for His disciples.

I, however, am still caught up in the Easter events because Jesus’ Resurrection is our ongoing story and eternal salvation. My mind can’t fully comprehend the glory  of Jesus’ death. resurrection and ascension to heaven. By faith, I know He ascended to the right Hand of the Father with all power and authority to rule the heavens and the earth. It is enough for me right now to simply believe, not analyze mysteries of the divine Kingdom with  my limited understanding.

God’s Word has drawn me back repeatedly into Luke’s post-resurrection account of two disciples meeting the risen Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. It is Sunday and they are leaving Jerusalem after the violence of the crucifixion. They are tired, disappointed, discouraged and afraid. They were quietly discussing Jesus’ death and how He wasn’t the Messiah they’d hoped for. They simply want to go home to Emmaus and normalcy. With each step, they leave Jerusalem – and their hope for liberation – behind them. Jesus enters their conversation on the road and then illuminates all of prophecy and the Scriptures. He opens the eyes of their hearts to what happened in Jerusalem, and why. Jesus draws them back toward Himself with great gentleness and even gives some rabbi-like chiding for their lack of faith. After breaking bread with them in Emmaus, He disappears from their midst. Jesus knew exactly what these two disciples needed to restore their faith in Him. They needed Him!

Amazingly, the two disciples “got up at once and returned to Jerusalem” the same Sunday night. The day was almost gone, it was seven miles back to Jerusalem and it would be their second trip of the day. They’re longer tired, depressed and afraid, but now with hearts on fire as Jesus spoke with them on the road. They return to the Eleven disciples to share their exciting news. Luke doesn’t say, but I imagine that these two disciples remained with the others in prayer and fasting until the Promise came.

There are seasons when we Christians find ourselves walking away from a type of Jerusalem on the Emmaus Road. Sometimes, I’m filled with disappointments that my life or calling or ministry or family or church isn’t what I was expecting. I’ve become disillusioned with outcomes, anxious about “what’s next” and question God’s purposes for me. The road leading away from Jerusalem beckons me like a crooked finger to whatever is familiar and safe.

The problem is that when we walk away from “our pain filled Jerusalem “ we also walk away from the cross of Jesus who commanded us to follow Him daily. If I find myself on any road where the cross of Christ is overshadowed by flesh or the devil, may God’s grace, and an angel or two, turn me around again to go back.

The two disciples did not return to their brethren in their former hopeless mind- sets. Their hearts burned because they had encountered the One, the Messiah for whom they’d been waiting and longing. And Jesus changed everything for them in that seven mile walk.

We  never return to the same life we left or to the Jerusalem we knew before. The road trip  is always transformative.  We go back to living   either as victims or conquerors. I believe that whenever we choose to return to Jerusalem, to whatever, whenever and wherever Jesus says, “follow Me”,we can come back with renewed vision, illuminated minds, divine strength and spiritual clarity because Jesus has been with us on the road and speaks to us. The Holy Spirit awaits our return with new fire.