We have a living hope
“But we had hoped … “ (Luke 24:21)
Guest Writer
The Rev. Don Follis
Caravaggio supper at emmaus. National Gallery London
The Gospel reading the week after Easter is the story of Jesus traveling on the road to Emmaus with Cleopas and his companion. The story has been rolling over in my mind for days. I always have been drawn to Caravaggio's famous painting of the two travelers and Jesus finally having reached their destination. The painting immediately draws my gaze to the disciple at the table sitting to Jesus' left. Gripping the table with both hands, he is transfixed. You can feel his heart burning within him.
With the coronavirus traveling the globe, I feel more than ever that I am on the Emmaus Road, along with all of humankind. Just this morning I lay in bed imagining the throngs packed on the road of life all wearing masks as they journey along. What a spectacle.
Even behind our masks, our conversations nearly all start the same: “Well, when is this coronavirus pandemic going to settle down?”
“I hope by tomorrow,” my 7-year-old neighbor girl said to me, standing in my yard. “I want everything to be normal TOMORROW.” She screamed TOMORROW into the air. “I want to go see my Grandma and Grandpa.”
Standing just 10 feet away was her dad. Dressed in his brown work fatigues, he is a 43-year-old UPS driver. The conversation quickly moved from the coronavirus to his health. He needs a kidney transplant now. He has two potential donors. Just yesterday he spent all day getting final testing at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He said, “I had sure hoped this disease would not have progressed so quickly. But, it is what it is. I just know I have 6 kids, and they need their dad.”
“I am so sorry,” I said. "It really stinks.”
“Pray for me,” he said, walking over to me and sticking out his left elbow, as I stuck out my right elbow, until our elbows touched.
The neighbor on the other side of my house was in his yard later that evening. He always updates me on his wife’s early onset Alzheimer’s. She’s 68 and a recently retired accountant. In his worried voice, he says, “I sure had hoped we could travel the way we always had planned.”
I said, “I am so sorry. It really stinks.”
Without question, the looming coronavirus is filling people on the 2020 Emmaus Road with frustration, anger, uncertainty, worry and fear. It’s no wonder people are saying, “But we had hoped.” Indeed, our voices are joining those of the original disciples on the Emmaus Road who said to Jesus, “…but we had hoped He was the one who would redeem Israel?”
Cleopas and his companion told their story to Jesus. Jesus wanted to hear them. And he wants to hear our stories, too. This one on the road with us -- the Risen Lord -- still is a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He mourns with us when we mourn (Romans 12:15).
But friends, remember, ours is not the only story. Jesus has his story to tell, too.
When the risen Jesus tells his story – to Cleopas and his traveling companion, and now to us many centuries later – we suddenly know our Emmaus Road is a sacred road.
Jesus’ story is like none we have ever heard. His is a story that finds its place in the sweeping arc of hope and divine love that spans the ages. When we let His story sink into our bones, whatever our particular circumstances, our hearts burn as we hear the words of our Living Hope.
The truth and the challenge for Easter people like us is to remember that Jesus is weaving our story into his grander story. So, whatever your Emmaus Road looks like today, may the Spirit of Jesus come alongside your spirit, filling you with faith, hope and love. May he make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He turn His face toward you, and give you peace.
The Rev. Don Follis, pastor in Champaign-Urbana, IL. You can read about his ministry to pastors and his blog @ donfollis.com."