On the Road

 

Road trips.  Those two words evoke different feelings depending on the perspective of the person about to embark on one.   As a child, I remember being ecstatic when I learned that my family was about to take a road trip.  Most of our adventures were several hour-long trips from our home in New York City to the country in Upstate New York or out east to Long Island. The longest trip was a 1,100-mile journey to visit my grandparents in Florida. I remember hardly being able to sleep the night before.  The excitement of the adventure ahead would keep my eyes opened and the hours would tick by slowly.

Another type of road trip might not evoke the same excitement.  We can think of the salesperson, weighed down with worry over making a sales quota, on a business trip away from his family.  We can think of a truck driver trying to get his shipment delivered despite a dangerous and blinding snowstorm.

Or there is one family on the road to a family funeral, and another on the road to a family wedding.  The reality is all of these types of road trips likely happen simultaneously every single day on roads all around the world.  In fact, we are all on the individual roads of our lives, each of us getting from point A to point B, all with a different experience, all with a different perspective at any moment.

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus find themselves with a specific experience.  They find themselves with a specific perspective.  They had turned their whole lives over to Jesus.  They were expecting so much from him.  Now, those expectations seem to have vanished.  They saw him arrested, sentenced to death, tortured, and nailed to a cross.  Now, some women from the group are talking about him rising from the dead.  So, their perspective is one of confusion, sadness, disappointment, but perhaps tinged with a glimmer of hope. 

And in the middle of their road trip trying to get away from it all, going to a place seven miles away from Jerusalem, Jesus himself walks with them. At first, they do not recognize him, probably because of their cloud of confusion.  But gradually as he explains the Scriptures and breaks the bread, they see it is him.  He has been walking with them all of the time.

And so, he walks with us.  On each road of our lives, whether that be an exciting journey or a burdensome trip, he is there.  He is there at every moment.  He is there when we are distressed.  He is there when we are joyful.  He is there when we are clear and determined.  He is there when we are lost and confused.  He is present on every journey.

With that knowledge, we get on the road with confidence.  No matter what our circumstances, we get on the road with hope.   For he is present to us, not just to be our companion, but to turn us around and lead us ultimately to the new and eternal Jerusalem, where we will be in his presence for all eternity.

- The Servant