That particular Sunday morning happened to be one of those mornings when things just clicked for me. The sun was shining through the stained glass windows in the empty sanctuary. For reasons I can’t remember, I decided to spend some quiet prayer time in the sanctuary alone. The timing was during Sunday school classes and well before our worship service. I sat on a pew near the back - near the large “Road to Emmaus” stained glass window.
Suddenly, in the middle of this time of prayer that was coloured by the sun shining through the stained glass, the inner doors to the sanctuary opened and a stream of 3-to-5 year olds walked in with their Sunday school teacher. “Shhh,” whispered the teacher. They quietly headed to the huge stained glass window near me – the one that depicted Jesus and the men on the road to Emmaus. Their teacher had read them the story and now they were looking at the beautiful window as their illustration.
The first question from the teacher was, “What are the men wearing?” “Dresses,” they shouted. I had to smile (OK, so the robes do look a little like dresses). The teacher asked, “Where are they?” All but one shouted, “They are on the road to Emmaus!” That one, a sweet little boy standing closest to me said, “They are on the road to a mess.” Out of the mouths of babes!
Thank you, God, (and this little boy) for reminding us that there are times when we do indeed find ourselves on the "road to a mess.” We have followed Jesus. We have heard his promises and trusted him. We know that all he did, he did for us. Our faith tends to be present-tense and future-tense. We mumble through “Christ has died” and shout “Christ is risen” and “Christ will come again!” But there are times when our present-tense faith takes on a past-tense air. Changes in our lives do that at times. Changes certainly did that for our friends on the road to Emmaus. “He WAS a prophet,” Cleopas said. “He WAS powerful in word and deed before God and all the people,” he continued. “We HAD hoped …,” Cleopas went on to say as they walked along the way. These two men had looked into the eyes of Jesus. They had heard his very voice speak promises of hope and salvation. They had witnessed the crucifixion and stood in the presence of eyewitnesses to his resurrection as they heard their accounts. But crucifixion and resurrection brought with it great changes in the lives of these two men. Past-tense faith stopped them dead in their sandals. Past-tense faith made them downcast. Past-tense faith caused them to see a stranger, not Jesus, along their journey. Past-tense faith found them walking on the road to despair, hopelessness, grief and fear as they headed back home. As my little friend so perfectly said, “They are on the road to a mess.”
Changes of any kind can indeed head us down the “road to a mess” if we walk by sight only and not also by faith. Thank goodness, Cleopas and the other one strongly urged ‘the stranger’ to stay with them that evening. Hospitality welcomed Jesus into the home. It is there where they finally recognized this stranger who had walked with them. In this one day, the Risen Christ walked with them, spoke to them and ate with them. In this one day, our two friends’ faith changed from a past-tense faith to a present-tense faith that could not wait for morning to come to be shared. No longer were they on the road to a mess!
