What Now? Towards Emmaus.

All of us experience crises of faith from time to time. That is, we have placed our faith in something or someone, we have expected a certain outcome, then when it all played out our expectations failed. Our faith is in crisis.The crisis is that we don't know what went wrong? We believed we had a sure thing going on here, but our experiences are now telling us that we were mistaken. It is here that we begin doubting ourselves, doubting God, doubting all the things that held us up. What do we do in situations like these? How do we journey through such a crisis and emerge, not unscathed, but with stronger faith?The tale about two disciples trip towards Emmaus offers a wonderful prescription for how to do just that. In it we have two disciples who have left the larger group that is huddled in Jerusalem, and they begin journeying towards a place called Emmaus. It is currently 3 days after the death of Jesus, and these disciples are still reeling over all that has taken place. As they tell the stranger (we know it's Jesus, but they are kept from recognizing him) about their hopes and expectations, their conversation is wrought with hopelessness.They begin sharing about whom they believed Jesus to be; "a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people." Their language suggests that when they think of Jesus they think about the great prophet that all the other prophets pointed towards. In him they saw opportunity, freedom, victory, salvation... HOPE! As they came in with him on what is now known as Palm Sunday, they were preparing for the crowning to soon take place. The excitement was palpable.Little did they know that the only crowning he would experience would be a thorny one. They thought that Jesus would ride into town and overthrow the oppressive rulers, but now the oppressive rulers have seemingly overthrown him. No, not overthrown; worse, they crucified him! The one they placed their hopes in is now dead.They had hoped, now they are hopeless. And in their hopelessness they begin to experience a crisis of faith.What do we do when hopelessness invades our lives? What do we do when a seemingly sure thing quickly loses its surety? The answer from this passage is that we change our worldview. See, hopelessness is merely an outlook, it's a way of seeing what a specific experience will have on the future. Therefore, when a person is feeling hopeless, the most important thing they can do is change their outlook. That's what Jesus does in this story, he takes their experience and places it into the larger context of scripture.

"Was it not necessary,” he said, “that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

The reason hopelessness settled in for the disciples is because they were looking at their experiences from a worldly perspective. And things like suffering, trial, tribulation, etc, when viewed from a worldly perspective, are a sign that things are out of control. And when things are out of control people begin to feel hopeless.But, when a person looks at the very same experience that a worldly perspective has deemed hopeless, but this time they peer at it through the word of God, all of a sudden that which is hopeless begins to have the aura of hope to it. Indeed, as one commits to see all of their life experiences within God's word, they will be overwhelmed by the hope that they see at every turn. For they will realize that God was always with them, and though their situation seemed to be spiraling out of control, God was always in control.As Eugene Peterson says, "When we submit our lives to what we read in scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God's. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves."This is why, in the Emmaus passage, Jesus walks these disciples through the bible. He wants themto see that the witness of scripture isn't about a God that always delivers from suffering, but of a God who delivers through suffering. He brings his people through it! So the cross, far from being a spiraling out of control experience, was providentially used by God to set his people free. Not from, but through! These two disciples left Jerusalem feeling despondent and dejected, but returned full of hope and joy. Not because they could no longer face any hardship, not because their faith would never be tried, but because in the resurrection of Jesus, God was emphatically showing the world that all who place their trust in him, will be graced with his upholding presence. They will be delivered, even through the valley of the shadow of death. Because God will be with them through it.Many people think they want a God who will keep them from all experiences of pain. But thinking about it for just one moment would show them how horrible that would be. What's better is to have a God that has experienced all pain, and commits to be with you through the pain and suffering, and bring you out on the other side.Read the scriptures, you will find such a God there. And when you find him there, place your story within his story. Place your trust in him, that your hopelessness would be permeated with hope.Listen to audio sermon here.