What Is Emmaus Road?

So what is Emmaus Road?

Let's start with the Biblical text from which the name is derived:

Luke 24:13-34 (New Living Translation)

The Walk to Emmaus

13That same day two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem. 14As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. 15Suddenly, Jesus himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them. 16But they didn't know who he was, because God kept them from recognizing him.
17"You seem to be in a deep discussion about something," he said. "What are you so concerned about?"
They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. 18Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, "You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days."
19"What things?" Jesus asked.
"The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth," they said. "He was a prophet who did wonderful miracles. He was a mighty teacher, highly regarded by both God and all the people. 20But our leading priests and other religious leaders arrested him and handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. 21We had thought he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. That all happened three days ago. 22Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. 23They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! 24Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, Jesus' body was gone, just as the women had said."
25Then Jesus said to them, "You are such foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. 26Wasn't it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory?" 27Then Jesus quoted passages from the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining what all the Scriptures said about himself.
28By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus would have gone on, 29but they begged him to stay the night with them, since it was getting late. So he went home with them. 30As they sat down to eat, he took a small loaf of bread, asked God's blessing on it, broke it, then gave it to them. 31Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!
32They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?" 33And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem, where the eleven disciples and the other followers of Jesus were gathered. When they arrived, they were greeted with the report, 34"The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter!"

I love this story. When Barb first suggested it as a name for this new worshiping community, I immediately liked it. There are several reason, a few of which I'll try to include here:

To begin, there is the metaphor of the "road." All of us, since the moment that God spoke creation into existence, are on a journey. We were created to walk toward God, to walk with Him, to journey through eternity with Him hand-in-hand, and heart-in-heart. That is made possible through the work of the Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit. However, the fact that we were created to walk with God, that within us is a "God-shaped hole," often results in the reckless pursuit of anything and everything else to fill the void. The postmodern is desperately seeking spirituality in an attempt to connect with the numinous. There is a hunger and a thirst for the Holy that only God can satiate. How else does one explain the rise in interest in all sorts of religions and quasi-religions? People cannot deny the need within them to connect with something larger than and beyond themselves.

Not only this, but the fact that the journey metaphor is relevant is as obvious as the television programs so popular in our culture. On any given day, myriad adventures and journeys are played out for our vicarious enjoyment. Some people even go beyond vicarious adventures to actually participating in them. Things like extreme sports and adventures taking them to mountain tops, ocean depths, and even to the edge of death itself. Why? Because we're all on a journey seeking to find the pith of life, the very marrow that give us our life's blood. We're seeking to squeeze every last dropth of breath out of this short vapor of life.

The metaphor of the journey also applies to our lives as Christians, as Christ-followers. Rather than simply being a series of isolated and compartmentalized decisions, the Christian life is something that is lived out in myriad, infinite, moment-by-moment decisions. We simply don't make one decision for God this year, and one next year, and so on. Rather we are in a constant state of affirming and reaffirming our allegiance to Him in everything we do. There is no room for a static Christian faith. Instead following God is a dynamic, ever-changing, experience that results from the constant interplay between God's Spirit and ours. And so it is a journey.

Even more powerful and more poignant than the metaphor of "road" itself is the metaphor of "epiphany"--the realization that on this journey we are not alone. As the two disciples walked along the road to Emmaus, another man came along side them and joined them on their journey. It reminds me of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo in the Old Testament. As they were in the fiery furnace, a fourth man appeared with them who looked like a "divine being" (Daniel 3:25). We know in this story that the man with the disciples on the road was Jesus. This metaphor of "epiphany," this revelatory manifestation of a divine being, is a perfect metaphor to communicate the hope of the gospel to our postmodern world--Emmauel, God is with us.

What we so often fail to realize is that all along this journey of life God is right there with us--seeking, calling, guiding us toward Him. But sometimes we miss the forest for the trees. Our focus is on religion itself, or on certain practices or methods, so much so that we don't recognize the real, living, breathing person of Christ walking right beside us. Or perhaps we're simply not seeking Him. Or perhaps He's keeping the blinders on our eyes until just the right moment in time to reveal himself. Whatever the case, the powerful image of epiphany speaks to postmoderns the message that wherever they are on the journey, Christ is there walking right beside them. He's been there all along. They are not alone.

Another element I like about this story is the confession of the disciples, "Didn't our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us on the road?" (Luke 24:32). (This of course brings to mind John Wesley's famous "Aldersgate Experience.") I like the force of the KJV here, "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?" and The Message, "Didn't we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road?" When people encounter the living, resurrected Christ, a flame is kindled within them for God. A passion, a fire, grows up inside as they discover the hope that on Christ can offer them.

Finally, having witnessed an epiphany of Christ, and having had their hearts strangely warmed, they turned around on the road and rushed back to Jerusalem where, "just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. He said, 'Peace be with you.'" (24:36). When people encounter the living God and their hearts burn within for Him, they will tell others. And when they do, Jesus will appear among them.

If ever the world needed a hope like that, it is now.

That is my hope for Emmaus Road.