Rediscover the Bible for Life

“The Emmaus Road”

By Dennis Lee

We’ve been on a journey both to and from Easter. We looked at two roads prior to Easter that led towards the cross, the Jerusalem and Calvary roads.

Today I’d like to look at the first road leading from the empty tomb, the Emmaus Road.

We all have three basic secrets we really don’t want anyone to know. First we always feel exhausted at life. Second we feel empty inside, and finally we feel like we’re trapped, whether it is by debt, a relationship, the expectations of others, or by bitterness and resentment over what others have done to us.

This was what two men were feeling as they found themselves walking down the road from Jerusalem towards the town of Emmaus.

It’s important to see this picture. These disciples were moving away from Jerusalem, the city of God, and the city associated with the promise, purpose, and presence of God. And they are on their way to a small insignificant town called Emmaus, whose name means “obscure,” and “despised.”

Therefore, the picture is of two disciples walking away from the purposes, promises, and presence of God towards obscurity, and in the end, despised, unless they were turned around.

On this road they met the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, and their lives were radically altered. Not only did they find joy, but also a renewed hope, a hope that erases exhaustion, emptiness, and enslavement.

As disciples they had followed Jesus, but they thought that things would turn out better, because they expected Jesus to overthrow Roman rule.

But Jesus’ death upon the cross and the empty tomb meant that something different and unexpected occurred, and they didn’t have a clue as to what it was. And so they were heartbroken, downhearted, and with all their hopes and dreams shattered.

As they took this journey we have the distinct impression their heads were facing downward. Even the reports of Jesus’ tomb being empty didn’t raise their spirits; it only confused them further. Their mood might best summed up in their words, “We were hoping.”

Human hope is a fragile thing, and hopelessness is a disease of the human spirit that is hard to cure. And so they had erected a wall of hopelessness, trapped in their world of misery. “We had hoped,” they said, or to say it another way, “We had our expectations, but they were not met, so we now expect very little.”

Maybe this road describes the one you’re on. Often times we don’t know what has happened, and we’re desperately trying to figure it out.

If you are like these two, finding yourself walking down this road confused, exhausted, empty, trapped, heart broken and your dreams dashed by the eventualities of life. Then do not despair because Jesus can do for you what he did for these two.

Jesus can take what seems to be dead or hopeless and make it into something new. Allow Jesus to come along side and show you the way.