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There are two guys walking along a road that leads to a village called Emmaus (Luke 24). St. Augustine once said, “It is solved by walking.” I don’t know what IT is for you, but IT for these two guys has to do with the current events and the latest reports coming out of Jerusalem. As they are walking, they are sifting through and trying to make sense of all this stuff that they have heard. As they are walking, a stranger joins them and begins to walk with them. They begin to share what they are thinking, what they were hoping for, and their deep disappointment and profound grief. They tell this stranger about Jesus. They share how he was a prophet mighty in deed. He was handed over, condemned, and crucified. And then, these powerful words that describe their life at this very moment, “We had hoped…that he was the One to redeem Israel.”
Like you, perhaps, I have followed and watched the protests/riots that began in Minneapolis and have spread throughout the country. Many miles have been walked this past week by those who are protesting and grieving and struggling with the death of George Floyd and all that it entails. As I watched, I couldn’t help think about Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. Life is sometimes a long walk…and the walking that we have witnessed this past week will continue…. Emmaus, their destination in Luke 24, was only seven miles from Jerusalem, but sometimes, we might wonder if we will ever get to our Emmaus. In the words of one of my favorite professors, “Life does not go well, easily.”
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