We Had Hoped
We Had Hoped
Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’
When I read the Emmaus narrative, I'm drawn in my mind to one of my favorite places to pray: a large urban cathedral that has regular Taize prayer services and a prayer labyrinth. I love to walk the winding path while lost in thought and prayer. There is a different energy when one prays while walking. It is different then praying while sitting or kneeing. The labyrinth makes prayer more dynamic and less static, drawing you in to the movement of the Spirit. Sound has a deeper more resonant quality as it echoes through the candlelit cathedral. Young and old. Black and white. Rich and poor. Gay and straight. These Taize prayer services draw a diverse crowd. They begin to sing a familiar chant. I am jarred a bit from my solitary inner space. I am reminded I am not alone on this walk. In a moment of luminescent grace, in the warm glow of candlelight, as the sun fades away, we sing. The words we sing are drawn from this narrative, they are the words of the disciples to Jesus at the end of their journey: Stay with us, Lord Jesus Christ, night will soon fall...
They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary 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.
"But we had hoped..." We understand where Cleopas is coming from. We know this disappointment all too well. We had hoped Al Gore would be a better campaigner. We had hoped he would have chosen a better running mate. We had hoped he would have fought harder or longer. We had hoped the Supreme Court would not have inserted themselves where they didn't belong. We had hoped the congress would not have certified the Florida electors and done more to protect the rights of voters. We had hoped the media would not have been so complicit in the theft of our democracy. We had hoped 2004 would have been different.... Yes, we understand this kind of disappointment. We had hoped for nothing less than our political redemption and the restoration of democracy.
But is it possible that Jesus speaks to us what he spoke to these two disciples, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe..." Only now with the perspective of time am I beginning to understand the ways of God in this manner. The pendulum needed to pulled this far to the right. There needed to be this suffering and loss. We needed the judgment of God of a fool ruling over us (see Isaiah, chapter 3) to prepare our country to make the historic choices that we would not have been willing to make otherwise. Had things turned out differently in 2000, we would be looking at Vice President Lieberman's run for the White House instead of the history-making choices in front of us. Had things turned out differently in 2000, we would never have had a Howard Dean or a fifty state strategy, or the unprecedented growth in the Democratic Party we've seen so far this cycle in states that are red, blue and purple. Things have happened for a reason, even if we have been slow to see the purpose unfold. But this is the call of faith and prayer: to trust even when we do not understand.
Rowan Williams, in his book, Resurrection, writes:
In the Emmaus story, Jesus sharply rebukes Cleopas for his failure not only to grasp the foreordained character of Messiah's sufferings but to make the connection between suffering and 'glory', between the cross and creative freedom and power. Jesus condemns the inadequacy of their earlier understanding: he is not what they have thought him to be, and thus they must 'learn' him afresh, as if from the beginning.
How often we do not see a thing, or grasp a thing, or understand a thing right away. In those times, we must keep walking and trusting -- even when we do not understand.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. -- Luke 24:13-35
Prayer: Stay with us, O Lord Jesus Christ, night will soon fall. Then stay with us, O Lord Jesus Christ, light in our darkness. - Jacques Bertheir, Taize Community
Be blessed...
Dei Gratia,
Stephen Ellis
Founder, On A Left Wing and A Prayer
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/On_A_Left_Wing_and_A_Prayer/
