Holy Trinity Parish

There are times in life when we realise that we are walking in the wrong direction. We drift into habits or choices that do not quite fit us, and something within us begins to stir. A restlessness. We sense that we are moving away from where we should be, and we know that it is wrong, but we still continue heading in the wrong direction. Often it is not deliberate though. Often it starts just with disappointment, with hurt, with confusion. Our emotions cloud our vision, and we find ourselves walking away when we should perhaps be staying… or turning back.

That is what happens to the disciples in the Gospel of Luke as they make their way to Emmaus. The two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, leaving behind the very place where everything is about to change. The Cross has shattered their hopes, and in that heaviness, they forget the promise of resurrection. All they could focus on was seeing Jesus dead on the cross, and they forgot about the promise of the Resurrection, so they just left the very place where they should have remained. How often it is the same for us: sorrow clouds our memory, disappointment narrows our vision, and we find ourselves walking away from what we most deeply need.

Then the risen Christ does something beautiful: he does not call them back from a distance, but walks beside them on their mistaken path. He listens. He allows them to speak, even though their story is incomplete. He walks with them in the wrong direction first before he even speaks. And perhaps there is a lesson here for us: when we see others walking in the wrong direction, we may be called to do the same: to walk with them for a while, to listen patiently… and then, gently, to help them find their way back.