This homily, written by Bishop Rick Foss, is available for use by congregations in the Eastern North Dakota Synod on Synod Assembly Sunday (April 6, 2008).
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The Emmaus Road
No one really knows where the town of Emmaus was. I think four villages currently claim the distinction. Nobody knows much about Cleopas or the other disciple who was with him on the road to Emmaus that Easter Day. But Emmaus will always be remembered, because Luke preserved for us the encounter on that road between Jesus and two crestfallen men.
You remember the story. They were crushed. They had pinned their hopes on Jesus, and now he was dead- and all was lost. I don’t know what was taking them to Emmaus. Maybe they just needed to clear their heads and get out of town.
In any case, as they plodded along and tried to make sense of that awful last week, a stranger fell in with them. As they rehashed what had happened to Jesus and to them, the stranger asked, “What are you talking about?” I don’t think they were very polite or patient, and I don’t know what they were thinking when the stranger began to tell them what it all meant.
I would love to have been there, listening, as Jesus retold the familiar stories, but from the vantage point of the power of the resurrection Continue reading…