JUST mention the word “Easter” and my mind thinks immediately of Cleopas and his companion walking from Jerusalem, the City of the Temple of God, to Emmaus, the headquarters of the occupying Roman army, the constant reminder that the people of God were not free. Hence their ardent hope that Jesus of Nazareth would free them.
Cleopas and his companion were utterly broken and dispirited. They had placed all their hopes of being freed from the hated rule of the Romans in Jesus. Now, three days after seeing him brutally removed from the scene, even his body cannot be found or accounted for.
They were utterly broken! Hence, their decision to leave the City of God and return to the world which they knew, harsh as it might be.
Then something extraordinary happens. A stranger joins them and immediately asks: What’s wrong that you are so despondent? His question shocks them into remarking with extreme sarcasm: “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the ‘breaking news’ about Jesus of Nazareth, who had shown such promise that he was the one to get us out of this political mess!”
The stranger responds by kindly leading them to those Scriptures where the answers to all their concerns and questions are to be found. He must have totally engaged them because the next minute they are reaching their home, and all they can think of saying is: “Stay with us! It’s dark and dangerous out there! Stay with us!”
Amazingly, he accepts their offer of full hospitality, including the evening family meal. Then it happens! The stranger takes some bread, blesses and breaks it, before giving it to them. That instant their eyes were opened. They recognise the Lord. And because his mission is accomplished, he disappears from sight.
Their response is a life lesson for anyone who has had an encounter with God in similar circumstances of hopelessness. When you have encountered someone as special as the Son of God, there’s only one thing to do: Go and tell everyone who is going through the same trauma of disappointment as you are! What do you tell them? “It is true the Lord Jesus has truly risen from the dead. And we have walked and talked with him. Even shared our family meal with him!”
What an object lesson for us in South Africa, who are similarly disillusioned by those we had hoped would take us from the oppression of Emmaus to the freedom of the new South Africa!
Our problem? We have not yet listened to God’s Word or invited him to stay with us!
Hence, our earnest prayer this Easter: “Yes, Lord. We believe. Help our unbelief!”
Wilfrid Napier OFM is the Apostolic administrator of Eshowe