On the Road of Discovery and Renewal
On The Road of Discovery and Renewal
Luke 24:13-32 (selected verses)
May 4, 2025
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church, San Rafael, CA
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?"
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, … But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel….”
Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! …” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 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?"
When the opportunity for a sabbatical began to take shape for me and I began to imagine what might happen over the three months, my first thoughts had to do with walking and hiking. I do some, but would like to do more. I want to walk in certain places – in Marin, in Orange County with our son Josh, in PA with sister Pam, Mark and son Jackson, at the Chautauqua Institute in NY, and in Sequoia National Park. I love to walk with Jeffrey and also alone. Someone asked me – so I are setting a goal for how many steps or miles you will walk on your sabbatical? 50 miles? More? My answer is – No. I am not setting a goal.
However, I do want to set an intention to pay attention to the sights and sounds when I walk. To take it in. To be open to Divine presence and peace wherever I am walking.
Today’s passage offers a story about walking and not noticing. A story of Jesus and his disciples after that first Easter. The story begins with two of Jesus’ followers on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus. Luke often uses journeys and roads in his gospel. And in Acts he says that the first self-designation for the newly-emergent movement of Jesus-followers was not “Christians,” but people of “the Way.”
I imagine the people in today’s passage walking and then stopping and looking at this stranger. “Are you the only person in the world who doesn’t know what happened this week? Did you not ever get to hear Jesus speak to the crowds? Did you not get your hopes up that things were going to be different? That the Romans were on their way out? That we would finally be free from the abusive, violent empire and greedy, cruel leaders?
And then Jesus calls them back to that sturdy, enduring hope they had as they followed him through Galilee. He lets them know that they shouldn’t be traveling in defeat, but should be moving into the mission of God’s shalom and justice just as Amos and Micah and Isaiah had written.
He interprets scripture, helping them see the long path of redemption and and wholeness and life and shalom that God has been working out since the beginning of time.
Finally, the three travelers have reached Emmaus after their 7 mile walk. Jesus keeps walking down the road, but the two disciples stop him. “
And he accepts their hospitality and their invitation. "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him." And then he vanished.
Their eyes were opened. And their hearts. This is a story of remembrance and recognition. I can only imagine they had many of those in the days when Jesus was talking and healing, and offering love and grace and inviting everyone to the feast in the kindom of God.
This is not just a story about two disciples on the road to Emmaus two thousand years ago. There are two disciples. One was named Cleopas, and the other? Unnamed. The other is you. Or me. Luke left a blank space for us to fill in our own names. All our hopelessness is there on the road, every broken-down dream, every doubt we've ever had or still have. And then they were changed, transformed, as they had been on the many roads they had walked with Jesus in Galilee, Jerusalem, near the sea.
Kathleen Norris, in her book, Dakota; A Spiritual Geography, uses the word Conversion, I would use the word Transformation or Awakening. "Conversion means starting with who we are, not who we wish we were. Conversion doesn't offer a form of knowledge that can be quantified, or neatly packaged. It is best learned slowly and in community."
Luke offers us a story that moves us into the world and further down the road. We make the road by walking, sometimes moving and sometimes being still.
I originally heard the phrase “We make the road by walking” as a quote from one of my heroes, Brazilian educator/activist Paolo Freire. I later learned that it became the title of a book that was a dialogue between Freire and another educator/activist, Myles Horton, who was an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the US. Freire may have originally derived the quote from the great Spanish poet Antonio Machado from his poem
“Wanderer”:
Wanderer, your footsteps are the road, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking. By walking one makes the road, and upon glancing behind one sees the path that never will be trod again.
On this road
We make the road by walking, moving along, wondering, asking questions, savoring, praying, reading, working for justice & peace, listening to joys and sorrows.
On this road
We make the road by eating and breaking bread. We gather to break bread around this table, and in the chapel, and in Canoles Hall and the patio, and in homes as we bring meals to one another and share food and friendship with each other & our neighbors.
On this road
We take time to rest, to pause, to breath, to discover a deeper truth, be renewed, to wonder, to dream together about how God is calling us and the Spirit is shaping us to be people of compassion and hope in a world that needs that.
To be people who walk gently on the earth and are willing to care for our beautiful planet. To be people to stand against acts of injustice and cruelty and hate and stand for justice, diversity, love, and inclusion.
May we be open to moments that Christ opens our eyes and sets our hearts to burning. Amen.
We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change 1990 by Myles Horton and Paulo Freire