Getting Lost in the Woods

Today’s gospel lesson is taken from Luke, where we witness a Shakespearian like story on the day of resurrection. It begins with two disciples who have made the decision to travel from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  While we do not know the reason for their travel, or what life might hold for them in Emmaus, we do know what they are leaving behind.  The leader who had evoked so much hope within them had been arrested, tried, killed, and buried.  They found themselves heartbroken and suddenly lacking a purpose.  This grief was only compounded when some of the disciples discovered the burial tomb was empty.  Another strange factor, in what felt like an impossibly hopeless situation.  So these two disciples did what we all must do in the face of tragedy and uncertainty: they kept going.  They got up, bid farewell to Jerusalem, and began the seven mile walk to Emmaus.  Along the way, they encounter a fellow traveler.  In an unexpected plot twist, we the listener are let in on the secret.  We are to

  This has been a strange and wondrous week.   In every corner of creation, God’s people had to find new and adaptive ways  to make this journey to the cross and the grave . W hile it might have been our first time making this journey in isolation,  this was not the first time members of the Church have done so.   When Jesus was arrested, most of his disciples scattered.  When he was crucified, only a few dared to stand at the foot of the cross.  When he was buried, only the two women he loved most dared to keep vigil.  Over two thousand years ago on Easter morning,  followers of Jesus were holed up in their homes,  afraid and unsure of what was to come.  Yet on Easter morning, two women went to keep vigil at Jesus’ grave:  Mary Magdalene and the  “other Mary” .  To figure out who this  “other Mary”  is you have to find hints dropped by the gospel writer in previous chapters.  Looking back a chapter, she is identified as the mother of James and Joseph   (Mt. 27:56) .  If we look back s