The story of the Road to Emmaus is one of the more fascinating stories of Jesus’ resurrection appearances. As Cleopas and another disciple walk, they are filled with grief as they discuss the hurt and pain they feel at the loss of the Lord. A complete stranger joins them on their walk and asks them what they are talking about. They say to him, “Are you the only one in all of Jerusalem who has not heard about Jesus, who was crucified, placed in a tomb and now has been taken from the tomb?” As the disciples talk to the stranger, the stranger begins to discuss scripture with them, and they are intrigued by what he says. As they approach the village, he gives them the impression that he is going on further, and they ask him to stay and have supper. While they are eating, the stranger takes a piece of bread, says the blessing, and then shares it with them. It was then, in the breaking of the bread, that they recognized him as the resurrected Lord.

            It is a powerful and beautiful story of the resurrection. But I fear that we may get lost in the story and lose sight of its deeper meaning. The disciples share their grief and hurt with one another and with Jesus. It provides solace when we get so caught up in the world -- the trials, the tribulations, the work, the stuff -- that we neglect to see that Jesus is with us on the journey. When we fail to see Jesus, we may feel abandoned, lost and alone in our world and have the sense that Jesus is nowhere to be found.

            Here is where we must live our Easter faith in the resurrection. We must trust the mystery of our faith enough to know that, in addition to bringing our joy and all the good things that happen in our lives to the Lord, we must also bring the difficult things that happen. We must be willing to be honest with the Lord and open our lives and hearts to him. We must trust that we can grieve with the Lord; we can get anxious with the Lord; we can share our anger with the Lord; we can tell the Lord about our deepest and darkest emotions. God wants to hear these parts of our lives. In this sharing of our lives with God, we will experience the transformation that our resurrection faith brings us as Christians.

            Like the disciples who walked the road to Emmaus, we must come to believe in the power of the resurrection.  To do this we cannot lose sight of the deeper level of faith. Faith means that we make a total commitment to the Lord, and we realize that He is with us in every moment of every day.  Then, we will come to experience the true meaning of the resurrection, and, like the two disciples who walked with Jesus, we will also say, “Were not our hearts burning within us as he spoke to us on the way?”