Luke 24: 13-21
That same day two of Jesus’s followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?” They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.” “What things?” Jesus asked. “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago."
They were caught in the middle. Their prophet, their mighty teacher, their powerful miracle maker was dead and gone. They believed him when he said he was the Son of God, they believed when they saw the lame man walk and the blind man see, they believed when their hearts were full of Joy in the midst of their heartache but now? Now he was gone and he was dead, if he was the Son of God why didn’t he save himself like they believed that he could. “We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.” Their faith was dwindling in the middle, the day in between the death and the life.
IF only they could see right? IF only they knew the story that we now know. Don’t you just want to go back and say “Oh friends, DON’T LOSE HOPE, keep watching, keep waiting…your miracle is right in front of you and you don’t even know it! The Messiah did come and rescue Israel, he just did it in a completely different way than you thought he should do it!” All they could see was sorrow; sadness was blocking their view of the bigger picture. Their life and their pain and their ache was too big for them to see past it, on to the miracle that God had in store for them.
They were stuck in the middle…I know if this song were written back then it would have been inserted into the Bible at this point. J I woke up this morning with this in my head and I knew that God was telling me to write about it today. This week I have had many thoughts in my head all needing to come out in blog form. I need you to know that you are very blessed that I don’t have the internet in my house. I was very grouchy this week and there were many times if I had Internet, well it would have been ugly for you, that is all I will say. I feel this is our life right now, we are caught in the middle.
We are stuck between death and life. We can only see the sadness, the sorrow; we can only feel the ache and the tears. We are somewhere between darkness and the light, somewhere between who we were and who He’s making us, we are somewhere between reckless abandon and common sense. We are somewhere between our faith and our plans, somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves. We are somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more. Caught in the middle.
This middle ground is not fun and we are not enjoying it. We feel like those men on the walk to Emmaus. What are you doing God? What are you thinking God? Are you even up there? Do you even see what is going on? Our first baby is gone, our second baby is gone…do you care? There is so much death, can life even grow here? What is the plan? We are praying for answers and we are praying for peace and we are praying for wisdom. The middle needs wisdom and the middle needs peace and the middle needs great faith. “We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.” Where there is doubt, that’s where God can work. He is the God of miracles remember, the great prophet, the miracle maker. He took their doubt and revealed himself to them and their sorrow and their pain disappeared.
Luke 24:25-31
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!
In an instant the middle was gone and they were on the other side. Life, newness, joy and peace. They were filled with Joy and Jesus was ALIVE! Everything looked bad, really bad. He was dead up there on that cross, he was beaten and abused and tortured and all hope seemed lost. Very lost. Death had won, the fight was over and life had lost. The middle seemed to suck them in, all the questions and the doubts. They hoped he would be the one but maybe he just wasn’t. Maybe all of their theories were wrong. Maybe all the prophets were wrong. But God just had a very different plan and the middle turned into the other side. The new side, the side where life grows and hope is alive!
1 comment:
I love this post! It is so good to see mommies that have suffered great loss trust in the Lord. I fell caught in the middle also, I am blessed to have read this.
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