We had hoped…
On the road to Emmaus the couple
walking along tell the stranger what has been happening in Jerusalem and about
Jesus’ death, ending with the comment ‘and we had hoped he was the one we were
waiting for’.
It was the Sunday, they had heard
the news of the empty tomb – still fresh and unbelievable news, but the
confusion of the loss of the hopes they had previously had is still raw. When
they started following this Jesus of Nazareth I don’t know what they expected
or hoped for but crucifixion was not likely to have been in their
thoughts. So all that had happened had
crushed their hopes, even amid rumours of resurrection they say ‘we had
hoped….’.
Life and its unexpected events can
leave us in situations very different to what we had hoped for or dreamt of.
Yes there are different lives we had not considered, even rumours of hope filled
lives beyond the difficult times. But we may need space to acknowledge the
hopes that have had to be laid by, grief for what might have been is valid, and
maybe is needed to help grasp fully what is in its place.
The stranger on the Emmaus Road
stays unknown giving them time to tell their story and how they had hoped,
gently he opens up their thoughts to new possibilities, and only then in the
breaking of bread do they find the resurrected Jesus has been with them.
God is with us in broken hopes and
in learning to hope again.
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