Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
I love backpacking because it allows one to journey and explore. The walking is not so much about getting from one place to another, as it is about the experience of the getting there. Sometimes we know the trail and feel like we are in familiar territory. Other times we have to discover the best way, especially when there are multiple paths to get to one's ultimate destination. consider how even when one has a good sense of the road traveled the journey is not always predicable.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus knew he terrain and the path on which they were traveling. Yet somehow we know this is a journey unlike they have ever taken. Each step must have felt like they were wearing heavy shoes, perhaps heavier than they have ever worn. The walking must have been a drudgery. Have their been times in your own life that have like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. The journey would feel overwhelming, physically, mentally and spiritually.
What if someone joined you on this journey who helped carry your backpack, who aiding in bearing the hardship you felt. How might this your affect your thinking of the journey? What if that person listened and spoke to you as if they had known you completely; and was even willing to challenge you to talk and see the world more positively. How would this even change the very action of walking? How would this change your journey?
We are accompanied, by a God who seeks to help us carry the load. A God who desires us to connect our suffering to his. We have a God who calls us to reexamine our surroundings and the path we are on. This same God calls us to reimagine the destination and the journey itself in order that we might recognize that Jesus has been raised and walks with us now. This Jesus desires us to go a little further than just the breaking of the bread. Jesus wants our hearts to be on fire so that we to proclaim, "The Lord has truly risen, and appeared to us.'
- Michael Montgomery