We had hoped.......
That phrase tells so much. You never want to be one saying it. And you are always uncomfortable being the one hearing it. We had hoped .... tells of a future that is not to be. We had hoped.... those three words are filled with so much loss it is indescribable.
That is the place where those disciples are as they walk along that road to Emmaus. Their hearts are broken and they lost all hope of a future. Unfortunately we know that feeling don’t we?
We had hoped ...... as a person cries in the Dr office hearing the cancer has returned. We had hoped ...... as the couple puts their house up for sale because the company who moved them into the area now downsized. We had hoped ...... as a family packs up their belongings to leave the ICU room to go to the funeral home. We had hoped .. each one of us can fill in the blank
As the disciples walk along that road to Emmaus their hopes have been shattered and they cannot see beyond that, so they pack up and leave Jerusalem to go home. As far as they are concerned their hearts are broken because there is no future in the Jesus movement. We had hoped...... consumes their thoughts as they walk along.
Then Jesus joins them and starts walking with them. Their minds are so filled with the loss and lack of future - there is no seeing Jesus. Their eyes are closed to anything but despair.
This is a desperate place to be, a place of darkness, a place where hope is absent. A place where it is hard to see anything but the loss. To feel anything but an empty ; we had hoped..........
It is a place many of us have been. Unfortunately sometimes it is a place where we need to stay for awhile. Thoughts need to be sorted through, grief has be lived out, when hearts are broken because disappointment, sorrow, or failure we need a time to grieve that future that will never be.
As Jesus walks with them he tells the disciples about what is written in the scriptures. At the time they don’t know it’s Jesus. But at the end of the day, when they arrive at their destination, they ask Jesus into their home. It is only when he breaks the break that they realize who he is, and then he is gone. They realize that Jesus was with them through this time of grief. And they now have a new outlook on life, they now see a new future. It will be different than what they had hoped, but they can see that there will be a future. They remember how their hearts were burning when Jesus was with them on the road.
The Emmaus Story tells us about disappointment in our lives. And that the time of, we had hoped.. is a very real grief that many people go through. That loss is difficult, and overwhelming And sometimes it takes us into such a dark place, we fail to see Jesus walking with us in our darkness. Just like the disciples, we don’t realize our hearts are burning.
I wish I could say that we always come out of that place as quickly as it seems the disciples do. But we know that is not the case. As each person goes through the dark time of - we had hoped... It is different. Some need to stay in that darkness longer than others. But the important part is no matter how long it takes, Jesus is there. Jesus walks with us in the darkness even when we cannot see him. Even when we don’t notice him. Even when our hearts remain broken instead of burning.
Yes, this Emmaus story shows us when we go through the times of - we had hoped...we need to give ourselves space to grieve a future that will never be. That eventually we will come to the place where our hears will burn and we can hear and receive the future that God opens for us. That eventually we see new opportunities but, we can only hear and see that future when we are ready to hear it … and we can only act on it as we are able.
Hopefully, sooner than later, we find our way out of the darkness and just as the disciples our broken hearts of - we had hoped ... turn into burning hearts of following God’s call.
Thanks be to God!
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