So Now What?

Recently I had a time with my students where I posed the question, “So now what?” Easter has passed, as far as the calendar is concerned. It was a day that was well attended at my church in all three services. Wednesday before Easter we gave families the opportunity to watch The Passion on the “Big Screen.” Some of my students opted out. Instead we offered them a chance to walk through various prayer stations depicting the torture that Jesus suffered on the cross. The week before this we had a time of communion during our mid-week gathering. Two weeks solid of discovering all that Christ went through for us.

So now what?

And then I did some reading on my own. In the Bible we read of two followers of Jesus traveling down a road that led to Emmaus. Now I do not know where Emmaus is located. The road they were traveling must have been a dirty dusty road. I just returned from Sonora, Mexico and I imagined that the dirt roads we traveled through in this farming community were probably much like this road to Emmaus.

But from the story I see that these two travelers are upset. Their lives have been turned upside down. The conversation between these two travelers revolved around the series of events that led to the death of Jesus on the cross, when they are suddenly joined by another traveler.

The two travelers do not recognize the man joining them but they welcome him into the conversation. They inform the stranger of all that had happened to their teacher. They had expected Jesus to be their leader. They had expected Jesus to start a revolution. But they had seen Jesus dead.

So now what?

It appears to me that these travelers were filled with doubt. They doubted the women that had seen first the empty tomb and later were visited by Jesus himself. The only thing they knew for sure was that Jesus had died and now his body was missing.

And now this stranger proceeds to educate these two travelers about all the things that Jesus had done. Jesus had fulfilled all the prophecies. I can imagine this stranger starting in Genesis and working through all the prophets, major and minor, and showing the prophecies concerning Jesus and how Jesus fulfilled them.

So now what?

Finally the two travelers reach their destination. I do not know if they went as far as Emmaus or if they stopped before Emmaus. Hospitality is a lost gift. These two show remarkable hospitality to the stranger and ask him to stay the night and eat with them. Sometime before or during the meal this stranger took the bread and gave thanks to God for it. Immediately they recognized the stranger, it was Jesus! As suddenly as he appeared on the road he was now gone

So now what?

What does it take for us to remember Jesus?