Thursday, March 27, 1997
Emmaus journey symbol of mankind's pilgrimage
By JERRY REED
Senior Staff Writer
The biblical account of Cleopas' and a friend's journey along
the road to Emmaus stands for a pilgrimage that all mankind must
make, the Rev. Jim Zug told a Holy Week luncheon audience Wednesday.
Zug, pastor of First Christian Church, gave the third of four
weekday sermons at downtown churches setting the stage for the
Good Friday and Easter Sunday commemorations of the death, burial
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Setting the scene, the pastor told how the two travelers, who'd
in some way followed Jesus before his crucifixion, were enrapt
in serious conversation about that dread event.
"It seemed to them as though they were walking into the
sunset, and into the night of all of their tomorrows," Zug
told the crowd at St. Paul United Methodist Church.
Like so many of his countrymen, including Jesus' 12 disciples,
the Emmaus pilgrims had dreamed of a Messiah who would have used
his power to take on and defeat the Roman army to reign over a
restored earthly kingdom of Israel, Zug explained.
These refugees from Jerusalem, the scene of the recent calamity,
were then joined along the road by a third man, a stranger, who
engaged them in conversation.
The unrecognized stranger, none other than Jesus himself, drew
from them their take on the recent awful events, then began recalling
scriptures to them, Zug said. He began "recounting all the
things that scripture said about himself as the Messiah, and how
that what had happened in Jerusalem was more important than all
their personal dreams and hopes."
When they reached their home in Emmaus, they invited the stranger
to supper. They recognized him as Jesus only when the risen Savior
blessed and broke bread just as they'd seen him do time and again
during his natural life, Zug recounted.
Then Jesus vanished from sight.
And they said to each other, "Didn't our harts burn within
us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the
scriptures?" (Luke 24:32)
The suddenly energized pair arose that very hour to return
to Jerusalem, to tell the disciples and others of the good news
that they'd met the risen Jesus along the road to Emmaus, Zug
said.
"Every one of us has our own unique Emmaus road. We're
either retreating from our Jerusalems - or we're encountering
God through Jesus Christ in our lives - or we're returning to
our Jerusalems to share with friends that we have found some joyous
secrets to life.
"We're on this pilgrimage together; we're all there,"
Zug declared. Then he challenged his audience:
"Where are you on the road to Emmaus? What is your reaction
to the resurrection?"
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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