Sourced from Spill The Beans Issue 34
Spillthebeans.org.uk
The Emmaus Road they call it.
It is the road from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus,
a journey of about 7 miles.
If you walked it the other way around
you could call it the Jerusalem Road,
but no-one ever does.
Something happened on that road
a long time ago that made it famous.
Two travellers walked along it
one Spring night
and a third traveller joined them.
The two travellers were sad.
A friend of theirs had just died.
They were missing him.
The traveller who joined them was a stranger to them.
He seemed to be a preacher…
a story teller…
a teacher…
As they walked together
they talked about life and its meaning,
about the things that were important to them.
They listened to each other.
They asked each other questions.
Sometimes they smiled.
Sometimes they nodded.
Sometimes they struggled with their hopes and fears.
When they got near to Emmaus
the stranger walked ahead of them
as if he meant to walk on,
but this was their home
and they wanted to invite him in.
And the stranger stayed
and they shared each other’s food.
And he was a stranger no longer.
He was their friend.
They say
that the two travellers were friends of Jesus.
And the evening of their journey
was the evening of the day
that Jesus had risen from the dead.
And they also say
that when the meal was finished
the two travellers hurried back
those seven long miles to Jerusalem
to share their story:
the story of the road to Emmaus
and of Jesus who they recognised
in the sharing of bread.