Together on the Journey: A Weekly Blog from Fr. Andrew Sheldon

I do like a road trip, and I’ve experienced many in my life. In the season of Easter, we hear of a couple of road trips; one short, one longer; one relatively benign, the other full of drama.

The first has to do with the road to Emmaus. This was a 12-kilometre stretch between Jerusalem and Emmaus, no doubt a dusty, hilly path. Two friends of Jesus – tradition tells us they were a married couple, Cleopas and Mary – were making their way home on the day of the resurrection. They were no doubt shaking their head with wonder at the events of the last few days. There had been Jesus’ teaching in the temple, the ‘last’ supper, and the arrest, crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus. And now there was talk that the tomb was empty! Suddenly, as they walked and talked, a stranger was walking the road with them. They didn’t pay much attention to the stranger until asked what they were talking about. ‘Are you the only one who doesn’t know the events of the last few days?’ they replied. ‘The cross, the burial, and now an empty tomb.’ At which, the stranger began to open up the scriptures to them as a way of making sense of it all. The time passed and they came to Emmaus and the stranger was invited to dine with Mary and Cleopas. When the stranger broke the bread, they knew it was Jesus. ‘Did our hearts not burn within us as we walked the road?’ they said. And they quickly took another road trip, back to Jerusalem to tell the others that Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of bread.

The other road trip, which we will hear this coming Sunday, was that of Saul travelling from Jerusalem to Damascus. This was a decidedly longer trip of about 320 kilometres. And rather than walking, Saul was on horseback. Saul had been persecuting and arresting followers of Jesus in Jerusalem, and the authorities directed him to go to Damascus to do the same there. As he was approaching his destination, there was suddenly a great light, and Saul was blinded and thrown off his horse. A voice said, ‘Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And Saul replied with the obvious question, ‘Who are you?’ The voice said: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting, now get up and go into the city and you will be told what to do.’ And so, Saul got up, went into the city, was baptised and commissioned, became Paul, and the rest is history.

Two road trips. One a slow-growing awareness, the other a knocked-off-a-horse, coming-to-the-senses experience.

It seems to me that these two road trips are metaphors for how it is that you and I may come to our own sense of self as a person of faith. Two ways of encountering Jesus in such a way that our lives come to be defined as followers of Jesus. For some, a slow-growing awareness with little in the way of drama; for others, an almost instantaneous awareness accompanied by a dramatic conversion. Or maybe even a little of both.

I wonder what your story is?

Whatever the story, however long it took, that story – the journey – never really ends. We are on a journey with Jesus. And Jesus wants to be our companion on the road we travel. He has people to bless, lives to touch, hearts to transform. And he calls us to be part of his revolutionary movement to transform the world into burning hearts for God; ready to follow and willing to lead others to a relationship with God. Now that’s a road trip worth taking!

Andrew +