|
“Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’
Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…”
–– Luke 24:27, 32, 44-45
Following all the scheduled events of Holy Week, and after having celebrated Easter services, I am often asked if I will have some time to rest. I wonder if Jesus was asked that question, particularly Luke’s Jesus, because if Holy Week was a torturous marathon of emotional and physical trauma, the day of Easter was a flurry of tasks, appearances, travels, and meetings that would tax the fittest athlete, politician, influencer, or UPS driver. At dawn, several women are already at the tomb, troubled by its emptiness and mystified by the bedazzled messengers they encountered there. They rushed back to where the disciples were gathered and gave their field report, whereupon they were patronized and summarily dismissed. Though dismissive of the women, Peter runs to check out the tomb for himself. And we haven’t even gotten to breakfast yet.
Meanwhile two guys are hiking the seven miles to Emmaus, joined by Jesus along the way. Jesus then offers a seminar on the Bible, serves communion, and disappears before the benediction. That same day, these two power walkers return to Jerusalem to tell the disciples about their mysterious hiking buddy, only to hear that Jesus had not only made it to Emmaus with them, he had also made it back to Jerusalem before them, running into Peter at Starbucks, and then popping in for a visit with the whole gang. Still on the same day mind you, Jesus teaches, preaches, moderates an installation service for the Holy Spirit, and leads a field trip to Bethany, where the disciples have a front seat for Christ’s ascension. Whew! I’m not sure about what watches they wore, but I’m pretty sure everyone got in their 10,000 steps for the day.
It was a busy day packed with momentous events. And yet, Jesus also found the time to teach two Bible studies, knowing that unless we filter the chaos of life through the Word of life revealed in scripture, we are left driving into the future with neither a steering wheel nor brakes. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” The Bible is not a Wordle to be solved, but a space to inhabit, equipped with a mirror to see ourselves honestly, a fan that brings a breeze of meaning, and a window-sized lens through which to view our world in the light of God’s mercy. Read your Bible.
| 
