When was a time you did something foolish?
I’m sure most of us can think of a time, maybe we did something silly or embarrassing or maybe a bit immature, a bit thoughtless, a mistake in a bad moment…
We all have these moments, part of life, no matter how hard we try we will all do something foolish or silly or thoughtless, because we are human. It cannot be avoided!
We can be foolish in life, and we can be foolish in God’s eyes.
I can share a time when I was a bit foolish, when I was I think 17 or 18 years old and I’d just got my drivers licence.
I was driving my mate from school down a winding country road in my first car, a green Mazda 323, and we were stuck behind a truck > you know that feeling, single lane road and a slow truck blocking your way.
So, I decided I wanted to overtake this truck > but there were no overtaking lanes on this road, and there was also no visibility because it was a winding road and you couldn’t see what was coming around any of the corners. But being a 17-18 year old P-plater I wasn’t thinking about that, I was thinking about getting around this slow truck.
So I pulled out onto the wrong side of the road on a corner, without knowing if anyone was coming around the corner towards me or not, and overtook the truck. I got around it and got back onto the right side of the road again, luckily before anyone came speeding down the other side towards me.
I had been extremely lucky, this was a foolish thing to do and I was lucky my error had not had terrible consequences.
I only realised how foolish I had been later on, when my mate and I were comparing our driving styles, and I asked him what he thought of mine > he said he thought I was crazy!
So that’s my story of being foolish > funny how we don’t always realise we’re foolish until someone else points it out for us!
As humans we need a bit of help to realise these things, we need a bit of help to get a better perspective of things > while I might have thought I was being a slick driver what I was really doing was endangering the lives of not only myself but also my mate in the car with me, sobering thought there.
This leads us to what Jesus says to these two travellers today, on the road to Emmaus.
He calls them out doesn’t he, he says they are ‘foolish,’ that they are ‘slow to believe.’
But this is not actually a bad thing, to be told you are foolish and slow to believe by Jesus > this is actually a very helpful thing, a very useful thing, an example of how Jesus teaches us what we need to know, how he can reveal a whole lot more perspective than we can find ourselves…
And we know Jesus doesn’t call us foolish and leave it there does he, he calls us foolish so he can tell us what he can do for those who have been foolish…
THE STORY
The road to Emmaus is such an interesting passage, where Jesus is with these two guys walking down this road, but they don’t know it’s him because he hasn’t revealed himself.
Jesus asks them what they’re talking about as they discuss the recent events in Jerusalem, and they are amazed that he wouldn’t know! Everyone knows about what happened with Jesus of Nazareth they say.
And you can’t really blame these guys, they’re trying to make sense of all this how Jesus was put death while they were hoping he was going to ‘redeem Israel,’ and then the women and the men went to the tomb but no one could see Jesus. They were probably confused, disappointed, a bit lost, a bit unsure among other things.
But in the midst of that Jesus comes in, calling them ‘foolish’ and ‘slow to believe.’ Jesus doesn’t say ‘yeah wow that sounds like a crazy time, you guys must be feeling a bit confused, disappointed, lost and unsure!’ He says they are ‘foolish’ and they are ‘slow to believe.’
It’s all there in the scriptures Jesus says, if you knew what the prophets had said about what the Messiah had to suffer you would not be surprised! And he goes on to give them a lesson in exactly what the scriptures say on this – I can’t help but wonder how long that lesson went!
As they’re coming to their destination they convince Jesus to stay with them, and then this is where all is revealed > of course Jesus chooses to reveal himself in the breaking of the bread. ‘Their eyes were opened and they recognized him’ it says, and then just like that he’s gone.
Their eyes were opened, and as they reflect on what’s just happened they notice their ‘hearts were burning within’ them as Jesus ‘opened the scriptures ‘for them > a few really important points there.
THE MEANING
Their eyes were opened >
They could see him, they could recognize him. How did they recognize him?
Through the breaking of the bread, and the hearing of the word. Simple as that, simple ways Jesus reveals himself.
Jesus tells them they are foolish and slow to believe, and because he says this they realise it’s true > they would not have realized this on their own, they needed Jesus to tell them how it is so they could know how it is.
So their eyes are opened, but also:
Their hearts were burning >
That’s a strong description isn’t it, strong feeling, deep sense of the importance of what’s happening. When has your heart burned, interesting one to think about for ourselves…
Jesus words causes not only ‘eyes to be opened’ but also ‘hearts to burn’ > these are important words! Powerful words, life-changing words. The literal translation here is ‘slow – of heart – to believe’ – not only head-knowledge but heart-knowledge, impact on the mind, body and soul going on here.
So we’ve got opened eyes and burning hearts, and
OPENED SCRIPTURES, the scriptures were opened to them >
The word of God is revealed in the person of Jesus, he is the word made flesh, he has come to be among them.
This is a really significant indicator for us of just how we should read, how we should hear, how we should interpret the scriptures, the bible, God’s word, and how we should think about what it means to be part of God’s church > with a Jesus lens.
Jesus opens their eyes and opens the scriptures, and he does the same for us. Through Jesus we can know God’s word, God’s word is revealed to us in Jesus.
Whenever we read, hear, interpret God’s word we need to use the Jesus lens, the Jesus filter if you like, to know what God is saying to us. We can test our interpretation against who Jesus is and what he’s done, always keeping that in mind whenever we open a bible or hear a reading or reflect on what it means to be a Christian.
That’s exactly what these guys on the road to Emmaus needed, that’s exactly what we need.
Lastly we can look back to our first reading from Acts today, where it says this:
Acts 2:38 – ‘Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’
So we are foolish, we are slow to believe.
We get caught up in our own interpretation, we forget to apply the Jesus lens, we are distracted by the noise of the world and we miss that Jesus is right there with us.
But Peter’s words are comforting for us > in Jesus we can receive the forgiveness of sins, we can receive the gift of the Hoy Spirit.
We are foolish, but we are forgiven.
We miss when the Spirit is at work, but that doesn’t stop him being at work.
We are slow to believe, but Jesus will be there. He remains, he continues to walk alongside us, even when we’re too foolish to see him.
Jesus calls us out, so he can call us IN > foolish yet forgiven.
Heavenly Father we thank you for forgiving us, and for gifting us the Holy Spirit – help us to appreciate what you’ve done for us, what you’ve won for us, help us to trust in your ongoing presence with us in all times and all seasons. Remind us that even though we are foolish, your forgiveness remains. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
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Tom Kitson 