Biblical archeologists have reasonable certainty about many of the scriptural sites described in the NT. They know where the synagogue was in Capernaum, because the ruins are still standing now. They are very sure about the site of the crucifixion and the tomb. They are reasonably sure about the general area of the mount of Beatitudes, but necessarily the exact site where Jesus spoke his sermon on the mount. We hear in the very beginning of today’s gospel the end of the story of the two disciples returning from Emmaus, having met Jesus along the road and recognizing him in the breaking of the bread. The trouble is, biblical archeologists have no idea where Emmaus was. Currently, there are 4 different places that stake the claim to be “the site” of Jesus appearing to the two disciples. (Part of the confusion is in the translation of the ‘distance’ from Jerusalem. Is it 161 or 60 ‘stadia’– which are 19 or 7 miles respectively). One site has support from St. Jerome from the mid 3rd century. Another boasts a crusader chapel from the 12 century. Still another has been venerated from the 16th century. And a recent archeological find might be the most likely of them all. But no one knows for sure.)
Here is what scholars can agree on. The two disciples headed to Emmaus were going there because they had given up. They were “getting out of Dodge” as our American Western expression says. Fearful that the fate of Jesus – put to death by the Roman authorities –would be their fate as well, they left. Roman justice could be swift and brutal. Leave now, before it gets worse. That is the obvious reason for the flight to Emmaus – the terrifying fear that they, too, would be killed. Emmaus is a ‘safe house’ – an anonymous place where they can hide from the crushing reality of their lost hope.
There are times when we escape to the ‘security’ of our own Emmaus because we feel threatened. A cancer diagnosis. Divorce papers. A house fire. The crushing end of a long term relationship. We stagger down a lonely road, afraid to look back, praying we can make it to that ‘safe place’ where a warm fire might soothe our troubled souls.
Other times we escape to Emmaus because nothing inside of us seems to make sense any more. The God who seemed so close and caring is now silent, or worse – seemingly angry or judgmental. Emmaus is the code word for security. For life like it used to be when everything made sense.
Finally, Emmaus stands for all the places where we are stuck in the past as surely as those two disciples were. When Jesus appears to them, they don’t recognize him. They don’t see the possibility of God doing something new in Jesus – precisely because they are looking at the past and not the present. “Don’t you know everything that happened in Jerusalem these days?” they ask the stranger. Because we certainly do – and that is all we know. We saw him dead. And it is too much for our hearts to bear. And we will be stuck in that past forever… “We had hoped” are words of dejection – of people who have given up on the future because they are stuck in that unfulfilled past.
Where is Emmaus? Emmaus is all the places we try to flee to, BECAUSE of a past we will not look at. Emmaus is the crippling fear that we let stifle our hope. It is the crushed and broken parts of our lives that feel unredeemed and unredeemable. Emmaus is every moment on the journey of life that seems Godforsaken, in the fullest sense of that word.
And in that, is our biggest hope. For if we are attentive enough, if we are willing to share our pain and struggle and doubt and fears with those whom we walk with along the way, then like those two disciples, WE will discover that Jesus has ALWAYS been walking with us. And all our roads to Emmaus become the roads that lead us home.
Where is Emmaus? In many ways, I am glad that scholars have not pinned it down to one particular place. I am glad, because it helps me to know that no matter what foolish road I walk down, what unwise decision I make, what past I feel stuck in – there is always GOD’s Emmaus – waiting to FIND ME – God’s love, waiting to restore ME to life… And the one who walked with this first two Easter travelers, is waiting for me to invite him to stay, waiting to feed me with broken bread and to love me with nail scarred hands.