MEDITATION
IN THE READING FROM JOHN’S GOSPEL YOU CAN IF YOU LIKE THINK OF MANY REASONS WHY MARY DOES NOT RECOGNISE OR SEE WHO JESUS IS AS HE STANDS BY HER SIDE IN THE GARDEN
(PAUSE)
SHE IS OBVIOUSLY IN A TERRIBLE STATE;
HER EYES FULL OF TEARS AND HER IMAGINATION FULL OF MACABRE VISIONS OF DEATH AND GRAVE ROBBERS;
SHE IS UTTERLY SINGLE MINDED IN HER SEARCH FOR THE BODY OF HER LORD AND SAVIOUR TO THE POINT WHERE EVEN A MEETING WITH ANGELS BECOMES UNINTERESTING UNLESS THEY CAN GIVE HER THE ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION THAT SHE WANTS.
NOW I DO NOT WANT TO SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON MARY IN THE GARDEN. WHAT I WANT TO LOOK AT IS EVENTS LATER THAT SAME DAY.
I WANT YOU TO IMAGINE YOU ARE ONE OF THE TWO DISCIPLES WALKING HOME TO EMMAUS.
YOU ARE WALKING WEST FROM JERUSALEM INTO THE BRIGHT GLOW OF THE SETTING SUN.
THE ROAD IS DUSTY AND WINDS ALONG THE BROWN HILLS THAT HIDE EMMAUS FROM YOUR VIEW.
THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE ON THE ROAD, BUSY WITH THEIR THOUGHTS AS YOU ARE WITH YOURS.
LONG SHADOWS UNDULATE OVER THE ROCKY GROUND.
THERE ARE VILLAGERS DRIVING THEIR DONKEYS BACK FROM THE MARKET WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN SELLING TO PILGRIMS UP FOR THE PASSOVER.
MERCHANTS TO, IN CARAVANS, MAKING THEIR WAY TO THEIR FIRST NIGHTS CAMP ON THEIR JOURNEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST.
A SMALL SQUAD OF ROMAN SOLDIERS TRAMP ALONG, SWEATING IN THEIR ARMOUR, THE SUN GLINTING WARMLY ON THE METAL.
THEIR SONG INTERRUPTS YOUR THOUGHTS BRIEFLY, THEN THEY ARE GONE ,WALKING MUCH FASTER THAN YOU.
IT’S BEEN A STRANGE, EVENTFUL DAY, AFTER THE ENFORCED QUIET OF THE SABBATH.
YOU HAD BEEN MOURNING, FINDING IT HARD TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE DEATH OF JESUS.
HIS BODY HURRIEDLY BUNDLED INTO THE TOMB BEFORE SABBATH BEGAN.
NOW YOU ARE TRYING TO GET TO GRIPS WITH THIS TALE THE WOMEN HAVE BROUGHT BACK FROM THE GARDEN.
AS YOU KNOW THEY HAD GONE EARLY TO THE TOMB AND FOUND IT EMPTY AND CAME BACK WITH STORIES OF ANGELS.
GRIEF DOES UNPREDICTABLE THINGS TO PEOPLE. (PAUSE)
YOU DO NOT KNOW WHETHER TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD OR NOT, AND YOUR THOUGHTS GO ROUND IN CIRCLES AS YOU TALK ABOUT IT.
PREOCCUPIED AS YOU ARE, YOU HARDLY NOTICE THE TRAVELLER WHO JOINS YOU
AND YOU GIVE HIM A CURT ANSWER TO HIS FIRST QUESTION
BUT HE DRAWS YOU OUT, AND YOU FIND IT HELPS TO TALK, TO GO THROUGH THE DETAILS OF THE LAST FEW DAYS.
HE SEEMS TO KNOW MUCH MORE ABOUT THE MESSIAH THAN YOU THOUGHT AND HAS THE SCRIPTURES AT HIS FINGER TIPS.
THERE IS SOMETHING FAMILIAR ABOUT HIM, SOME STRANGE AFFINITY BETWEEN YOU, AS THOUGH YOU HAVE MET BEFORE
AND AS YOU DRAW NEAR TO YOUR JOURNEYS END AND TURN DOWN THE ALLEY TO THE COURTYARD GATE YOU INVITE HIM IN.
THE WORDS JUST COME OUT, YOU HAD NOT INTENDED TO GIVE THE INVITATION, BUT SOME HOW YOU WANT HIM TO STAY.
WATER TO WASH HANDS AND FEET IS QUICKLY LADLED FROM THE POT BY THE DOOR, THE TABLE IS LAID OUT WITH BREAD AND WINE.
YOUR GUEST DOES NOT WAIT FOR YOU AS HOST TO OFFER FOOD, HE TAKES THE BREAD, BREAKS IT AND SAYS GRACE, AND IN THAT MOMENT YOU REALISE IT IS JESUS.
AND THEN HE DISAPPEARS.
(PAUSE)
THERE ARE THREE OCCASIONS WHEN JESUS’S FOLLOWERS FAIL TO RECOGNISE HIM AFTER HIS RESURRECTION:
ONE WITH MARY IN THE GARDEN, THIS EVENT AND A LATER ONE WHEN JESUS OFFERED BREAKFAST TO DISCIPLES WHO HAD BEEN OUT ALL NIGHT FISHING.
CLEOPAS AND HIS COMPANION WERE SO PRE- OCCUPIED WITH THEIR OWN PROBLEMS THAT THEY DID NOT KNOW HIM WHEN HE WALKED WITH THEM.
IT’S HARD TO UNDERSTAND AND IMPOSSIBLE TO EXPLAIN CONVINCINGLY. JESUS WAS IN THEIR THOUGHTS.
THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT HIM AS THEY WALKED.
THEY, AS WE HAVE HEARD FROM OUR READING, HAD HEARD ABOUT THE ANGEL AT THE TOMB SAYING THAT HE WAS ALIVE.
YET THEY WERE NOT PREPARED FOR HIS APPEARANCE.
PERHAPS THEY WERE TO PUNCH DRUNK TO TAKE IT ALL IN.
REELING FROM THE SHOCK OF GREAT CHANGE AND NOT ABLE TO ADJUST TO IT.
THEIR MINDS NOT SIMPLY UNWILLING, BUT UNABLE TO COPE AND TAKE IT ALL IN.
THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE THAT TO-DAY.
PEOPLE BETRAYED AND BATTERED BY CIRCUMSTANCES, SO GROUND DOWN BY POVERTY OR TRAGEDY, THAT GOOD NEWS IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCEPT.
WE TO EXPERIENCE IT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
SOMEONE SAID THAT CHANGE IS THE ONLY CERTAINTY IN TO-DAY’S WORLD. I BELIEVE THERE ARE OTHER CERTAINTIES.
BUT IT IS A POINT WORTH MAKING.
FEW OF US LIKE CHANGE; IT MAKES US INSECURE; WE PREFER THE KNOWN,
THE FAMILIAR AND ITS HARD TO MAKE SENSE OF THE SOCIAL, MORAL, AND POLITICAL CHANGES WE ARE LIVING THROUGH.
THE PRESSURES OF COPING INCREASE AND IT’S DIFFICULT TO SEE ANY GOOD IN MANY OF THEM.
BUT IT IS IMPORTANT TO REALISE THAT JESUS WALKS WITH US THROUGH THESE CHANGES.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNISE THAT SOMETIMES HE IS IN THE CHANGE ITSELF
THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT MAY CREATE CHANGE TO STRETCH US, MAKES US FACE REALITY AND GROW.
THE CROSS ITSELF WAS CHANGE; RADICAL CHANGE; AND WITHOUT IT THERE WOULD BE NO FUTURE FOR THE TWO WALKING TO EMMAUS, NOR FOR US.
SOMETIMES HIS PRESENCE HELPS MAKE SENSE OF THE CHANGES THAT COME
SOMETIMES EVEN WITH HIM IT’S HARD TO UNDERSTAND THEIR PURPOSE, BUT HIS PRESENCE IS THE ESSENTIAL THING TO HOLD ON TO;WITH HIM, THINGS MAKE SENSE EVENTUALLY.
WITHOUT HIM THEY NEVER WILL