Luke 24:13-35 - What's Next?

Easter has come, but do we see it?  From the fanfare of Palm Sunday, to the sorrow of Good Friday, the person Jesus of Nazareth came into the city, preached, was betrayed by his own, captured, condemned, and crucified.  The mighty prophet, the one who claimed to be Messiah has come and gone, and two disciples find themselves on the road home from Jerusalem.  They find themselves walking home with less of a bounce in their step.  There is a burden of sorrow that seems to rest on their shoulders.  If you saw them walking on the road, you would know something had happened.  You would know that some kind of tragedy had occurred.  The first thing you might ask is “What is wrong?”

A stranger approaches the two disciples.  We know this stranger to be the resurrected Jesus, but the disciples’ eyes are kept from recognizing him.  The stranger asks these two disciples, "What were you discussing as you walked along the way?"

The two disciples are surprised that anyone would have to ask that question.  They think to themselves, “Who wouldn’t know what everyone is talking about today?"  But they are also saddened by what they must answer.

They tell Jesus the story of Jesus.  They tell of this prophet, mighty in word and deed.  They tell of his arrest and death, and they say these words: “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

You can hear the deflation of their hopes in those words.  You can hear the disappointment.  We placed our trust, and love, and hope in this person, and now he has been killed, before he fulfilled his promise.  Things have not gone as they had expected, as they had planned, and there is a question that sits in their midst: the question that they surely asked themselves as they walked home; the question that resonated in the empty hole that Jesus left; the question that echoed in their empty hearts.  “What’s next?”

Whenever I hear this particular, simple question, I am reminded of a favorite TV show of mine: The West Wing.  This is a political drama about the white house and the people who work there.  In this show the President, played by Martin Sheen, has a good relationship with his staff.  One of the things that is well known about the president is his propensity to asking this particular question, “What’s next?”  In one episode the staff get hung up on something that has gone wrong, and the president asks this question many times.  He finally explains that he is asking this question because he is ready to move on and face the next challenge.  The question crops up again in the show when one of the major characters is shot.  He goes through hours and hours of surgery with the uncertainty of his survival hanging in the air like a thick cloud which envelops all of the characters on the show.  At the end of the successful surgery the president goes to visit his injured colleague in his hospital room.  The wounded man is barely able to whisper one phrase: “What’s next?"

It is the question of transition.  It is the question of change; of endings and beginnings.  It is a question that comes up in simplicity:  “Ok, I finished vacuuming the bedroom...what’s next?  Oh, the closet.”

“Ok, I finished watching episode 2 on Netflix.  What’s next?  Well, I guess episode 3.  Then probably episode 4.”

But it is a question that also comes up in complexity.  “My child is graduating from high school and moving away from home.  My primary focus for the last 18 years of my life has been keeping this child alive and well.  What’s next?”

“I have committed so much time and energy to practicing and playing this sport, but will I continue to play from here on out?  What’s next?”

“I dedicated my life to my work, doing that about which I was passionate.  Now, I have come to retirement. I have reached the end of my working life.  What’s next?”

It is also a question which arises in the wake of the unexpected.  In the wake of the tragic, or the disturbing, or the disarming, when hopelessness is the sense that pervades.

This past Thursday marked the passage of 8 years since the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  32 students were killed and over 20 were injured, including a close friend of mine.  I remember the presence of this question, if not in obvious ways, then lingering in the backs of everyone’s minds.  What were we to do now?  In the wake of such terrible violence in our community we struggled with the most basic challenges, and asked the most fearful questions.  How were we to move forward with a loss of security, and a loss of hope.  What was next?

This disciples asked this question in the midst of all of three scenarios.  After facing the tragic death of their friend, teacher, and Lord they wondered how could life go on.  The situation they faced was one of immense complexity.  They had placed their faith, trust, even their livelihoods in the mission and goal of this person who seemed to have failed.  They even faced the “what’s next” question in simple terms.  These two disciples asked, “Where should we go?  Should we stay in Jerusalem, should we go home?"
The amount of uncertainty they faced must have been overwhelming.  Out of their moment of hopelessness they wondered, “What’s next?”

What does happen next?  They are met on the road by a stranger.  Though they do not recognize this stranger for who he is, the Scriptures are opened to them.  Jesus walks with the two disciples, without them recognizing him, along the road, teaching them about his true identity, his true mission, what his life and death really meant, and how the Scriptures were fulfilled in him.

At the end of the journey the two disciples invite Jesus to share a meal with him.  They sit down at a meal together, and share it a familiar tradition.  Then this guest breaks bread before them, and their eyes are opened and they recognize this stranger in a new way.  They see in this person their friend, the risen Lord.  Jesus needs to say nothing.  The two disciples reflect on the time they spent together on the road,
understanding it in a new way.  “Were not our hearts burning within us?  How could we not have known?"

Their sense of hope for the future is restored.  Their, “What’s next,” gets an answer.  Their immediate response is to get up and return to Jerusalem.  While their journey to Emmaus had been characterized by sad faces and downcast glances, they return to Jerusalem with haste,eager to tell their story,  no longer wondering about what would be next.

It was important for these disciples to ask this question after Christ died.  It is important for us to ask this question as well.  On Monday of this week, there was a gathering at First Presbyterian Church of members from churches all around our area.  There were people from Badin Presbyterian Church, First Presbyterian Locust, First Presbyterian Concord, and First Presbyterian Norwood.  I’m reminded as I read out this list how creative we are with our naming...

Pastors and members of these churches gathered with a team of people from around our presbytery appropriately called, the Emmaus Team.  We spent an hour and a half talking about our churches.  We discussed what we are excited about, what gives us energy, what we are doing that fulfills God’s call to us.  We spent time talking about the future of the church, talking about what’s next.  We discussed what it is that already do that we need to carry into the future, and what it is we can change right now to make our churches the best embodiment of Christ on earth as we can.

This team of people is wrestling with the question, “What’s next?”  They are not asking it in a fearful way.  They are not running away from the difficult challenges we face.  Just like the disciples, they are walking on the road, as Easter people, hoping to find Christ.  They are hoping to have the scriptures opened up and revealed, hoping to recognize Christ in the community of believers, and hoping to discern the future, so they may run back and spread the good news.                     

The answer to, "What’s next," is an answer of hope.  It is an answer of encouragement.  I am excited this April, because 8 years after being shot in the leg three times in her French class my friend is reclaiming the month of April, one that has haunted her and her friends in the years that followed.  She is challenging April head on by getting married this year.  She is turning a situation and a place of fear and tragedy into one of hope and love.  She is looking forward to the future, changed, but strong.

We all have our own, "What's next," moments.  We all have times in our lives when we face uncertainty: uncertainty at work, in a relationship, with health, friends, or family.  We all find ourselves asking this question.  Maybe that's where you find yourself today.  Maybe you are facing a small uncertainty - What's for lunch?  Maybe you are facing a complex uncertainty - What does life hold for me  now?  Maybe you are facing uncertainty after tragedy - a death in your family, the loss of a relationship, a sense of fear that lingers.

This is a natural thing.  It is human of us to ask, "What's next?"  As we walk the road, as we ask the question, God calls us to meet Jesus.  We may not recognize him.  He may look like our friends or our family.  He may look like a neighbor or a stranger.  He may be a hunger person whom we feed.  We may be a community of people that needs water.  He may be someone we comfort in a dark place.  He may even be someone we can't see or hear.  His promise is to bring us eyesight in new ways.  He promises in the breaking of bread at the table, in the communion of our lives together, to meet us on the road.  To send us forward running with eagerness and excitement about the future, knowing the answer to the question, "What's next?"

Amen.