Week Six Devotion – Resurrection Hope

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight. 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?’  Luke 24. 30-32

Watching a drama like Call the Midwife or a real-life fly on the wall documentary from a maternity hospital really demonstrates the joy that can come at the end of a period of extreme pain, distress and tragedy. So often the labouring mother vocalises the feeling that they cannot do this. Yet through the supportive skills of the midwife and the intrinsic instinct of their bodies, new babies arrive into this world. Miraculously then all the pain, all the uncertainty, all the distress vanishes in the first precious moment of looking into the eyes of a new precious creation.

The couple on the road to Emmaus had been party to an unbelievably painful, distressful tragedy. The one whom they had chosen to follow had been arrested, tortured, and murdered by those who feared his gentle power. They felt desolate as they walked along the road, heads down dragging their feet, vocalising their feelings – ‘we had hoped.’ Yet in the course of their journey, they met a man whose very presence delivered them into a new life. An old life of distress and hopeless rebirthed into a life full of joy and hope.

Of course, they did not realise at first just what was going on. They listened hungrily to his words of wisdom. They felt their hearts burning within them. Then it was only when they sat at table with him, focusing on the man rather than their confusion, they really saw him. In a moment of clarity, of intimate connection, they recognised the resurrected new life that broke bread before them.

As we travel through Holy Week and acknowledge all the pain, distress and tragedy of Jesus Death, we also anticipate the moment of clarity on Easter Morn when we come face to face with the Resurrected Jesus. The new life which can heal, rebuild and re-animate our lives afresh each day with all the joy of Easter.

With all my love and prayers for an enlightening Holy Week and Easter

Revd Sandra