Eastertide #7:

We had hoped…

(Cleopas, Luke 24:21)

Easter changes our hope. That’s what happened to the couple making their way from their Passover pilgrimage back home to their little village of Emmaus—some ten miles west of Jerusalem. As a child, I recall a picture, called the Emmaus Road, hanging somewhere—maybe around the entrance of our home. As I think back on that picture, I think the artist got it wrong. For one thing, I don’t think the couple were two men; rather, most probably Cleopas and the other his unnamed wife. Wives tend to go unnamed. What was Peter’s wife’s name?

The Patriarchs are the exception: You can’t think of Abraham without Sarah, or Isaac without Rebecca, or Jacob without Rachel; or, Moses without… what was her name? Zipporah, sounds exotic. Of course, we have some famous married couples in the New Testament as well, let’s see… can we think of Zechariah without Elizabeth? Or, Mary without Joseph? Or, Priscilla without Aquila? Of course, we know of Joseph because of Mary; and, we know Aquila because of his renowned wife Priscilla. I’ve drifted off…

Oh yes, that picture on the road to Emmaus. It has it all wrong. They were not two men but most probably a married couple returning from the Passover Celebration. There is something else about the picture that’s wrong. Jesus is pictured luminous, all in white, a celestial figure more like an angel. There can be no mistaking, in the picture, which one is Jesus. But that’s not how the story goes. Jesus blends in with the couple as a fellow traveler curious about what they think about that Passover. They tell him how their hope had been shattered: “We had hoped…” At least that’s how the journey begins.