Walking With Jesus

Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35

Some of the best praying that I do isn't always when I'm on my knees. Some of my best praying isn't when I'm lying in the darkness of my bedroom at night, nor even when I'm sitting or standing here in church, nor even when I'm at a prayer meeting on a couch in someone's living room. Oh, to be sure, I've done a lot of good praying in such environments and in such positions. But, for me, some of the best praying that I do is when I'm traveling: either walking, or running, or peddling a bicycle, or riding in my car. I don't know what it is about traveling, but, for some reason, traveling is one of those things that just makes my heart want to reach out and talk to the One who made me.

And, so, when I'm traveling, I'm beginning to avoid distractions that make it difficult for me to meditate. When I get in my car, for instance, I don't automatically reach over and turn on the radio, anymore, mainly because I've discovered that I need that time more to talk with God and to hear God talking to me more than I need to hear the weather report or the latest news out of Waco. I need that time to listen to the still small voice of God and feel the gentle flow of God's Spirit in my being more than I need to hear the top 40 on the Hit Parade. I often need that time to walk with Jesus, rather than to share that time with some radio personality. So, I sit in my car and pretend that Jesus is in the passenger's seat. I need that time to walk with Jesus. Indeed, as the new hymn in our hymnal goes, "I want Jesus to walk with me."

Sometimes I think we're afraid of really knowing who it is that we may have walking with us in our lives. Maybe that is why so many people turn on all the distractions. A few years ago a book was written by the title, "Are You Running With Me, Jesus?" It was written by a man who liked to run and believed that in his running Jesus was always there, next to him, offering him encouragement, strength, and hope. For this man, running and jogging was when he felt closest to his Savior. Yet, how would many of today's runners and joggers know about this, when about half of them have a Sony Walkman plugged into their brain as they clomp down the street? Indeed, one really has to wonder when it is that a person has a chance to walk with Jesus, anymore. Are people afraid of the possibility of an encounter with the Divine? Are people afraid of the silence that often initiates such an encounter? Are people afraid that they will find someone other than Jesus walking with them? But, I want Jesus to walk with me.

I believe that Jesus is walking with most of us all the time. In fact, this is what our lesson from today's Gospelalludes to. On the day that Jesus rose from the dead, two of Jesus' disciples are walking down the road from Jerusalem heading toward the town of Emmaus, a walk of seven miles. Walking briskly, the hike would take about two hours. And as they are walking along, Jesus catches up with them. But, for some unknown reason, they don't recognize him. Instead, as they walk along they start talking about the crucifixion of Jesus and of how Jesus seemed to have failed in his Messianic mission, since it was now three days since Jesus had died. They discussed the rumors of the resurrection they had heard, but admitted that they were confused about what to believe. And, it was at this time, upon hearing this, that Jesus, this unknown person, began to share the scriptures with them, explaining why the Savior had to suffer if all that had been said by Moses and the Prophets was to be fulfilled. And all of this was shared between three men while they were walking down a road. And they didn't know that Jesus was walking with them.

I'm reminded of that little wall hanging that was so popular about fifteen years ago. For a while, just about every funeral I did, back then, included that reading entitled, "Footprints in the Sand." It was even made into a song. If you remember, it was the story of a person's dream of how his life seemed to be like a long walk with the Lord down a sandy beach. Looking back, the person noticed that for the most part there were two sets of footprints, except for those times when there had been difficulties and hardships. At those times, there was only one set of footprints in the sand. And he turned to Jesus and complained, wondering how come when the going got rough it always seemed that he had to go it alone? And Jesus replied, "My precious, precious child. I would never leave you. It was at those times that I carried you."

How many times do we walk through our lives, and make the mistake of thinking, of believing, that we're all alone? How often do we labor under the misconception that God is somewhere out there and that we're here, stuck in the thick of all sorts of monstrous and hideous atrocities of Bosnian proportions, left alone to deal with the pain and torture that smacks us in the face as we encounter it, live via CNN?

The two men, taking that two hour hike to the town of Emmaus thought that they had been left alone by Jesus, too. They were confused. They were shell shocked by the events of the last few days, as so may we be by simply having to deal with all the stressful things we deal with, from kids to jobs, from busy traffic to paying taxes, from living with someone to living alone, from Waco, Texas to Srebrenica, Bosnia. Yet, my friends, in the midst of it all -- in the midst of the loneliness, and anger, and confusion, and turmoil, and stress -- in the midst of it all walks Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. And like those disciples on the road, we fail to see it. As in the words of Jesus, "How foolish we are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!" Somehow we need to open our eyes to the spiritual realities. For God is with us! We continually need to say the words in our heart, singing them as a traveling song: "I want Jesus to walk with me."

One of the most beautiful things about our Gospel lesson for today is that it reminds us of a worship service. Just like those disciples on the road to Emmaus, we entered our worship, today, deeply aware of the fact that it is Jesus we want to meet as we travel together. And B sang it -- "Jesus we want to meet." And, just like those disciples who walked down that road with that unknown stranger sharing scriptures, we also opened the scriptures together, today, perhaps in ways that seemed strange to some of us. Strangeness is not a bad thing, though. For, as the Gospel shows us, it is often while dealing with the unknown that we come face to face with Christ. And, then, having encountered the amazing truth of God's Word, we respond like those disciples did by affirming and confessing our faith, and by sharing and giving thanks.

But, that's not all. As we leave today we will be sent forth as disciples of Christ enabled for our worship, by our encounter with God's Word, to share the Good news with others. And isn't that what those disciples did in our Gospel lesson for today? We're told that they got up and returned at once to the others in Jerusalem and said, "It is true! The Lord has risen from the dead!"

I believe with all my heart that Christ is in our presence at this very moment, revealing mysteries to us, reminding us of things that we have come to believe. Indeed, sometimes Christ comes to us as a stranger. But, if we'll walk with him for a while, we'll soon discover that we're walking with Jesus. And, I want Jesus to walk with me.

Amen.