We can’t help but lock into what we think we know. The news hits us with worst-case scenarios as real possibilities, and our brains run wild from there. Positive spins are floated, yet they don’t land because they don’t match how life usually goes, how the world is understood. How can you make choices when your steps feel like slogging through murky mud?

No matter how strong or shaky your faith is, regardless of one’s measure of belief, it’s inevitably going to happen and you hit that moment. When God is needed the most, God seems farthest away. When there’s nothing left to grasp, the heavens seem dark, the sky pitch black. All rations or scraps of faith you had are shredded, and at best, any hope possible is dim, barely a flicker. So where’s God in all that? 

Dreams Dashed

These two folks were walking out of Jerusalem, a city that had been wild for three straight days, like a roller coaster powered by death and broken dreams. Jesus, the one many called Messiah, was dead. Crucified-dead. Gone.

Then some women claimed angels no less had told them he was alive. Others discovered the tomb was empty. It as the kind of news that made your throat tighten and choke with sos over what had happened. Part grief, part fear that if you even considered or let yourself believe anything good again, it’ll get smashed to pieces, splintered once more. How much could a person take? Every breath feels risky, dangerous. 

Hope Lingers On

Out of nowhere, a stranger meets them on the road who seemed to have missed the headlines. But that wasn’t the wild part. He entered right into the conversation. “Wasn’t it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory?” With that, he reminded them of the familiar passages that supported the events of the Jesus’ life, breaking down the ancient Hebrew writings.

The record still gives its witness. “Many were amazed when they saw him—beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know he was a person…He was whipped…led as a lamb to the slaughter… he did not open his mouth. From prison and trial they led him away to his death.” (Isaiah 52:14; 53:5,7-8) All of it matched the stuff Jesus went through.

But also the parts about rising again, stepping into eternal authority, ruling forever. Stuff they should’ve known but couldn’t see through the fog of heartbreak.

 “…You will find rest, and then at the end of the days, you will rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for you.” (Daniel 12:13) Furthermore, “…I saw someone who looked like a man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honor, and royal power over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end.” (Daniel 7:13-14)

Say it again: his life would not end.

Seen This One Before

With that to settle into their souls, it was time to rest. The two travelers invited the stranger to stay the night with them. As they sat down to a simple meal, he led them through an all-so-familiar ritual: he took some bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.

Boom. They knew. They’d seen Jesus do that exact move before.

There was the time Jesus had fed 5000 persons with just five loaves of bread and two fish. Those same actions: taking, blessing, breaking and giving. Then again, the last time the disciples had seen him alive, he celebrated the Passover meal but told them the bread and the cup were his body and blood. They remembered how just like now he took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them in remembrance of his life and sacrifice. (Luke 22:19)

No flashy miracles, no big stage. Just simple, everyday actions that somehow carried the weight of heaven. It had been while eating a meal Jesus taught them who he was and what his life meant. And it was known in the everyday, commonplace ways of living and sharing life.

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

And just like that, he’s gone. But also… not gone. Jesus wasn’t there, but then, he always was there. They now recognized Jesus was with them the whole time, just in a very different, strange way. The eternal slipped into their present, an ordinary moment, and they could see, now understand it. God in the ordinary had become extraordinary. “Their eyes were opened.”

Empty of God

When you hit that place where you feel, could almost swear, that God ghosted you, absolutely abandoned you, your thoughts tell you there is no god. You carry this heavy nothingness that leaves you empty. Humans are good at getting the facts straight while getting the meaning wrong.

God Emptied into Life

Instead, God shows up like that unknown stranger, not loud, not flashy. It’s someone who listens to your confusion, your bewildering pain, your “I don’t get it,” and then slowly reminds you of hope. Not new hope, but the old kind, the promised kind from the ages, the kind woven into the everyday stuff of life and familiar points of living. And somehow, in that quiet, God pours God’s divine self into your tired heart while you’re just walking the regular roads of your life, into strangely warmed hearts traveling pedestrian roads.

You meet God not in the escape, but in the journey.

Luke 24:13-35

Named 2024 Notable Book Award by Southern Christian Writers Conference!

The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

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