The blind see and believe
Luke tells us that two disciples had walked the seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus talking, shocked by the brutal finality of the crucifixion, bewildered by rumours of the missing body. If you have ever been in a traumatic situation - even a small road accident - then you know the need to talk, to go back over the details, to battle with a desire to reconstruct the past, to anguish over the 'if onlys'.
And then a fellow traveller joined them, who didn't seem to know what had happened, so they started telling the story all over again. But the reader is told that this stranger is Jesus, so his enquiring questions have an odd ring. Maybe he asked questions not for information he had already, but so that those questioned had to articulate their desires - and misunderstandings. "We had hoped that he was going to redeem Israel", they told him.
This traveller knew his Bible very well and explained that it all fitted - that it's all there - in Genesis, in the Law and the sacrifices, in Isaiah. "How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe."
But he didn't force them to believe; he didn't reveal himself with thunderclaps and a magician's abracadabra, when they come to their front door he acted as if he were going to walk on. Only some instinct of hospitality, perhaps, some desire to know more, spurred them into asking him to stay. He took the bread and in that moment they recognised him and he disappeared.
And as for us? We too have the Scriptures he explained on that track to Emmaus long ago. We have companions for the journey to support and encourage our faltering belief. And we have the Holy Spirit promised by him, who opens our eyes so that we see the truth. He is indeed risen from the dead.
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