You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
disappointed they were that Jesus had failed in his mission – not<br />
realising that they were conversing with him! Once he asked them<br />
what they were talking about, they described how Jesus had<br />
captivated their hearts, only to be killed, revealing: ‘we had hoped<br />
that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel’ (v21).<br />
Notice, first, that they didn’t try to hide their despair and<br />
bewilderment. Faced with the question from a ‘stranger’ they allowed<br />
their feelings to show: ‘they stood still, their faces downcast’ and<br />
spoke openly of their acute sense of disappointment using the telling<br />
phrase, ‘we had hoped’. Secondly, Jesus wasn’t repelled <strong>by</strong> their<br />
pain. In fact, if we look more broadly at the Bible, God seems to<br />
specialise in meeting people at the point of their greatest struggles.<br />
The psalms – many of them known as psalms of lament – are filled<br />
with the psalmists’ expressions of their great turmoil and often end<br />
with a sense of comfort and fresh hope that God has heard their cry.<br />
PAUSE AND PONDER<br />
If you are feeling disappointed – even with God – don’t hide<br />
your hurt and confusion. Don’t try to hold yourself<br />
together. Be honest before God, open your heart to him<br />
and invite him to speak to you.<br />
Back to the reasons for these travellers’ sense of distress. They<br />
were probably in shock. We don’t know which, if any, of the actual<br />
events of the trial, scourging and crucifixion that these two witnessed.<br />
However, as Jews in a Roman world, and as followers of Jesus, they<br />
would have been painfully aware of the brutality of what Jesus had<br />
suffered. They were also experiencing a crushing sense of<br />
disappointment, as the One they had thought was their national
Change language