Understanding (A Sieger Koder Reflection)

Understanding (A Sieger Koder Reflection)

this image that is titled “Understanding”, depicting the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus and then they met Jesus and suddenly they understood everything… 

Have you felt let down by God before? 

On the road to Emmaus, these two disciples felt that God had let them down 

They thought that Jesus of Nazareth was the chosen one,

They thought that by following him, their lives would be transformed,

They thought that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel

But yet, Jesus of Nazareth was sentenced to death, he was crucified and he died. 

And Now they are fearful and disillusioned

They are making their way back to their village Emmaus, away from Jerusalem, away from their friends, away from their past. 

What’s the point of all these?

It was all an illusion, all a bluff, all a defeat

“As we journey into life, we carry the memory of the events that

touch us most. We walk the road of Emmaus – disappointed, we

want to make a radical move away from our past. Our friends mean

nothing to us any more, we have nothing in common that can hold

us together. We feel let down even by God. Who is this Jesus we

believe in, if being a follower of him is to find ourselves in trouble, to be

losers against the power of this world? Our hope is dead!”

Sometimes we feel like we’ve been let down so many times that we don’t even dare to hope or to dream anymore. Sometimes it can be so painful and disappointing that we wonder… “What’s the point of prayer if all I get is a disappointing outcome?” Sometimes, to protect our hearts, we tell ourselves… “Don’t be so gullible next time, don’t trust so easily next time!”

The thing is… 

Did God really let us down?
Or was it our own expectations that had let us down?

The disciples felt let down because the outcome didn’t meet their expectations. 

Jesus died when they were expecting him to redeem Israel by overthrowing the Roman government.

Jesus was the suffering Messiah when they were expecting him to be the political Messiah. 

Though heavy in their hearts, though carrying the memory of what hurts, the disciples chose the right thing when they choose to talk about it. They choose to be true to their feelings, they choose to process their hurts rather than shutting it out or bottling it up, they choose to engage their pain in search of understanding.

And as they did that, they opened themselves up to this stranger who came their way, walked alongside them, listened to them and explained to them “all of Scriptures, from Genesis to Moses, to the Prophets, all that concerns himself”.

 This stranger chose to stay with them and he broke open the Word of God as he broke the bread in memory of himself. At the table with him, the disciples came to a profound understanding of the meaning of their lives, and the sense of his mystery. 

They came to understand that this stranger called Jesus Christ, was not what they had been expecting, but he is so much more, he is exactly like what Moses and the Prophets had prophesied him to be. 

They said to each other,

‘Did not our hearts burn within us

as he talked to us on the road and

explained the scriptures to us’?

Luke 24:32

And this burning of hearts and warming from the inside can still happen today, as we choose to engage with Christ our disappointments, wounds and struggles. For He giveth understanding. And Enlightenment comes from Him. 

(POEM)

The bread is blessed and broken,

And the eyes open!

His body bathed in dazzling light

Hidden from your sight.

His presence fills

The room,

Warms the heart.

Now the Word comes clear.

You understand.

How can you tell the story

To the brothers and sisters

You left in Jerusalem?

How can you describe him?

A pilgrim on your way,

When fearful and disillusioned

You made a move back

To the dreary life

You had left behind

To follow the ONE

Who was to be

The fulfilment of all dreams?

An illusion,

A bluff.

He was arrested,

Tortured,

Dead on a cross.

Defeat!

A pilgrim on your way,

He discloses

The sense of it all:

You foolish men!

Was it not ordained that

The Christ should suffer

To enter his glory?

The hearts on fire,

New hope enkindles.

Stay with us!

At table once again,

He breaks the bread:

Take it, eat it.

Now you can see!

But he has gone.

How can you describe him?

LIGHT!

God who is light

And in his light

We shall see the Light.