After the Gospel last Sunday was read, a friend in church reminded me that she and I had discussed how her favorite reading was the story of the walk on the road to Emmaus and then shared that her second favorite story was the Transfiguration (the Gospel that had just been read). I got to thinking about those two stories.
I wrote a lot about the road to Emmaus after a friend's wedding last September. I was thinking about how the story of the Transfiguration and Emmaus fit together. One conclusion that I reached is that both are about transformations before the eyes of followers of Jesus. In the Transfiguration there are three apostles with Jesus who suddenly see Jesus dressed differentl and speaking with Moses and Elijah. Then a voice told them that this was "my Son" and after that Jesus returned to his normal self. In the road to Emmaus, Jesus was walking with two who know of him who did not realize that it was Jesus until he broke bread. After that, Jesus immediately disappeared. Both stories involve new ways of looking at Jesus. Both involve changes in the followers' beliefs. Both involve sudden changes after the realizations. Both leave me thinking--if I had such a strong but short revelation--what would I do? Would it change me forever, or would the brevity leave me wondering and more confused? I don't know.
However, I find each story so interesting as they show how humans are sometimes left to struggle with messages from the divine. The reactions were so different. The apostles with Jesus didn't tell anyone, whereas the two on the road to Emmaus immediately ran back to Jerusalem to share the news with others. Which would I do if given the choice?
I wrote a lot about the road to Emmaus after a friend's wedding last September. I was thinking about how the story of the Transfiguration and Emmaus fit together. One conclusion that I reached is that both are about transformations before the eyes of followers of Jesus. In the Transfiguration there are three apostles with Jesus who suddenly see Jesus dressed differentl and speaking with Moses and Elijah. Then a voice told them that this was "my Son" and after that Jesus returned to his normal self. In the road to Emmaus, Jesus was walking with two who know of him who did not realize that it was Jesus until he broke bread. After that, Jesus immediately disappeared. Both stories involve new ways of looking at Jesus. Both involve changes in the followers' beliefs. Both involve sudden changes after the realizations. Both leave me thinking--if I had such a strong but short revelation--what would I do? Would it change me forever, or would the brevity leave me wondering and more confused? I don't know.
However, I find each story so interesting as they show how humans are sometimes left to struggle with messages from the divine. The reactions were so different. The apostles with Jesus didn't tell anyone, whereas the two on the road to Emmaus immediately ran back to Jerusalem to share the news with others. Which would I do if given the choice?
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