The Road to Emmaus

During the past week, even though we had celebrated Easter Day, my heart was cast down. In fact it was so low at one point, that all my hope seemed gone.

Out of that pain the Holy Spirit birthed a poem. He led me to the story in Luke’s gospel of the two followers of Jesus who, having seen Him crucified, couldn’t understand how the One who they thought was God’s Messiah had been killed. All their hope seemed dead.

So, here’s my poem. First on Soundcloud as audio, then in the verse I wrote.

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/L497R

The Road to Emmaus

We walked along in deep despair
We wondered what had happened there
Our hopes and dreams lay in the dust
That cross destroying all our trust

Yet as we walked a stranger came
A man who didn’t say his name
His hooded cloak obscured his face
And as we walked he stayed in pace

He asked “why are you cast so low?”
We wondered why he didn’t know
We told him of the crucified
As he remained right by our side

We told him of our expectation
Of One who’d come to save our nation
That He had been upon that cross
And all our hopes had come to loss

Our hopes had died with the Messiah
We thought He’d come with Holy fire
But now that flame had been snuffed out
And we were left with fear and doubt

We told him what some women said
That Jesus lived. He wasn’t dead
The tomb in which his body lay
Was empty in the light of day

And angels, too, were in their story
Saying that Jesus rose in glory
But this we found too hard to know
And to Emmaus we must go

But as we shuffled on the road
The stranger with us firmly strode
And as we struggled in our grief
He called us out of unbelief

He spoke the prophets’ words from old
And showed how this was all foretold
Our hearts then burned with revelation
For understanding God’s salvation

He walked on with us to explain
Why Jesus had to die in pain
As victory from great defeat
Came through those nail pierced hands and feet

Our hope deferred, our pain of strife
Gave way before God’s tree of life
So hearts cast down could lift up high
By God’s Messiah, born to die

It was for us. He took the cup
Of bitterness, to free us up
And from the searing pain of weals
Jesus is still the One who heals 

We stepped along more briskly now
“Who was this stranger anyhow?”
He’d met us at our time of loss
To show the meaning of the cross

And when we reached our place to stay
The stranger meant to go away
But we had been so truly blessed
We asked him then to stay and rest

And he agreed. We found the inn
And three of us now ventured in
A quiet spot. An empty table
To bless this man as we were able

The bread arrived and then a cup
The stranger moved to take them up
And as he blessed and broke the bread
The hood was lifted from His head

We took the bread he gave us there
Our mouths were wide. Our eyes did stare! 
Jesus Himself. Yes, our Messiah
The One who carries Holy fire!

But as we looked, yet He was gone
Vanishing with the setting sun.
It was enough. Now we had seen
Let us tell others where He’d been

We left the inn. With hearts aflame
We knew the stranger by His Name
And we could say with joy and zeal
That Jesus lives. This faith is real.

From Jerusalem we came
We rushed back there to speak His Name
To tell the others Who we’d found
To testify to all around!

When we arrived we found His men
And others gathered there, with them
Excitedly, they told us, too
The Lord is risen! Simon knew.

We told them then of where we’d been
And of the stranger we had seen
And of His Presence on the way
And all the things that He did say 

We won’t forget the revelation
The cross he chose for man’s salvation
And then in breaking of the bread
How He revealed His sacred head.

And as we finish this long story
We hope we’ve told it for His glory
For he chose us to walk beside
We who believed that hope had died. 

Jesus, our Messiah, is alive and burns with Holy fire on the altars of our hearts!