Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. (Luke 24:13-27 NRSV)
Every liberation movement…
…needs a leader, and in 1955, after young Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, Martin Luther King Jr., a local pastor, became one by bringing a group of activists together to boycott the Montgomery public transportation system.
Soon after, in 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to segregate seating on public buses. In 1957, King continued his work, and it gained momentum; he formed the SCLC, a group dedicated to civil rights activities in the South, and he met with leaders around the world, formulating his philosophy of peaceful noncompliance.
In 1963, he was arrested for taking part in a demonstration to desegregate lunch counters in Birmingham. From his Birmingham jail cell, he laid out a roadmap for “nonviolent direct action,” a method for fighting for the civil rights of all humans in the United States. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he reminded his followers.
Later in 1963, King helped lead a massive march to Washington DC, culminating in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The result of this march was swift and stunning— in 1964, the Civil Rights Act passed, and Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1965, King led a famous march in Selma, Alabama, which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After this, King shifted his focus to fighting poverty and war. It was on the way to one of these marches in 1968, the Poor People’s March to Washington, that a sniper shot and killed him.
Fast forward to 2022,
…and MLK is a household name; no history book would dare omit his story. Excerpts from his speeches and snippets from his sermons are inserted here or there into famous people’s speeches to help them make a point. Yet I wonder whether anyone really understands what he and his tireless efforts meant to black Americans in the 1950’s and 60’s.
From King’s own description, black Americans during that time could not safely order “a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.” They were regularly forced to witness, as King put it, “hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill” their “black brothers and sisters.” King himself had to explain to his daughter that he couldn’t take her to this new amusement park she had seen on TV because it was “closed to colored children.”
King understood what it was to be black in America because he was a black American. “…when you are harried by day and haunted by night” because of the color of your skin, he explained. When you live “constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next,” he continued.
Friend, go with me for a moment to a time in your life when you were both afraid and powerless. Now stretch that feeling out, let it follow you from when you were a youngling all the way till now. Are you heartsick? Hopeless? Eaten up?
From within the ranks of the oppressed, Martin Luther King Jr. rose up. Like Moses, he led his people out of hopelessness into something filled with promise. He spoke for them with words they understood. He was them, and then he rose up to overcome. For once, there was hope. There was joy and life. There was momentum. Things were getting done. And then, in the middle of doing all that good work, someone murdered him.
What?! Why? Immediately after, in no less than 125 cities, violence erupted across the United States, black Americans took to the streets, smashing property in open keening, expressing an anguish too deep for words.
Martin Luther King Jr. isn’t the only such leader who’s died mid-momentum, dashing hope in the process. I’m sure you can think of other influential people who have similarly died right while they were doing their best work— Mahatma Gandhi? Rachel Held Evans? Thomas Merton? …Jesus? What?! Why?
Stretch that feeling out, let it follow you from when you were a youngling all the way till now. Are you heartsick? Hopeless? Eaten up?
Take your dashed hopes and go pick up your friend with similarly dashed hopes on your way to work Monday morning. But don’t stop there. Lose the car and the suit. You’re walking to work instead, and it’s going to take a few hours so make sure you’re wearing comfy shoes.
Oh, and while you’re at it, lose your citizenship too. Keep your eye out for anyone in a suit or official uniform; if they stop you, you’re gonna have to be willing to do whatever they say. You’re just a Jew living under Roman rule in first-century Palestine, and today you and your companion are headed to work. Keep a bit of spare change in your pocket, if you have any, in case they “tax” you. Mostly, keep your head down and don’t make eye contact. The best plan, if you see them, is just not to engage.
Stick to the side of the road and don’t mind the stares of the wealthy chariot owner’s children as they fly past you along the way. After all, they might think you’re weird-looking, strange, but you know the truth… The city behind you, the one you’re walking away from, Jerusalem? It’s really not their city, it’s yours.
The big temple behind its walls, the one Herod the Great refurbished? That’s your people’s temple, and you know the story— once, God came to live right there, among you. Some of your people don’t think God lives there anymore, and you’re really not sure whether or not that’s still God’s dwelling place.
And up until a few days ago, you could really have cared less about whether God was living in the temple or not. Why? Because in the last few years, in your spare time, you’ve been following and listening to this radical teacher, one of your own people, who got what your life was like and spoke out against injustice in the same way your prophets did. His words were so powerful and his actions so meaningful that you were pretty sure of two things— God’s hand was on this person, which meant God cared about you and your people, and God was going to use this person to save, redeem, restore your nation, Israel, from the Roman Empire. God is really with us. This was a truth you held like a treasure in your heart, rejoicing.
But then the Roman authorities arrested Jesus, and to prove Jesus wasn’t any kind of redeemer, they mocked him, along with all the Jews, by calling him a Jewish king and then crucifying him just like they did with all enemies of the state. What?! Before he could redeem Israel? With all that God-ordination, God-calling and God-power?! How could they?? Why?! Hadn’t Jesus just arrived in Jerusalem to do his most important work yet?
And now, Jesus is dead, but you still have to make a living, you’ve still got to go to work. Are those extra sneers on the Roman guard’s faces today as you walk on by? Oh, well, it doesn’t matter anyways. What’s going on, you ask your friend. What’s the use of a prophet if they just go and die like that? Is it all over? Is everything over? Is all hope lost?
And what do you think of that crazy story the women told this morning about finding Jesus’ tomb empty and hearing angels say he had risen from the dead? Ugh, they were so sad. And grief’ll make you see anything, you conclude. But still, they said the tomb was empty… what do you make of that?
Friends, let’s take a moment here to look at this story, written by the great storyteller Luke, from afar.
All hope of redemption was lost, wasn’t it? …Or was it? While they were talking, Jesus walked right up to Cleopas and his companion. He asked them what they were talking about and they quickly recognized him, not as Jesus, but as a Jewish stranger who had no clue what had been going on in Jerusalem. They were so sad and confused they poured out their whole story to this stranger, complete with all their dashed hopes and dreams.
Sometimes, when all hope is lost, we just need someone to hear us, you know? When black Americans took to the streets after MLK’s death, did anyone take the time to listen to them? Or were they just left… alone and on their own?
This stranger Cleopas and his unnamed companion were talking to was Jesus but they didn’t know who he was; and then when this stranger-Jesus heard their story, he called them fools! He told them they were silly and blind. I’m sorry, but if someone said this to me while I was grieving and upset, I’d be kind of pissed. The nerve!
And now I’m here standing with Luke’s audience, wondering why Jesus would call two people who are scratching their heads at his untimely death foolish for doing so; it just doesn’t seem like a compassionate thing for Jesus to say—
…and that’s the clue that what Jesus is about to say is really a message Luke wanted his hearers to hear.
So what was it? You fools, Jesus explains, didn’t you know this was part of the plan all along? The Messiah, God’s anointed one, had to suffer first before he could be glorified. God’s plan isn’t over, it has only just begun. I wonder why Jesus did not just reveal himself at that point and say, “Ta-da! And it’s me! Here I am! See??”
But then I think that, if he did, Cleopas and his companion may never have seen themselves as the main characters in the story, a story they were now seeing was so much bigger than themselves.
And now I have to ask, friends, did the Civil Rights movement end with MLK? Did parsing our faith end with Rachel Held Evans? Did societal critiques and interreligious dialogue end with Thomas Merton? Did activism end with Mahatma Gandhi?
…Did prophetic justice-work end with Jesus?
Was it all the end, or only just the beginning? You, standing there with Cleopas, friend, you decide.