That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. (Luke 24:13-14, ESV)
In a normal year, I wouldn’t be sitting at my desk writing at this moment. I’d be having dinner with some of the Links Players from Coachella Valley celebrating Tales from the Tour. Marty Jacobus would be here, along with Chris Hermann and Rudy Herrera and maybe Duane McNett and a couple of other regulars. And of course Jeff Cranford, who would have done his normal excellent job with the interviews.
The conversation would have been lively, the food would have been tasty, and the joy would have been real.
At the event itself, John and Cari Simonsen would have handed out Links Players magazines. The staff at Scottsdale Bible Church would have made the production look as simple as a six-inch putt, and around 1,400 people would have listened as tour professionals told stories and laughed and opened their hearts about their faith.
All of us can tell stories of things that didn’t happen because of COVID-19, and we tell those stories because we feel the emptiness. So we think about and talk about what there isn’t.
No longer were they talking of the bad that happened and the good that didn’t happen; now they could only talk about their encounter with Jesus.For many Jesus followers in and around Jerusalem at the time of his death, that was the nature of the talk.
Today’s verse begins the incident of two men traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They had hoped that Jesus would be “the one to redeem Israel.” Apparently not.
Later, even knowing Jesus was alive, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John and two others went fishing. They were at loose ends. This clearly wasn’t happening the way they had expected it to happen, and they reverted to what they knew best, though they didn’t do it well (see John 21:2-3).
In the case of the two men headed to Emmaus, Jesus joined them and revealed himself to them. No longer were they talking of the bad that happened and the good that didn’t happen; now they could only talk about their encounter with Jesus.
A similar thing happened with the fishermen. Jesus showed up on the shore, told them to cast their empty nets on the other side of the boat (fishermen will listen to any advice), and they caught 153 fish. That’s also about what did happen.
Yes, it is uncomfortable when what we thought should happen doesn’t happen. But when we remember that God’s ways are not our ways and that he loves us unconditionally, hope rises in us.
God is God, after all, and oh what God can do even with what there isn’t!
—
Lewis Greer
February 10, 2021
Copyright 2021 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
Image by jürgen Scheffler from Pixabay