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it for hours, rehearsing the possibilities, arguing about the details, sparring with one
another about the theological nuances of an empty tomb. Buried beneath their verbal
skirmish, there seems to be a deep yearning and a holy hunger. Intimately intertwined with
their skepticism is their hope -- and their need for God to be alive and present. But the
baggage of their doubt impedes the fervor of their faith. And so they fail to recognize
Jesus.”
They fail to recognize Jesus. “How could this be?” we might wonder. Certainly, we think,
Jesus was so well known to them that they would recognize him no matter how deep in thought
and conversation they might be. But once again, we are looking from a distance to the empty
cross and the empty tomb. We are looking from a point of knowledge of the resurrection; it is
more to us “than a rumor, a curiosity, an idle tale,” or at least it should be. For these two
travelers, however, it is all still speculation. There have been some murmurings as to the
disappearance of Jesus’ body and this has led the two to contemplate what this might mean. In
fact, this has been their one and only topic of conversation on their journey. They have become
so engrossed in this topic that when a stranger, who we know to be Jesus, approaches them and
asks “what are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” they react with surprise,
since for them there can only be one topic of the day. It is somewhat ironic that the very topic
and, indeed, the very person of whom they are speaking, is standing right in front of them. They
are simply so preoccupied with their own disbelief that they can not see that all that they have
been told and all that they had hoped for was quite literally staring them in the face.
The events of the previous Friday still hung too heavily upon their hearts and minds for them to
really embrace the promise of resurrection.
It is not until this stranger, this fellow traveler, begins to talk with them that they can
even begin to shift their concentration from that which they expected to that which is really
happening. How many of us have been so caught up in the moment, so engrossed in what we
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