Today's Scripture Reading (January 9, 2021): Luke 24
One of the features of most romantic movies is
the question that receives an incomplete, or sometimes an assumed, answer. It
is the two people falling in love when one gets an invitation to go somewhere
else. Of course, this is when the incomplete answer comes in. One partner hears
only part of the answer to the question and then assumes the rest. As one
person is getting ready to turn down the invitation, the other thinks that the
answer is yes and that the person to whom they are becoming attached is now
leaving, not just the area, but the relationship, behind. And the
misunderstanding becomes a significant turning point for the plot.
Cleopas and his unnamed friend are walking home
after the crucifixion of Jesus. Tradition teaches that Cleopas was the brother
of Joseph or Jesus's uncle. Joseph had likely died long before the execution of
Jesus, so Uncle Cleopas represented the family as the patriarchal leader. If Cleopas
is the same person as John calls Clopas, which seems likely, then his wife,
Aunt Mary, was present at her nephew's crucifixion. (Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's
sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene [John 19:25]). And if
all this is true, then likely the unnamed friend of Cleopas on this road to
Emmaus was none other than his wife, Aunt Mary.
Jesus had been executed on Friday. On
Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, Cleopas and Mary stayed with Jesus's mother, Mary,
and the rest of her family, supporting her during this time of great trial. But
on Sunday morning, just as rumors of Jesus's missing body were beginning to
make the rounds in Jerusalem, Cleopas and Mary started their journey home.
And on the way, they meet with Jesus.
They don't recognize him, partially because they did not expect him to be traveling
on the road, but Jesus joins his Aunt and Uncle on their journey. I love
Cleopas's question here. As he talks with Jesus, he cries out to him, "Are
you the only one who doesn't know everything that has happened in Jerusalem in
the past few days? How did you miss the crucifixion just outside the city walls?"
Of course, the man to whom he was speaking was one of those who had been
executed just outside Jerusalem's walls. He spent the Sabbath in the grave, and
now, while many disciples were trying to figure out what had happened, he was
having a personal meeting with Uncle Cleopas and Aunt Mary, on the road to
Emmaus.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 20
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