Everything seemed to be looking up, all the pieces seemed to be in place, when suddenly all their hopes and dreams came crashing down around their ears. Their dream had become a nightmare. Dead. Crucified. Buried. Gone.
Had they misread the signs? Were all the prophesies wrong? What had happened? How could everything have gone to hell so quickly, so abruptly? Why???
Who can’t relate to this story? We have all been there, done that, and gotten the T-shirt. We have all been in times and situations which seemed to be so full of hope and promise that we were dreaming of a rosy future, when our dreams turned into nightmares and our hopes were extinguished.
A highly-anticipated pregnancy turns into a miscarriage, or worse yet, the baby is born with horrible birth-defects and only lives a few hours. A cancer surgery, which was hoped to be life-saving, turns into a closed-up incision with the verdict of “The cancer has spread too far, so it was impossible to get it all.“. A man goes in for open-heart surgery which will give him a new lease on life but dies on the table before surgery even begins. A person with cancer is given six months to live and dies less than six weeks later. Grieving parents, a grieving widow, and grieving family and friends are left behind to pick up the pieces of their dream-shattered lives.
A new relationship seems to be going well, but ends abruptly a few weeks later. “Til death do us part” turns into “Til death or disconvenience do us part“. “Happily-ever-after” turns into “Nightmare on Rainbow Chase Place“. What happened? How could everything that seemed to be going so right abruptly go so wrong? Why???
Were we all wrong to get our hopes and dreams up? Another question might be “Were we hoping for all the wrong things?“. Is there something better in store for us that we could never dream of or anticipate? Did the “good” get sacrificed to make way for the “best“?
Two thousand years ago, two men trudged along a dusty road, disappointed that their dreams and hopes had died, talking about what had brought those dreams and hopes to naught. They had witnessed their dream, their hope of a new and better future, being crucified on a Roman cross. Maybe they had even helped prepare His body for burial. The only thing that they knew for certain was that Jesus of Nazareth was dead, buried, and with His death and burial was buried their dreams and hopes. Grieving family and friends were left behind to pick up the pieces of their dream-shattered lives. Luke recorded this scene for us in detail.
On the Road to Emmaus
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” He asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; but we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them.
When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread. (Luke 24:13-35)
They had heard Jesus teach, they had witnessed His miracles, they had been part of the adoring crowd as He rode into Jerusalem, but they were totally-baffled by His crucifixion. We certainly can’t blame them for being despondent, because had He become their King, Jerusalem would have become His capitol and they would be in training as Ambassadors. They were dreaming of an earthly-kingdom, not realizing that Jesus was establishing a heavenly-kingdom.
Their despondency turned into amazement and jubilation when their risen Savior broke bread with them, and just a few weeks later, they were given their new assignments and received the Holy Spirit to enable them to carry them out. He WAS their King and they became His Ambassadors, but in a very-different way. The “good” had been displaced by the “BEST“.
Final thoughts…
We DO lose loved-ones to death and are left to pick up the pieces of our dream-shattered lives, but did their death spare them future or further suffering? Relationships DO go awry, but sometimes the opportunities we gain outweigh the loss of that relationship. That is certainly the case with my most recent debacle, because I have gained ministry-opportunities which wouldn’t have been possible had everything gone as “planned“. I am NOT saying that everything has turned-out peachy, but in spite of the pain, it has turned out well. One dream has been replaced by a far-better dream, so stay tuned.
In Christ,
Steve
Struggles of a Christian Naturist 