In the last week, I’ve gotten to go out on a couple of trails to go hiking. If there is something that I wish I could do more of, that’s it. There’s something about being out on the trail that is peaceful, and open.
The number of times that we’d stop, when we were out at Pershing State Park last Saturday, or that I’d stop when I was out at Longbranch State Park on Tuesday, and relax into the openness, knowing that there wasn’t anyone else around, was very nice. (yes, that's kind of a run on sentence)
While we were out, for the most part, among all the things that we saw, there was something we didn’t see much of. Any guesses?
People!
We didn’t see many people. When we were down on the boardwalk trail and then beyond it at Pershing, we saw a couple of folks early on, and then didn’t see anyone for several hours until we got back onto the boardwalk trail. When I was over at Longbranch on Tuesday, the only people I saw on the trail were some turkey hunters by their truck before I left. I didn’t see anyone again until I ran into Joan Sportsman at Dairy Queen in Macon when I finished….almost 6 hours later. It was nice.
It would have felt weird to have other people with us, or to run into them on the trail, and then just start hiking with them. The kind of hiking I was doing isn’t the kind where you stop to visit with folks, or just randomly decide to hike with them for a while.
But there is some where that’s a thing, where the community that you build up on the trail is almost as important as being on the trail itself. If you’ve heard stories from the Appalachian Trail, its like that.
On the AT, you have “trail families” that are made up of folks that randomly meet up and start hiking together for long stretches of the trail, and everyone gets their own trail name. There’s even trail magic, that’s made up of either locals along the trail, or of folks who’ve hiked the trail that bring food, water, or other special things out for folks who are hiking.
That community, and the gathering of folks from very different backgrounds is an important part of what goes happens on the trail.
While we were out, for the most part, among all the things that we saw, there was something we didn’t see much of. Any guesses?
People!
We didn’t see many people. When we were down on the boardwalk trail and then beyond it at Pershing, we saw a couple of folks early on, and then didn’t see anyone for several hours until we got back onto the boardwalk trail. When I was over at Longbranch on Tuesday, the only people I saw on the trail were some turkey hunters by their truck before I left. I didn’t see anyone again until I ran into Joan Sportsman at Dairy Queen in Macon when I finished….almost 6 hours later. It was nice.
It would have felt weird to have other people with us, or to run into them on the trail, and then just start hiking with them. The kind of hiking I was doing isn’t the kind where you stop to visit with folks, or just randomly decide to hike with them for a while.
But there is some where that’s a thing, where the community that you build up on the trail is almost as important as being on the trail itself. If you’ve heard stories from the Appalachian Trail, its like that.
On the AT, you have “trail families” that are made up of folks that randomly meet up and start hiking together for long stretches of the trail, and everyone gets their own trail name. There’s even trail magic, that’s made up of either locals along the trail, or of folks who’ve hiked the trail that bring food, water, or other special things out for folks who are hiking.
That community, and the gathering of folks from very different backgrounds is an important part of what goes happens on the trail.
Last week was Easter. Jesus was resurrected, but at the start only a few knew that he had been.
Eventually, the word would have to start getting out that something had happened. To get there, we go to the trail, to the road to Emmaus.
Two of Jesus disciples, who weren't a part of the twelve, would have been believers are heading to Emmaus. We’re led to believe that that is their home. It’s about a seven mile journey from Jerusalem to get there. Which isn’t a huge distance, but its enough that you wouldn’t make that journey all the time.
For them, travelling was as much a social thing as it was travel. You were safer in larger groups, and it was also how you spread the news…literally spreading it as you were walking from place to place.
Its on this trail that they meet someone who is traveling in their general direction. They may just be going together to Emmaus, the new guy might be travelling farther on, it doesn’t matter as much as they are sharing the time together.
Jesus (the new guy) asks them “what’s going on?” And for a moment they are astonished that he doesn’t seem to have any idea what has taken place.
This is where we get what I think is an important verse where they begin to tell him about the things going on
He was recognized. I love this line.
Jesus was recognized as a prophet, he was recognized as being important, he was recognized as having a message to give to the people, he was even recognized as being more than the others that have come before him.
But...
We’re left with the implication that there is still more to the story.
Jesus calls them out on it, says to them that you’ve heard, but you haven’t really understood. You recognized him, but you didn’t really get it. Then Jesus begins to teach them.
They still don’t know who he is.
This goes on for the whole journey. When they get to Emmaus, they invite this man who has been teaching them back to their house to stay with them. This wouldn’t have been unusual. This is part of the hospitality of the road, or the trail magic. It’s just what you did.
So Jesus goes with them, sits down at the table with them, picks up the bread, breaks it, gives it to them, their eyes are opened, and he disappears. They nearly kick themselves because they figure they should have known who he was. Then, at night, they make the trek back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of the disciples.
Go back to the title of this message.
He was recognized.
They recognized some of who Jesus was, but didn’t get it all. Arguably they should have figured it out a long time ago, but the disciples, whether part of the 12 or not, were never known for being super perceptive while traveling with Jesus.
And while I like to give them a hard time about that, I do that it’s because I see a lot of myself in them. Because they shouldn’t have figured it out then. They were in the middle of it. There was to much stuff going on for them to always be clear about who Jesus was. It's hard to figure some things out when you're in the middle of them.
He was recognized, but then he had to teach.
Recognizing is important, but it’s only the first step. It’s the teaching that comes after that is even more important.
Picking up a Bible, pointing to a passage of scripture and saying, “I’ve found it!” is only the first step. That’s just recognizing that something important is there. The teaching is still to come.
The teaching comes from the journey, from the trail, from the gathering of believers who are listening while they’re on the journey.
The true magic of the trail comes from Jesus teaching, and his helping us to understand like we never could before, but that can sometimes be the hardest step to take.
Don't confuse recognition with understanding. Instead, recognize then go on a journey. Spend some time with other people, talk about it, argue about it, but most importantly, listen for Jesus teaching as you go.
The journey we're on is the most important that we'll ever be on, and it gets better when we share it with others. Go on a journey, hit the trail, and let Jesus' teachings fill you as you go.
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