Happy Monday, friends! Christ is RISEN!!!
Holy Week is arguably my favorite week of the year, lodged deep in the heart of my favorite season of the year. It’s rife with emotion, reflection, tradition, and celebration – all things I treasure – and it’s centered around my Savior and His love, worth, and triumph.
It is a gift.
He is a gift.
Today I wanted to share some thoughts (shared last year in my newsletter) on a portion of Scripture that never – and I mean never – interested me until recently.
I don’t know why I always skimmed over the account of Jesus joining the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, but, apart from my childhood fascination with Jesus suddenly disappearing from the table after breaking bread, it had never stuck out to me before.
But finally one phrase in that account hit home…
“Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have you not known the things…concerning Jesus of Nazareth…and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”
luke 24:18-21
I can almost hear the devastation and confusion, even the hurt in Cleopas’ voice as he shares his shattered hopes with the man he has yet to learn is Jesus.
And yet I almost smile in anticipation of the revelation that is to come for him. Just wait, Cleopas! He has redeemed Israel! Just in a far better, far grander way than you could have dreamed.
Just wait.
I think this story has finally stuck out to me because I find Cleopas’ disappointment and disillusionment to be so relatable. Over and over again I’ve dreamed up ways God could redeem the broken storylines that hang aching in my life, and over and over again I turn confused and hurt-filled eyes to Jesus and whisper,
“But I was hoping You were going to redeem this.”
I can picture His patient smile. Just wait, Laurel! I am redeeming this! Just in a far better, far grander way than you could have dreamed.
Just wait.
I’ll be honest; my flesh is so very sick of waiting.
I, with the disciples who ran confused after Christ’s crucifixion, want answers and healing right here, right now, and I know I’m not the only one.
But.
God has all the time in the world.
He is in no hurry.
He is good. He is righteous. He sees you, and He sees me. His heart breaks at this brokenness, too.
And He is a Redeemer, never late, ever unafraid of the clock.
So even when our hearts want so badly to scream for wholeness on our terms and on our timelines, we can lay our fears and even our anger to rest on the heart that bled out for us.
I scribbled this on a sticky note the other day and stuck it on my fridge as a reminder:
I have learned not to fear the silence of God.
God’s silence stretched on for 400 years, and then He changed the world forever.
He is not silent in confusion, indecision, or fear.
He is silent in anticipation.
Oh, what a wondrous God we get to love and serve! May He be the strength of our hearts today and our portion forever.
Stay the course!
❤ Laurel
Photo by Martino Pietropoli on Unsplash
Laurel Luehmann 