The road to Emmaus

Something I shared in another context after I had engaged in some online conversation with a group of individuals discussing the Bible from a scholarly perspective:

…The academic, scholarly community is not for the faint of heart, particularly when we’re talking about religion. The fundamental problem with such discussions is that there are two premises, a world apart, upon which these things are being argued. And I made the mistake of coming into the discussion from a believing perspective.

The discussion as a whole is about contradictions in the gospels. From a non-believing perspective, I’m not sure why it’s even being discussed. If it’s mythology, then why waste time on it. I suppose it could be seen as a service, bringing into the light of rational thought these poor believers who have been duped. I can see the rationale there.

Anyway, here’s my (believer-perspective) response to someone who said the two disciples on the road to Emmaus could not have recognized the significance of Jesus breaking and blessing bread with them, because they had not been at the last supper:

“Did they have to have been present at the last supper to recognize unique significance in the practice of breaking and blessing bread? Jesus as the bread of life was a theme of his ministry. Twice, he miraculously multiplied bread to feed a multitude. He publicly referred to himself as the bread of life and insisted that people must partake of his flesh, meaning consume it symbolically, which conveyed the idea in John 14 of the father and son coming to us and making their abode with us. Miraculously providing bread/manna was ingrained in the Jewish tradition because of the manna provided miraculously to the children of Israel in the wilderness.

“It specifically says in the account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus that their eyes were ‘holden’ that they didn’t recognize Jesus. There was something else at play than just the normal physical senses that, in the first place (when they walked with Jesus) caused them not to recognize him, and in the second place (when they realized who he was) to realize that this was the very Jesus of Nazareth who had died on the cross. At that point, their hearts burned within them with the dawning comprehension of who it was.

“At that point, then, everything they had just heard during the several hours on the road, tied together and made sense. Jesus had expounded all things from the beginning concerning himself, likely expounding on the many old testament prophecies and references that pointed to a promised Messiah, a final sacrifice of a lamb without blemish that would fulfill the ends of the law of Moses. This all rolled together at once and the two disciples realized what it all meant.

“As for his disappearing act, who knows what the literal, intended meaning was for such a description of the event. From a non-believing perspective, it seems ridiculous and the conversation is over. But, from a believing perspective, what’s so different between Jesus departing in a way that’s so sudden it seems miraculous, and Jesus somehow appearing to the 11 disciples inside a locked room after his resurrection? The entire premise of the bible is the reality of the miraculous. If we allow that premise to inform our reading of the bible, things make more sense and many (not all) apparent contradictions disappear. But, if all of us here in this discussion are coming at this from a non-believing perspective, then yes, it’s all utterly ridiculous, there are indeed a multitude of contradictions, and frankly the conversation is over and I wonder why we’re all here.“

In continual remembrance

Here are some things I recently wrote to my daughter, who is getting close to the end of her mission:

…I hope you’re feeling good about your mission as everything is winding down. I was just looking through the last several entries in my journal before I came home. Things went well and I had a lot of good experiences, but it was also clear I was battling some feelings of inadequacy about my mission.

If I could go back, I would not worry so much and be so hard on myself. Looking back over the nearly 25 years that I’ve been home, I feel like I’ve come up short in most things in my life. And maybe that’s okay, as long as I don’t get down on myself about that. As long as we do it in a healthy way, I’m not sure it’s such a bad thing to feel like we’re always coming up short.

I think it’s not such a bad thing to recognize our constant need for God. In mortality, I think we’ll always feel inadequate. And in the end, when the Lord redeems us, we will have a perfect knowledge that we could not have made it without him. It makes me think of what Nephi says: “...my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.” It also makes me think of this:

“…ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led…. After ye have arrived in the promised land, ye shall know that I, the Lord, am God: and that I, the Lord, did deliver you from destruction; yea, that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem.”

It also makes me think of the following: “…if it so be that they [Nephi’s brothers] rebel against me, they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.”

I really would prefer that life get continually easier and easier. But, it seems that’s not the way it works. Instead, we’re continually given challenges to keep us in remembrance of our need for God and that it’s only through him that we can cross this great deep. This is what makes of us a redeemed soul. The Lord delivers us time and time again. And when we reach the other end, we know that we couldn’t have made it without him.

I hope you can feel that this is not an ending, but a beginning. You’ve learned so much. And now, I feel like you’re just leaving the MTC and beginning the greatest labor of your life. It won’t be easy. But, we should rejoice that it’s not easy. Because, it’s in the difficulty of our life that God manifests his great power unto deliverance. That’s why Nephi, in the midst of his anguish over his own inadequacy said:

“...nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh. He hath confounded my enemies…. he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime.”

…I’m grateful that you served a mission. I think it’s been good for our whole family. It’s been a service, not just to the people you’ve helped on your mission, but also to us.