On the Road Again

Hello. My name is Cleopas.

I was a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. Well, not a follower in the sense that I was close to him or anything. I literally just followed the crowds, watching the miracles and listening to his strange and wonderful teachings, and hanging near his disciples.

I really thought he was going to be the one.

They crucified him Friday. That left me demoralized and shaken.

That had to be the low point of my life.

We don't even really know who to blame.

The priests wanted him dead, I can't imagine why.

So did the Scribes and the Pharasees.

King Herod thought he was nuts, but harmless.

Pilate could find nothing worthy of arrest, let alone death.

In the end, though, Pilate was more spineless and ambitious than anyone imagined.

He gave the crucifixion order to keep down the "Jewish Problem," and to show Rome how well he could handle the local uprisings.

Any way, they killed him and we did not know what to do.

One thing was for certain, we did not want to hang around Jerulalem so Magmus and I headed out of town.

We decided to go to back home to Emmaus.

There were not many people out that day, so Magmus and I pretty much had the road to ourselves.

Out of nowhere this other guy showed up.

He must have been behind the rocks or bushes or something, because he just sort of was all of a sudden walking beside us.

We both jumped like we were dodging a Roman spear. We didn't know whether he was there to rob us or what.

He spoke, "You must be concerned about something very important. Mind if I ask what you're discussing?"

"What is anybody discussing?" I asked, kind of...well, snootily, I guess. You know, like, how could he be so out of touch.

"We're talking about the last few days." That was Magmus' voice.

"What about them?" he asked. "What's up?"

"Are you part ostrich?" It was reall not a nice tone I used. "You must be the only one within a two day's journey who does not know what's on everybody's mind."

"Tell me."

"The crucifixion, man. The crucifixion."

"They crucified the man from Nazareth, that prophet, Jesus."

Magmus filled in. "We thought he was the glorious Messiah, come to rescue Israel for Rome. But it was not to be."

I interrupted his trailing words. "Then Sunday, some women went to his tomb and came back with a story about the missing body, angels and I don't know what all."

"They even reported that they had seen him alive! How pitiful is that?"

"Personally, I think the Jews stole the body, or maybe the ones closest to him. Or maybe he didn't really die, just swooned and was awakened by the cool temperatures of the tomb, although how he, in his condition, holes in his hands and feet, a sword wound in his side, managed to move that big rock, I'll never know."

Suddenly he spoke. This time it sounded different somehow.

"You are such foolish, foolish people. You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted by the prophets tht the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory?"

Well, when we heard that we knew a couple of things for sure.

First, he wasn't a robber.

Secondly, he was pretty smart.

He didn't look like a Rabbi or a student, but he sure did know the scriptures. It was as though he had written them himself.

He started in Genesis and went right on through to Malachi.

And every book and verse he quoted pointed to exactly what had taken place.

I don't know why the religious leaders had never shared that with the people. But it sure was an eye opener.

As we neared Emmaus, Magmus and I had so many questions and were so spellbound by what he was saying that we asked him to stay over with us.

At first he seemed to resist the idea, but finally he agreed and we had the most wonderful supper and conversation.

So many things suddenly became clear, as though our eyes were seeing Life for the first time.

And as we looked at him, it was as though the Light of the Universe was focused in our one room.

Oh, I tell you the truth, we realized that we had been walking, talking and eating with Jesus.

Magmus and I danced and bounced around the room like children of the living God.

TO BE CONTINUED.