Steps (Third Sunday of Easter)

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A number of years ago, it was pointed out to me that my phone is constantly tracking my steps.  It tells me how many steps it thinks I’ve taken, how many flights of stairs I’ve climbed and how far I’ve walked.

Like many other things my phone tracks automatically, I could turn this off!  But, because I need the exercise, I leave it on.  And in fact, checking my steps has become a daily habit.  And sometimes, I learn interesting stuff.  For example, it’s amazing how many steps I take just walking around during a Sunday worship service.  I’ve learned that just mowing my lawn is the equivalent of a mile and half walk.  And when it’s raining and I can’t go outside, I really am a slug!

I actually don’t really put much faith in the step count my phone tells me I take, because it doesn’t know my stride, or seem to take into account short or long steps.  But I do think the GPS tracking is pretty good, and so I do trust the number of miles it says I walk.  And in spite of the debate about how many steps you really need to stay healthy, so far this year my phone tells me I take about 11,000 steps a day, which in my case usually works out to about 5 miles.  That seems to work out well for me, but on days when I exceed 6 miles, I really do feel a bit more tired than usual.

And so, because of my step and mile tracking, I have a better understanding now of these two disciples who are heading to Emmaus, which Luke say is “about seven miles from Jerusalem.”  They’re gonna get about 150% of my steps just to get to Emmaus that day.  But it’s more than just steps.  I walk around Montgomery County, which is relatively flat.  The area around Jerusalem is mountainous. They’re going up and down and around hills, so their total calorie consumption is a lot better than mine, too!  And so when they finally reach home with this stranger they’ve met on the road, they’re surely wiped!  They are ready to sit down, have something to eat and veg out for the rest of the night.

But then, just as they’ve had more steps than they need and it’s getting dark outside anyway, they realize that the stranger they brought home really isn’t a stranger.  It’s Jesus!  And just as “their eyes are opened” and they recognize him, he vanishes from their sight.  But then they do an unimaginable thing – they get up and double their steps!  They go back another seven miles to Jerusalem, up and down the hilly terrain, in the dark.

It’s a wild story about steps!  And maybe Luke makes the story this long to emphasize how many steps they took!  And indeed, the steps are key to understanding the story.  And that’s because it was through these many daily steps that these two disciples, and others like them, came to really experience and share the presence of the Risen Jesus in their lives.

The steps were important because the Risen Jesus was experienced through the steps:

• Of the regular, daily journeys of the disciples – we’re never told why Cleopas and his traveling companion (probably his wife) are heading to Emmaus, but it’s likely they’re just heading home after the Passover in Jerusalem.  They’re on a normal “commute” that they may have made many times during the year.  And yet, it’s through the normal steps of their daily life that their hearts burn within them as they listen to someone they think is a stranger.  They don’t recognize Jesus by his appearance, and over the centuries, countless commentators have offered opinions about why that might be.  But Luke says, “their eyes were kept from recognizing him” which implies that Jesus didn’t want to be recognized by his appearance.  Instead, Jesus was recognized (after the fact) by his words and his inspiration.  And perhaps the steps of that part of the journey were intended to show those disciples, and us, that Jesus can be working in our lives and in our hearts even when think we’re talking to strangers, and even when we’re just passing time on the regular steps of our commute…

• That took them to a meal – when you’ve taken a lot of steps, you need to eat!  And these two disciples sat down with the stranger who turned out to be Jesus, and got ready to eat a meal together.  Yet when Jesus broke the bread and gave it to them, he vanished!  So Jesus apparently didn’t stay to eat.  And Cleopas and his wife got so excited that they got up and “that same hour” they took steps back to Jerusalem, which gives the impression that they might not have eaten much, or at all!  Yet the next thing that happens is that after they reach Jerusalem, Jesus appears to all of them.  And the first thing that Jesus does is ask if “they have anything to eat”, maybe partly because he left the Emmaus house without eating…!  But what happens then is that all the disciples – the eleven and those gathered with them – including the two from Emmaus – share fellowship with the Risen Jesus as they eat together.  And the steps that took the two from Emmaus back to Jerusalem for that meal weren’t just extra steps for the day – they were the steps that carried them to a deeper experience of the Risen Jesus…

• That enabled disciples to share their experiences of Jesus in their lives.  When these two from Emmaus return to Jerusalem, before they can even open their mouths, the rest of the disciples tell them, “the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.”  It’s then that the two from Emmaus tell the others of their experience and how they recognized Jesus in the breaking of bread.  And so those steps back to Jerusalem enabled the disciples to share with each other their individual experiences of Jesus, so that the whole community could be built up and strengthened.  Those steps weren’t just extra steps for exercise, but essential steps for the building up of the early Christian community…

The steps those disciples took were important.  And our steps are also important.  And that’s because Jesus often reveals his presence in our lives through the steps we take:

• On our regular, everyday journeys – part of what this story reminds us to do is to be aware of how Jesus may be speaking to us through the regular interactions we have with people who seem like strangers; and maybe they are!  But both in the Scriptures and in my life, I’ve seen that God often uses people and events and situations that don’t “look” like Jesus to guide me and help me move forward; and maybe part of the point of this story is to be open to how Jesus is moving us in our hearts, rather than to wonder who it is that Jesus is using to do that…

• That carry us to meals we eat together – in one sense, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Jesus revealed himself in the context of a meal; meals and banquets are recurring themes in Scripture for God to act.  And for us, too, whether it’s the steps we take that carry us to the Lord’s Supper, or even the steps we take that carry us to fellowship events like our Cinco de Mayo party, often those steps bring us into community in which we more fully appreciate and experience the presence of Jesus…

• Which allow us to share our experiences of Jesus with one another – and often, this may not be big and dramatic.  The two disciples at Emmaus simply had a meal; and somehow Jesus “appeared to Simon” – we’re never told any of the details of that event.  But it’s in sharing our experiences of Jesus acting in our lives – even the simple experience of feeling that we’ve been supported and strengthened to get through a tough experience – it’s in the sharing of those experiences which build us all up, and help us move forward as the body of Christ together…

So, be sure to get your steps in!  It’s not only good for your health.  Today’s Gospel reminds us that it’s often through your regular daily steps that Jesus reveals himself in your life.  It’s often through the steps you take to head to dinner that Jesus brings you into community that helps you more fully experience the Resurrection.  And it’s often through the steps you take to join together with others that Jesus is acting to make you a witness to Jesus’ presence in the lives of others.

Amen.