Luke 24:13-35
Verse 21 of our Gospel for today contains a verb in the imperfect tense: hipizomen, which is translated as “we had hoped.” Our story finds two travelers walking on the road from Jerusalem back toward Emmaus. Soon, a stranger joins them in their conversation and they share with him that “they had hoped” that this prophet, Jesus, the Nazarene, would be the one to redeem Israel. He responds by saying they are “foolish and slow to believe.” Later at dinner in Emmaus, Jesus revealed himself to them and disappeared. Throughout life we have many of these “we had hoped” experiences so it makes sense to us as we read the narrative and can identify with the disappointment. We like future tenses such as “it will be fine” or “it will all come together” yet we know that there are times when our hope is not fulfilled and we find ourselves sad and disappointed. We need to remember that we are all in this together and that Jesus walks with us through all our life experiences and shares our pain. Some of our hopes in life may be shattered at times yet the ultimate hope in Jesus for redemption and eternal life can never be taken away.
