I don't know how much he actually heard
or can afford to hear,
but, his meeting with Chairman Arafat
was postponed by the most recent bombing,
- perhaps until today.

For, there has been some signal
from the PLO
that they are ready to condemn
all killing of innocents
on both sides.

So, perhaps,
just perhaps,
Secretary Powell will by now
have travelled up the road,
north to Ramalla
where Israeli forces have destroyed
much of the town
and breached the PLO buildings.

Perhaps, he will finally have meet
with the besieged chairman,
- up that difficult Road.

It struck me powerfully, yesterday,
that this is the same road
taken by the two former followers of Jesus
in today's wonderful Gospel story.

- the same road,
and, it is an equally desolate road.

It was that same day
that the women had reported
that the body of Jesus was missing from the tomb.

Two of them
are walking on that road
north to Emmaus,
It was then, as now, a very scary road.

There are two of them.
One was Cleopas,
and, we know that a "Mary",
the wife of a Cleopas,
stayed by the Cross with Jesus when he died;
along with Mary, the Mother,
and Mary Magdalene.

So, these are likely a married couple
who had been very close to Jesus,
but now he is dead,
and with him went all their dreams

- all their hope. Hopelessness, born of injustice
and a lack of vision
is the darkest thing of all;

and Cleopus and Mary experience it,
as they head off along the road
to Ramalla.

What can be left?
Why stay in Jerusalem with the others?

Of what good can it be to engage that community
of former followers?
That dream obviously has no power, after all:
no purpose, no hope.

Then, a stranger joins them
as they walk along the road.

"Why do you walk without purpose
and look so glum?" asks the stranger.

They walk along
and begin to engage in conversation
about the death of Jesus
and their despair.

Then, the stranger tells them
about the true nature of the Messiah
using their holy scriptures.

The hours and miles pass quickly
and they find themselves
at their house near Ramalla.

The stranger continues on
as if he is to travel endlessly, alone,
into the dangers and fears of the coming darkness,

but, Cleopus and Mary say,
"Wait, stranger, come in and eat with us."

The stranger comes in with them,
but immediately takes as his own
the role of the master of the house.

He Takes Bread and Blesses it
Breaks it, and Gives it to them.

All these words are pretty much the same words
and the same formula
that close followers of Jesus
must have heard
perhaps many, many times.

Even we have heard them.
Once at the feeding of the 5,000
And, then at the Last Supper, in its several accounts,
- the same words,
take, bread, bless, break, give

The same words:
and suddenly, their eyes are opened
and they know it is Jesus.

Jesus then disappears,
for they are ready now.
They have been given a vision of hope.
And, they set off at once -
back to Jerusalem -
in spite of the risks of darkness and of bandits.

They head back to rejoin
the sacred fellowship they had abandoned.

A few hours later, their excitement building,
they find the eleven
and the other companions gathered,
and they tell how their hearts
had burned within them
as they walked with the stranger
along the long, dismal road;
and how they had recognized Jesus
in the Breaking of the Bread.

I don't know how to fix
the horror and injustice
in the Middle East,
but God does,

and, I do know
that we can be quick to hear only people
with whom we are comfortable,
and make quick judgments about others
before we have truly listened from the heart.

And we, too, can become complicit in injustice
and loose our vision for life, ours and that of others.

We too, can become, ourselves, desolate,
and head off almost aimlessly
along a dangerous road,
alone,
separated from the faith community, the church,
alone, and dying.

And, I do know
that Jesus, one way or another,
walks that very road
and challenges us to stop defining God
to suit ourselves
and to let Jesus become master of our household
and presider over our table,
so that we can become open to a new vision
of what is good, and true, and just, and faithful.

That new vision
turns us around
and heads us back into the holy fellowship.

It changes us forever.
And, if it can change 1 person, why not 2?
or if 2, why not a community?
if one community, why not another?

Why, in God's time, can it not
change nations that seem truly and irrevocably lost?

We gather here and tell foundational stories
and share the Holy Meal.
Such is more than wine and bread.
It is far more than a memorial -
more, even than a dream.
It is more of a faith-defined reality.

Sharing Communion -
one loaf
one cup -

is the sharing of a Common life
together with a Common Lord.

It is the deep communion of souls
who share all that we are and all that we have:
We share our love, and our kindness,
our money and our property
our hearth and our households, when needed,
our time and our joy,
our energy and our very life;

one loaf, shared together,
our lips on one Common cup.

God is in charge of our feeding
and we are one in the Lord.

Justice reigns and not fear
- love and not resentment
- hope and not despair.

This is the gift we are now being given.
It is a paradigm to which we can witness
along any difficult road.

We are far from powerless, after all,
for God is at work on the human heart;

And, the resolution
of most problems in the world
begins just so.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!