The Road That Won't Stay in Focus

That restless feeling on a long drive — the road won't stay in focus and something in you just wants to stop. Cleopas and his friend know that feeling too. "But we had hoped..." the most honest line in all of Scripture

Transcript

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Good morning, this is Northwood. That restless feeling on the highway of life, there's a name for it. Good morning, this is Northward, the Word, the North, your Week, a daily podcast from St. John's Fort Smith in collaboration with the Anglican family. I'm your host, Father Aaron. Last week I I drove to Yellowknife in about 30 minutes past the town of Fort Providence, so that's about five or six hours into the drive. For those of you who haven't done the drive, I asked Isabel, my wife, to take the wheel for a bit. I I wasn't tired, but I was restless. The road just it didn't seem like it wanted to stay in focus. I was on it, but my heart felt like at any minute I might go off. So I stopped. I'm sure you've experienced something like that in your life. A drive like that, or better said, a stretch of life that felt exactly the same. On the road, but barely. And so we drink a cup of coffee, maybe take a tilne for that headache we're getting. We turn up the radio, we push through. We hope somehow we can make it to the next rest stop without going off the edge. Meanwhile, in our gospel reading, Luke chapter 24, Cleopas and his friend are on their own blurry road, walking away from Jerusalem, because their theology has collapsed, hopes have been crushed, and then they say this line. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Luke 24, 21. They're telling this to Jesus. They don't realize it's Jesus, and they tell him that. Past tense. We had hoped. He didn't do what we thought he would do. It's the third day, the tomb is empty, nothing has happened, so we're leaving. They're not villains, they're not weak, they're exhausted believers doing what exhausted believers do. They quit the road. Can you honestly name a moment in your own faith when you said we had hoped, when something didn't turn out the way you expected it? That kind of honest exhaustion. God is not afraid of it. In fact, here's the turn in the story that changes everything. When they quit the road, Jesus got on the road with them. He doesn't wait for your theology to be sorted. He doesn't wait for the road to smooth out. He meets you in the restlessness on the blurry highway, on the road that won't stay in focus. That's where he shows up. This has been Northward The Word, the North Your Week, a daily podcast from St. John's Fort Smith in collaboration with the Anglican family. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share this with somebody who could use it. Click the link that says text us to reach out to us and let us know where you've joined us from. And until tomorrow, God be with you in the name of Fower, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.