When a name conveys the story and shapes the response

The name of our school comes from this Easter story in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24 and verses 13-35.

Two dejected disciples have heard reports that Jesus has risen from the dead and that his tomb was indeed found empty. Women in their group confirmed that angels reported to them that Jesus had risen and was no longer dead. For whatever their reasons, they chose not to stay in Jerusalem to see for themselves if the rumor was true. Rather, they chose to walk from Jerusalem on the Emmaus road.

Along the way, Jesus joins them, yet they do not recognize him. Jesus offers an important clarification about himself and the scriptures: the two disciples didn’t understand who Jesus was as Messiah or what the scriptures taught about him. Maybe they thought otherwise? Perhaps they followed Jesus because, as they say, he was a “great prophet” and did wondrous things. They held great hope in all he might do. They expected the redemption of their people. But they had all the facts mixed up and misapplied. Jesus opens their minds to understand him as Savior and all that the scriptures say about him, which includes suffering, dying and rising on the third day. While this happens, they are still unsure of who the man actually is! Only when they sit to eat and Jesus breaks bread while giving thanks is he revealed to them. The real Jesus, bodily and alive, is present and with them in a communion meal. Then he leaves them to process what they had just experienced. He raises them from dejection to wonder! He renews their faith to act as his witnesses in faithful response to that which he has just taught them! Only then, after he left them, do they realize something profound: “Were not our hearts burning within us as he talked with us along the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” It is as if they are saying, “We should have known it was him!” Their heats had ‘burned’ that way before.

How sobering it must be to learn you don’t understand the very person you follow or the scriptures you confess and affirm. But it was a regular misunderstanding with Jesus’s disciples. Jesus didn’t allow them to remain confused. He wants his disciples to understand exactly who he is, what the scriptures say, and how they should respond. “Repent and believe,” is a common theme in the gospels. The same misunderstandings can be true with people today, as well. They saw Jesus for who they wanted and assumed him to be, regardless of what he actually said. We can do the same today. We like Jesus to be safely within our grasp and reasoning. So often we “shape” Jesus to be who we understand so we can follow him knowingly and confidently- we are somewhat in charge, frankly— rather than being shaped by Jesus to understand him and follow him for who he has revealed himself to be— and therefore, even in wondrous joy, we often also follow in fear and trembling, because who knows what the living Lord Jesus might do next?!

They believed. Then they learned. Then they believed more deeply. And they responded, “It is true!” they declared to others after rushing back to Jerusalem.

This is the journey of a follower of Jesus. Believe in Jesus as the risen Lord, be filled with the Holy Spirit, follow him, learn from him, believe more deeply in him, and follow him more wondrously and empowered by his Spirit- it is true! The name of the school reflects this reality that Jesus’s real presence in our lives daily and in the sacraments we receive will shape how we think, learn, believe, act, and respond to him and to others in life. Even if the topics of study are chemistry, literature, history, or music, we learn together in community along the discipleship-shaped “Emmaus Road,” for all truth comes from God. Even in academics, we expect the Lord to meet us.

• Mark Lauer, May 2, 2024