Addicted to Travel?

Road to Emmaus

Luke 24.13-35

What has been the most significant journey that you have taken? Was it short, long, with friends, alone? The travellers on the Road to Emmaus were walking and a stranger appears alongside them. I was wondering how the story would have to be different if it were set today. Jesus' sudden appearance in a car, for instance, would have spoiled the slow build up of drama as they listened to this stranger! Someone suddenly appearing in your car is going to make you jump! But most of us don't usually walk seven miles just as part of our daily routines, let alone seven miles back again!

That made me think about how we travel today and I had the very uncomfortable and challenging thought that travelling in a car is a sin. Hmm. I didn't like that idea very much so I had a go at arguing with God about that one. I like the car: I go to Scotland in it for a holiday, or I visit my parents. These things bring me joy - I tried to push away the idea that I could go on the train, as dear God, that is not practical with children. However, God seemed to be telling me that every good thing, or apparent good thing, has consequences.

Here, where we live in Chelmsford, we are normally surrounded by cars. They stack up in the diocesan car park every day; they zoom along to drop children off at the Cathedral Primary School; they file up by the Leisure Centre and for the shopping centre. In fact, when I think about it, we normally live in one big car park. But, not at the moment, at the moment we hear the birds, we notice the trees, the silence, the space. We breathe in unpolluted air.

Which brings me back to the idea that travel in a car is a sin. How do we know what sin is? One way of thinking about it is to say sin can be a bit like a blind spot: it's something we habitually do, that we think is okay, but is actually harming us and others. In a way that is the most dangerous kind of sin - we all know the 10 commandments, we know it's wrong to steal, to murder, to be jealous and so on. But the sins we don't see, or can't see are the most dangerous.  We have to pray and hope that God at some point will open our eyes to see that it is not part of His plan, not consistent with his Love and Mercy and Peace.

The Bible is full of stories of encounter with God, in which, after a period of blindness, eyes are opened. Indeed our story today, the story of the Journey to the Emmaus, follows that pattern. Two men struggling to make sense of what has just happened - discussing and wondering, unable to believe the story of the women, not sure about the rumours - encounter Jesus. Jesus slowly, steadily, opens their eyes. He talks, he explains, he teachers, he interprets - but most essentially he takes bread and blesses it - then their eyes are opened and they believe.

'They their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight'. 

Luke 24.31

It seems to me that in this time, when are normal routines and accepted truth has been taken away, we are being given an extraordinary opportunity to see differently - to notice which habits are life-giving and which bring death. It is a gift that we must accept and learn from.

My eyes are being opened: I must learn to take life slower, I must travel differently, I must live-into and accept the limitations of my humanity and be less ready to take all the 'advantages' of fast vehicles. Then I will enjoy the reward of following God's Laws - I will rejoice at the clean air, the abundant wildlife, the beauty and splendour of nature. I will have time to breathe, to enjoy, to just 'be'.

Praise be to Jesus who opens our eyes to what is true and life-giving. May we have the faith to accept his teachings and the courage to follow him, whatever the cost. AMEN 

There are some stark images on the news at the moment comparing pre Covid 19 pollution levels with now: https://thebfd.co.nz/2020/03/21/covid-19-clears-the-air-over-china/   It is quite extraordinary.