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People are looking for something more. They are looking for something more than their material needs. We have a spiritually yearning public, which is evidenced by the multitude of spiritualities and causes people enter into. Our frenetic activity that fills the frightening emptiness of life confirms this longing.

Like the two men on the road to Emmaus there are many whose spirits are low, their hopes dashed who trudge along life’s road back to their duties and the safety of their dwellings.

The two on the road to Emmaus were yearning for more. They had seen in Jesus the chance of being brought back to God and freed from the oppression of Roman rule. They longed to be restored to God and each other as a people liberated from oppression. Their need is similar to us. We know our lives are increasingly limited by political foolishness, financial woes and environmental disaster. We don’t understand and we feel helpless.

1. Jesus comes seeking those who yearn for something more. It is Jesus who draws near to them [Lk 24: 15]. Jesus engages them, not them Jesus.

2. Jesus meets us at our point of need. Jesus engages them where they were, by asking them why they are despondent [Lk 24: 17]. They tell him what has happened unable to recognise him because of their grief [Lk 24: 16, 18]. Loss and anxiety can blind us to what is happening about us. They were so disappointed, so grief stricken at the loss of all their dreams, they could not recognise Jesus.

3. Jesus confronts us with reality. He will not let us turn in the circles of our blindness and wilfulness. “Come now,” Jesus says, “don’t you remember what he taught you?”

4. Jesus relevantly teaches us. He explains the Scriptures [Lk 24: 25ff] that speak about and allude to what has happened. This is relevant teaching to the particular need.

5. Jesus leaves us free to choose. Finally they reach their destination and invite him in, but Jesus pretends to go on, so they urge him to come in [Lk 24: 29]. What a beautiful picture of God Jesus gives us here. It’s not Jesus pushing his way in but them urging him to stay. Then at the meal table they see his hands and recognise the risen Jesus [Lk 24: 31].

Jesus presents a picture of God consistent with story of the Covenant and the Gospels. It is God who comes to us, engages with us, journeys with us leaving us free to respond and enter a relationship.

There are many who walk down their own Emmaus roads with a sense of sadness, emptiness, despair, brokenness, alienation and restriction. They long for harmony and wholeness. One of the great yearnings we have today is to be in touch with nature. So at one level many of us seek to connect with nature. At another level we recognise the crisis in our relationship with nature.

More than ever before we see our inter-connectedness with nature. The fact that 59% of the population participated in the global power switch off indicates our new awareness. Global warming has sharply confronted us. And even if we have our doubts about global warming, or can’t quite see the urgency, we cannot deny that humankind has acted rapaciously and greedily towards nature.

Our inter-dependence with nature needs restoring. Does the Bible have anything to say to us? Yes it does!

The first great theologian of the Church, St Paul, addresses our relationship with nature in a most interesting way in Romans 8: 18-23. There he speaks of creation waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God … because creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and creation will find liberty with the children of God. Paul speaks of both humankind and creation waiting for redemption and being adopted as sons. Paul is saying that God’s redemption is for both humankind and creation. He is using the concept that humankind and creation have suffered in a kind of bondage. What is important for us is that he understands that redemption is for both humans and creation. Nature is not simply for our use and in reality abuse. I offer you another image for understanding this truth Paul speaks about here. I have mentioned before that another way of understanding the creation story and the powerful stories of Genesis is that this world was created “good” for living, but not perfect, or complete. That humankind and creation being created were set on the road to developing and reaching completion in God. When Paul speaks of creation waiting with humankind as “sons” [Rom 18: 23] he uses “sons” not as a gender specific term, but “sons” to speak of liberation and fellowship with God. [See Leunig’s Cartoon in Saturday’s The Age, 05/04.08]

Paul reminds us of these truths: 1) Humankind and Creation are linked together in our earthly living and eternal destiny. 2) Humankind and Creation both require completion or redemption.

If we are longing for a deeper relationship with God; or, longing for a more meaningful life; then this text tells us that Jesus comes to be our companion and guide. If we are seeking God then friends be assured God has already come to you. Your desire for God is already a sign of God approaching you - of God meeting you on your Emmaus road. For this is what Jesus meant when he spoke of the Holy Spirit coming and convicting us [John 15:26; 16:13-15]. This is what Jesus meant when he said we should be born of water and the spirit [John 3: 5]. Your ability to recognise God is the work of the Holy Spirit. When God comes to us in Christ the only thing required of us is to invite God into our lives. God requires an invitation, because God never forces an entry. Christ comes to us and waits for our invitation.

If you are wandering what inviting God into our lives is about it is something like this. In the parable of the Waiting Father the older brother complains to his father about the welcoming party thrown for his prodigal younger brother. The father says; son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. [Lk 15:31] Now this is a profound statement. You have no doubt heard that some of the great democratic revolutions of nations have taken place under the banner of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality. These concepts reflect humankind’s deepest longings and highest aspirations. For indeed our humanness is fulfilled in liberty, fraternity (unity and fellowship), and equality. For us to be fully human involves us enjoying these three things.

Now Jesus’ story of the Waiting Father helps us understand what it means to be a child of God. The father in the story says to the older brother; “son” meaning you are not a servant, a slave, but a son who has liberty, freedom. Let us remember how significant sonship means in a patriarchal society with slaves, servants, and patriarchs. Sonship = Liberty. Let us also understand that in God’s eyes male and female are equal. The first thing that happens when we invite God into our lives is this. We become a child of God. The bible is clear about this. The Biblical tradition teaches very clearly that all humans are God’s creation - in a sense we are God’s children. But it is only when we invite God into our lives that we accept the status of being a child of God. Like the older brother we can behave and become most unchild-like.

The father’s words, you are always with me = Fraternity. This is the Gospel that to be united with Christ is to have unity and fellowship with God. Our deepest longing is a longing for unity, belonging, connectedness, harmony and fellowship. Paul reminds us that this is not restricted to humans but all of creation itself.

The father’s words to the older son, all that is mine is yours = Equality. We strive for equality, our governments work hard for equal opportunity, and we continue to see the inequality in this world. But in God we are freed from a narrow perspective of equality and find a rich equality that transcends all inequalities.

To invite God into one’s life, to deepen our relationship, is to experience, Liberty, Fraternity and Equality.

Finally there is a message here for Christians. God has invited the Christian to be a partner in the Gospel – to witness to Christ. We sing of being God’s hands, eyes, feet, etc. Who then is walking alongside the many seekers helping to turn their roads into the road to Emmaus where they will see the risen Christ?