What do we do when our Plans Fall Through? When All we can do is Go for a Walk.

A thick fog has settled along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It is difficult for the two disciples to move with any kind of urgency. Every step is slow and plodding as they head home.

The minds of these two disciples are clouded with disappointment and dashed hopes. Their vision is hazy with fear and uncertainty. The road to Emmaus is a grim place to be on this spring Sunday afternoon.

As they are shuffling down the road, they talk about what happened the past week in Jerusalem: the arrest, trials, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus. They are in mourning. This wasn’t just a teacher or a friend who was killed. This was the One they believed to be their Savior.

They had staked their lives on Jesus from Nazareth. They followed him and were sent out by him. They had heard his powerful sermons. They had seen his marvelous miracles. They had believed he would be the one to redeem Israel and restore it to its former glory.

Then, in one short week, Jesus was dead. Their plans dashed. Their hopes buried with Jesus in the tomb.

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Moreover, they had heard stories about Jesus’ resurrection. About the tomb being open, Jesus’ body missing, and even angels at the gravesite. But what did it all mean?

It seemed as if all their plans had fallen through. So, what could they do? The only thing they could do – go for a walk.

Walking with a Stranger

While they are walking and talking, out of the gray fog appears a stranger. They don’t see him coming at all. It’s as if he is an alien who materializes out of the mist.

The stranger asks them, “What are you talking about?” (Luke 24:17)

The disciples are mystified and answer, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” (Luke 24:18)

Together, the two disciples explain that their Rabbi had been crucified and buried, but some women said he had been resurrected from the grave. They emphasize that they had hoped Jesus would redeem Israel (Luke 24:19-24).

This stranger is pretty bold when he accuses, “How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26) Then the stranger leads a Bible study along the road to Emmaus. He does catechesis with these two students.

When they arrive in Emmaus, they ask the stranger, “Abide with us for it is almost evening.” (Luke 24:29; CW 588:1)

As they are reclining at the table, the stranger takes the bread, blesses, and breaks it. He gives it to them. (This is not the Sacrament, but it is the actions of the Sacrament.)

Suddenly their eyes are opened! The fog is burned away. The mist is blown from their sight. After several hours of walking, they finally recognize the stranger. It’s Jesus! Their crucified and resurrected Lord!

Then he vanishes from their sight.

The two disciples skip dinner and quickly return to Jerusalem. No longer slow and dirge-like. They sprint up the road to tell the other disciples they have seen the risen Christ. Their spiritual fog is burned away by the Light of the Son. Their spiritual mist is blown away by the wind of the Holy Spirit. The two disciples can now see clearly on their walk.

Walk in the Word

When I go walking in the morning, there is a good chance it will be foggy as the warm and cold air meet to create fog. There are two things that are needed for the fog to dissipate – sunlight and wind. As the sun burns brightly, it burns away the fog. When the wind starts blowing, it blows away the fog.

What happens physically with fog is the same thing that happens spiritually with the fog that clouds our minds.

We are living in very confusing and anxious times right now. We are unsure of what to do and who to listen to. Stay at home, or go out? Listen and obey, or question and protest? Practice social distancing because the virus may spike, or come together because the virus has already gone through?

Whatever we are going to do, we know it is not what we planned on doing. So, what do we do now when our plans have fallen through?

For some of us, all we can do is go for a walk. A walk around the house. A walk in the neighborhood. A walk along the trail.

Walking is good exercise. It gets the blood moving and the mind thinking. But we can often feel like we are walking in a thick, depressing emotional fog. There is death and sadness in the darkness behind us. There is anxiety and uncertainty in the mist around us. There are good things ahead of us hidden in the fog.

What God does naturally with sunlight and wind to disperse physical fog, he does spiritually for us when we are walking in the fog of uncertainty and unbelief. The light of the Son of God burns away the fog. The wind of the Holy Spirit blows away the mist.

We find both the Son-light and the Holy Spirit’s wind in the Scriptures. These are the Scriptures Jesus opened for his two disciples on the foggy walk to Emmaus. These are the Scriptures Jesus opens for us. We only need to take a walk into the pages of Scriptures, because they testify to the crucified and resurrected Christ.

Jesus invites us to go for a walk. Walk around your house to count the blessings you already have. Walk through your neighborhood to see the beauty that God provides in nature. Those walks are good. But you will not encounter God there. He is not in the trees, wind, or sunlight.

To encounter God, you need to walk with him through the pages of Scripture. There your eyes are opened.

You encounter the alien who came from heaven to be your Savior. You see the stranger who entered our world so we could know him. He is the Redeemer who went to hell and back for us. He is God in disguise – waiting patiently for his people to seek him. He is the crucified and resurrected Christ who wants to walk up beside you, introduce himself, and pull his hands out of his pockets and slip the sandals off his feet. He wishes to show the marks of his abiding love for you.

Though Jesus has vanished from sight, we are not sad. Like the Emmaus disciples, though our plans have fallen through, we know Jesus is not gone.

Go for a walk in the Word. Meet Jesus there. He will clear up your spiritual fog. Exercise in your Bible. Bask in the warmth of his Son-light. Enjoy the warm wind of the Holy Spirit.