Circumstances
My senior pastor gave a message a few weeks ago, one of the major points being to ask us to thing of a story or a verse where Jesus got involved with someone and changed their circumstances, or brought them out of the their circumstances. And there are some examples where that happened; many of Jesus’ miracles come to mind. We were also asked to think about times when Jesus simply joined people in their circumstances, and ended up making them something different. And there are biblical examples of that, too, such as Jesus’ relationship with the disciples, his impact on the crowds that gathered to hear him preach, and so on. The point of my pastor’s message was that sometimes there is a line of distinction between what Jesus CAN do, and what Jesus DID; or put another way, Jesus can fix any situation, but if the situation isn’t immediately fixed, does that mean Jesus isn’t involved?
Our church took on a mission project recently, just like thousands of churches do every year. The family we reached out to help is facing miserable poverty, and limited hope of greatly changing that, but they also have beautiful young children, and every parent’s desire to do all they can to take care of them. We helped solve some of the problems with their living arrangements, and hopefully showed them the love of Christ, and what Christians do with no expectation of earthly reward.
What we did not do was deliver them out of their poverty, suddenly give them high paying jobs, or solve many of the problems they have faced for a long time. We did not bring them out of their circumstances. But by showing them Christ, we hope we have made their circumstances different and better than before.
In my heart, I view the Walk to Emmaus in similar terms. I think the Walk can dramatically reveal
Christ to someone, and in that spirit can absolutely fix what ails them. But the Walk won’t always make the divorce go away, make the medical treatment unnecessary, make the miserable workplace a joy to be in, or the financial hole suddenly fill up. Not to say it can’t, but even if it doesn’t, what we can do is help introduce Christ into a pilgrim’s circumstances. That alone can be a powerful force for making the problems of the world seem smaller, and leaving one in different and better circumstances with Christ, than the circumstances they had before without Him.
I am truly grateful to be able to worship a God who is with me in every circumstance. And I am truly grateful to be a part of our Emmaus Community, which is one of the best tools I know to help Jesus join people in their circumstances and end up making them different; a wonderful kind of different all to His glory.
DeColores,
Terrell Thompson
Community Lay Director