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Daily Devotional for July 12

 

July 12                                                           Luke 24:13-35


There is always a certain ambiguity about a stranger. Will the
stranger be friend or foe? Can this unknown person be trusted?
Is it safe to open up to this stranger?


In the Scriptures, the stranger, with his/her ambiguity, often
represents the future - life as it emerges on our horizon. Fur-
ther, because all of life comes from God, the stranger comes
to represent God, and the way one welcomes the stranger
reveals one's basic stance toward the future, life, and ultimate-
ly, God.


Today's Gospel about welcoming the stranger is therefore a
story about trust. The disciples were returning home after the
death of Jesus, and as they walked away from their defeated
dreams, a stranger began to walk with them. The critical mo-
ment in the story came when the two disciples reached the
city gates and had to decide whether or not to invite into their
home this stranger who had been walking beside them. In other
words, in spite of their pain, would the disciples still trust that
life, the future, and ultimately, God, were good?


At that critical moment, the disciples turned to the stranger
and said, "Stay with us." As a result of their trust, even after
the painful loss of their most precious hope, they received the
promise of God for a future beyond their wildest dreams.


And what of us today? What is our response to the stranger?
To painful losses that God allows to happen? Today's good
news challenges us to keep our faith even when we have lost
our hope. It assures us that no matter what road we are on,
Christ is walking beside us. It instructs us that if we will trust
life as God offers it to us, then we will discover Christ present
to us in wondrous ways that we have yet to recognize.


     Risen Saviour, teach us to see you in all the ways
  that you seek to reveal yourself. With the disciples of
             Emmaus we say to you, "Stay with us."

From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.198

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