My Dad was not a storyteller. Not in my recollection, anyway.
I don’t remember particularly for being a wordsmith, whether in written or spoken terms. His role as a deacon in the church saw him do more than he said, and he appeared very content with that. There were opportunities where he’d speak in moderating services, sometimes teaching a lesson, and occasionally asked to preach, but it wasn’t something he went out of his way to do.
What he loved doing was going on walks. If he didn’t have to drive, he wouldn’t. It was no issue for him to stroll to the building where church services took place, especially as other family members eventually learnt to drive. Summertime was a great time to walk on a good Saturday afternoon. And I’d go on some of the walks with him. He was just into the walking; he might have said the odd thing or two, but he was there for the walk, and I loved going on the walks with him. It’s the closest I felt to him. I don’t think it was a case that he didn’t want to talk or was reluctant to do so. I just got the impression that he preferred a relatively simple life that economised on everything, so life was operated on a need-to-know basis. I respected it then, and I respect it now.
For all that, though, my Dad’s life fascinated me both during the years of economic speech and after I left home. I love the power a good walk has to get me thinking and reflecting, even as it also gets me to economise on things like talking. The outward verbalising is left to the inward rumination.
Something that isn’t left to the inward rumination was the stroll from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The two men were clearly glum, solemn and perplexed. Even the stranger they saw on the stroll noted their complexion. And when he asked why, they were even more bamboozled to discover someone hadn’t been aware of the big news of the city. That the man they hoped would be the saviour had been crucified, and now there were reports that his body was missing or taken or something.
The account of the encounter on the road to Emmaus between the stranger and these two men is one of my favourites in scripture because it involves two of my favourite things - a walk and a talk. It’s a pity that today, the idea of teaching is usually linked to sitting behind a desk with a writing implement and having to hear someone talk to you for a given period of time. It’s a shame that today, the idea of learning isn’t based on a conversation as you take a stroll. I don’t have a problem with being at a desk and writing what someone says to me. I enjoy it myself under the right circumstances. What I love about the Road to Emmaus, though, is how learning takes place as a stranger outlines God's glorious, wonderful narrative. It meant that all the recent events had to be outlined as they were to fulfil the glorious plan of the Father.
It says a lot about that plan and could be summarised in the space of a stroll for several miles. Not only that, but what’s summarised is that specific aspect of the plan. It also reflects looking at the marvel of the Law and the Prophets. It is not just a list of rules. It is not a legal document full of mumbo-jumbo containing article this and amendment that in subsection the other. The Law and the Prophets is a story. It is a story of the faithful covenant activity of the Creator attaching Himself to a man, his family, their tribe and the nation that emerged from that. A nation chosen to be a light to the world. A people selected to reflect the wonder of the Creator’s desire to connect with those He created. It is a story filled with promises, agreements, and a steadfast love and mercy that would persist despite the other party's gross negligence, abject unfaithfulness, and prolific disobedience in the covenant. A story within which is the line of the plan for God not just to restore right relations in the covenant with Israel but also in redeeming lost creation back to Himself.
Telling this story on the journey is often oversimplified. In the oversimplification, we miss much of God's awesome nature and His purposes. We can even miss the story's heart and think it’s all about us. In the oversimplification, we can take shortcuts that end up cutting out what matters in the story. In that oversimplification, we can end up passing on something that bears little resemblance to what Jesus was content to outline to two friends as they went on a journey home.
This is why it makes sense on the journey to make it a commitment to develop an ongoing and ever-deepening familiarity with the story. Discover the depth of the story from Adam to John. Discover the width of the story from a garden to an eternal celebration via a nail-scarred cross. Discover the heights of the story in famous rescues and victories. Discover the lowest points of the story in the rejections, refusals, betrayals and depravities. Discover the hope, light and joy in the reality that this story is the story of humanity through the ages and how the reality of that humanity in its purest form is only ever seen in its connection with the divinity that created it, sustains it and judges it.
It’s delightful to see this story realised in each generation afresh. It is delightful to see this story rediscovered in my life in engagements and encounters with brothers, sisters, friends, enemies, and strangers who point me back to it. The walks with my Dad proved to be a great base to appreciate their good opportunities to go through the story again. The desire for the journey to come is to keep that story fresh in my mind and conversations with others in the hope that others, too, will come to see that it is not just a story but reality.
For His Name's Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
