Parables - short stories - are very effective ways to communicate ideas. Again and again we read in the Scriptures parables which are used to communicate God’s message to us. Jesus is a master at the short story. He tells us that the kingdom of God is like a father who had a son leave home with his inheritance. The son is welcomed home after a disastrous journey. Or, the kingdom of God is like a woman who lost a coin and celebrates when she finds it. Or, the kingdom of God is like a field with a treasure in it. From these and other short stories it is easy to tell what Jesus is trying to say to us. The point is clear.

The use of short stories to make a point should not be surprising to us. Our own society uses short stories continually to make a point. If you watch any commercial television, you continually see twenty- and thirty-second parables. Each of these parables is used to make a point and to sell a product. Each parable makes it a point to relate to where we live and to experience what we feel so that we can relate to the product being sold. The point is made.

Let me give you an example of a modern day parable. There is a young couple that is watching a rodeo. Suddenly the man realizes he has lost the traveler’s cheques. The vacation is ruined! In wild desperation and panic, they rush off to the inn in which they are staying. You almost expect to see bodies on the ground, as they rush by people who must think these two are mad. They charge through the lobby. After such a charge, they are greeted by a person who holds up his hands and says, "Whoa - what’s the problem here?" How is it that this person behind the desk does not know what the problem is? When I hurt, I assume that everyone knows that I am hurting. How could he ask such a dumb question? Well, the problem is explained in frantic terms. The response is, "What kind of traveler’s cheques were they?" They were American Express. The reassurance comes from the consultant behind a large desk that they do not need to worry. They will get their money back. At the end of the story, we are offered the familiar words, "American Express - Don’t Leave Home Without Them."

The story about that young couple and their lost cheques is very convincing. We can relate to their panic and we can relate to their joy as they hear the money they lost will be refunded. The point is made. We participated in the story.

If we stop for a moment and look at this morning’s Gospel lesson, we are struck by the similarities between the American Express ad and the story of two men on the road to Emmaus. Although the American Express story is fiction and the Emmaus event is real, each story makes a similar point. That point grabs us and holds onto us. Let’s look at that account.

Our Gospel lesson opens with the scene of two men walking down a road. As we watch them, we have the feeling that they are struggling over some great issue. They seem sad and bewildered. They are searching for answers to some great problem that has touched them deeply. We can feel that wrestling, and we know how lonely a search for answers can be.

As we eavesdrop on the conversation, we hear that they are debating the experiences of life versus the promises and affirmation that have been made about life. To the human eye reality and promise are not always the same. They may be hundreds of miles apart. When reality and promise are separated like that, you feel as if you have lost the promise. You feel the way that young couple felt when they first realized that they had lost their traveler’s cheques.

The struggle in their conversation centers around a person named Jesus - the one from Nazareth. They were his disciples and they had known him as messiah. They knew what messiah meant and they were willing to live with the promise of messiah. Jesus would rule and they would share in that rule. It had all been very clear to them. The promise and the reality of one who would save were joined.

Often when things seem to fit too neatly together, they have a way of separating and leaving us feeling empty. That’s how it was for the disciples on Friday when Jesus had been nailed to a cross. He hung there. The messiah was being killed as a common criminal. He died in disgrace. There was only the emptiness left that we all know when death comes to one we love. The dreams are shattered. All is gone. The disciples are now left with the problem of trying to put together the reality of a dead man and a promise of one who was to rule over their lives. Can that possibly be done? The odds of bringing a dead Jesus to a living Lord are nil. Life comes to a crashing halt. It is the same feeling as that which the young couple had when they realized that what they had depended upon for a vacation was gone.

We can understand the feelings of these disciples. We have them too. We too have a very difficult time combining the things in which we believe with the realities that we experience. For example, how do we proclaim a God of love as we live in a world that is full of pain and suffering? As I visit in hospitals and counsel with people, the pain is evident. At times I want to scream, "Where are you, God? Why? Why?"

Or how do we put together the fact that after two thousand years of worshiping the resurrected Lord, there is still little peace in our world. Families who proclaim Jesus as Lord can’t get together. Where is this rule that we proclaim and in which we believe? Are we sticking our heads in the sand?

As we walk along life’s road, we find ourselves debating as those disciples debated on their way to Emmaus. We often feel as if we have lost our traveler’s cheques. Where do we go to find peace? Where do we go to find answers? What are we to do?

Our story goes on to say that as the debate continues, suddenly there is a third party present. That third party can be the man who stands behind the desk and counsels our young couple to slow down. It is the man who stops and asks questions so that things can be put in their proper perspective. It is a person who stands outside of a situation and says, "Have you ever looked at it this way before?" The man is a consultant. The man is a counsellor. The person who enters the debate and the searching on the road to Emmaus is Jesus our Lord.

Our two friends on that road are so wrapped up in themselves that they need someone from the outside to come and to help them. They have missed the forest for the trees. Have you ever been so tied up in a problem that you can’t see anything else? Frustrating, isn’t it? Well, that is exactly what is happening here. It is important that someone comes to shed a new perspective on what is happening.

Jesus begins to talk and to listen. As he does so, he draws upon an outside source that is open to all of us. Jesus begins to deal with the Bible. As he talks, he begins to say what God has said in the Old Testament. This is the way that the messiah will come and this is what is going to happen to him. There should be no surprises for those who follow him. Suffering is part of what is means to be messiah. The cross was part of the plan. It could be no other way. The salvation of human beings had to cost, and it did cost dearly. Death on the cross does not take away the messiahship of Jesus. The Jesus standing on the road saying "whoa" is in many ways the man behind the counter helping our young couple to see that all is not lost. It is not time to give up.

We all need a new perspective at times. We all need to find new ways of looking at things. There are many who tell us that perspective and insight come from within ourselves. We need to look deeper and deeper into our very being. As we unfold each layer of ourselves, we will have more and more understanding. Unfortunately, after removing layer after layer, there is nothing left.

The Bible tells us that perspective comes from outside ourselves. The Bible says that new perspectives on life come from the God who has created us and from other human beings whom God has created. It is when we look outside of ourselves - it is when we look to God - that we find new truth and new perspectives. For example, when I ask - "Why am I here and what is my purpose?" - I read that God has created me to worship God and to be in community with other people. I have reason for being, as I become my brother’s (neighbor’s) keeper. I am not here just to serve myself. As I reach out to others, I continually find new reason for being.

I see the pain of the world, and I ask "why?" There are no answers inside of me. Paul tells me that the reason for pain is the rebellion of human beings against God. All have sinned and all have fallen short of God’s glory. We all wait with eager longing for the return of Jesus. Since that is so, I see that pain is a part of the human condition. Pain is going to be there for all people.

Death is part of the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve are removed from the garden before they can be like God and eat from the tree of life. Death is a part of life, and we need to come to terms with it. We need to see death for what it is and for what God promises will happen after death.

In truth, Jesus is the man behind the desk in our lives who says to us, "Whoa, what’s the matter?" He asks us if we have ever looked at life from a different perspective.

The conclusion of our television story has our young couple ready to continue their vacation. They will have their money restored. Life has not ended for them. The faith that they have placed in a company has been matched by the company’s faithfulness to its promises. It is a happy ending, and although we always know the ending, we feel good for that couple.

The ending of our story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus has a similar happy ending. The disciples sit with Jesus at dinner. In the breaking of bread they recognize him as their Lord. Their faith is restored. With joy, they run to Jerusalem to tell the others what has happened to them. We too rejoice in their newness of life.

I have always enjoyed the American Express ad that tells us not to leave home without thehr traveler’s cheques. I especially enjoy the man standing behind the desk saying, "whoa." As I think about that ad, I see Jesus standing behind us or in front of us, saying to us - Have you ever thought of it this way? He says, "Let me give you a different perspective. Let me ask a question to clarify the situation." The next time that you see that American Express ad on television, stop and paraphrase for a second.

Jesus - Don’t leave home without him.