What If?

What if the two “men” on the Emmaus Road weren’t men at all? What if it was two women walking that journey? Of if it was a man and his wife?

Such was the question that I was faced with this morning as I stumbled around the kitchen trying to make my coffee.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of being ordained by the church where I served as youth minister for three years. During that time, the church was going through a transition period, so my ordaining pastor was the interim pastor. It just so happens that the interim pastor is a good friend of my dad’s and someone that we both respect. He holds women in high regard and believes in our capacity to minister in ways just as effective as men. This same pastor will be preaching for my dad this weekend…and the Emmaus Road will be his sermon topic…and his thoughts are the ones that left my dad wondering if we, as a whole, have been picturing the Emmaus Road wrong for two thousand years.

I just reread the account of the Emmaus Road (Luke 24:13-35). While one of the disciples is named, which leads us to believe that he was a man, the other disciple is not. We assume that his companion is a male because, well, that’s what we do when we read scripture—we’ve been programmed to read scripture through the lens of patriarchy and not to see all that women inevitably contributed to Jesus and the faith centered on him. What’s interesting to me is this part of the story:

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

Why couldn’t this have been a man and wife who were going home from Jerusalem? Why couldn’t this have been a man and wife offering their home to a fellow traveler? Why couldn’t this have been a man and wife to which Jesus chose to reveal himself? It’s clear that Jesus had already chosen to announce his resurrection to the women at the tomb (even though the men didn’t believe them). Why not show his true nature again to mixed company, a man and woman, who may have already been defying social norms by walking alongside the road together and treating each other as equals in conversation?

I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I suppose that the message of the story remains the same regardless of the gender of the travelers. They were confused, uncertain, a bit lost, and trying to figure things out when Jesus came and showed them the way. Isn’t that what Jesus can do for all of us if we will open our eyes and see?

Then again…maybe it does matter. Because maybe women, in so many ways, have been overlooked and underappreciated in our call and giftedness…not because scripture condemns women anymore than men but because women, too often, were just left out of the story. We were not named. We were not spoken of and yet we, with children, were there. Yes, we’ve been in the story since the very beginning and we will continue to be in the story until the very end. Truth be known, the work of the church would come to a screeching halt if women were to stop teaching, serving, and giving.

So maybe it does matter. Because maybe we need to see, again, that Jesus came for all people…man and woman, Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant, rich and poor, gay and straight, black and white, single and married, adult and child, academically gifted and academically challenged, saint and sinner. Maybe we need to reminded that God speaks to, in, and through all who listen and see…and, yes, friends, that includes women.