Emmaus

Last Sunday the lectionary gave us the Emmaus story from Luke. Why we get it in year A, the year of Matthew, and not in year C, the year of Luke, I still don't understand. But as far as I'm concerned we could get it every year. And I'm glad we have it this year. The story has so much meaning on so many levels.

Pastor Koch made an interesting observation about the story and the two disciples in it. Luke 24 verse 13 talks about how "two of them," meaning two of the disciples, were going to the village of Emmaus, but they are not named. Verse 17 identifies one of them as Cleopas, but the other is still not named. This would indicate, according to Pastor Koch, that the other one was a woman. Given the mores and conventions of the time, had it been a man both would have been named. And, also given the mores and conventions of the time, she would have been Cleopas' wife, as a woman would not have been travelling in public with a man other than her husband.

I like that. It means that when they got to the village, Jesus broke bread not with two men, as most visual depictions of the story portray, and as most of us assume, but with a man and a woman. Another indication of Jesus' inclusiveness and reaching out to those segments of society that were considered on the fringe in that day.

Something we need to keep reminding ourselves to do in this day.