Lost?

Remember when you were a kid - that first time you turned around expecting to see your mom and she wasn't there.  Do you remember the first time you suddenly realized you had no idea where you were?

We feel like this a lot, don't we?  We get lost.  We lose our priorities.  We wonder if our actions have any meaning.  We even stop caring. 

There is a story in the Gospel of Luke about two men leaving Jerusalem three days after Jesus was crucified.  They had been followers.  But now He was dead.  Though they knew where they were going, they trundled home lost.  They thought Jesus was going to give meaning to their lives.  They thought they had finally found the answer, but then He was crucified.  He was buried.  And there were even rumors that He was alive, but they didn't believe it.  They didn't care anymore.

But then Jesus found them.  Jesus drew near to them.  Jesus sought them out and opened the Scriptures to them about why the Christ had to suffer and die in this way - to atone for the sin of the whole world.

Here was this man - telling them that all these things DID have meaning.  That, in fact, they were the very things that secured true meaning for everything in this life.  After this Jesus made Himself known to them in the breaking of the bread, but quickly vanished from their sight.

Gone was their fear.  Gone was their despair.  Gone was their apathy.  For they were lost, but now they were found.  Found by Jesus.  Found by their Saviour.  Found by their Lord - their God.

The two men immediately went back to Jerusalem.  They knew where they were going now.  They knew their actions had meaning now.  They went to tell the others - all those who had been lost like them.  They had a reason to care.  They had a reason to serve.  And it was their Risen and Reigning Lord.

Christ is Risen!  He is Risen indeed.  Alleluia!