The Road to Emmaus

We didn’t depict the resurrection as we have done 2 out of three Easters in the past. Instead, we introduced two nameless friends walking home from Jerusalem a few days after Jesus’ death. One was saying to the other how the last few days seemed like a bad dream. Then a third person, in a jacket with a hood, came up & asked what they were talking about. They said, it’s a long story, we’d better sit down (the Bible doesn’t have them sitting down, but I figured we’d never get through all this with our three main characters standing up). First of all, one asks the stranger, “Have you ever heard of Jesus?” and our “Jesus” answered without any prompting, “Yes, I’ve heard!” Well, then, you know that he did many mighty miracles, like, remember the time there was that big storm on the lake? (someone stands up and waves a large blue sheet of paper up & down). Jesus just told the waves to be still, and they were still! (someone else stands up, makes a “Time Out” gesture, and the wave-waver stops). He also had great teaching. My friend & I here used to argue a lot, but Jesus taught us about forgiveness and now we are very good friends (the two shake hands). We thought sure He was going to be the promised Savior, but then just a few days ago, they killed Him on a cross. (someone is given two sticks and has to make them into a cross to show everyone). Well, then this morning, though, some women went to the tomb and it was open, and they saw an angel who told them Jesus had risen! (girl in halo “flies” around the room saying, Jesus is risen!). Now, I ask you, is this all hard to believe, or what?

But the stranger says, you guys don’t know your history very well, do you? They say, what? He explains how many prophets predicted that the Messiah would suffer, die and rise again—holding up three different papers reading: David—prophesied 1000 years ago; Isaiah—prophesied 700 years ago; Zechariah—prophesied 500 years ago. They say, this is so fascinating, we want to hear more! And so they invite Him to have dinner with them.

So they set up a table with dishes and a loaf of bread. Jesus lifts the loaf up to give thanks and the sleeves of His jacket fall back, revealing the nail scars in His wrists (which the narrator drew on the spot). They say, You are Jesus! He says, that’s right! He gets up and says, “Eat slowly” (a typical Chinese saying when one person leaves the table before others), and then leaves. The friends are so excited they don’t eat slowly; instead they get up and rush back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples that Jesus is truly risen, they have seen Him. And of course the disciples say, we know, we have seen Him too! So everyone rejoices together.

Since, in our story, the friends recognized Jesus by his hands, our game was supposed to be having the kids recognize their moms by seeing their hands sticking out through the door. But because we had a special longer meeting for the adults this week, the moms weren’t available during game time. So each child had a partner they were supposed to recognize by their hands. But it didn’t work very well. The “hiders” didn’t quite get the idea of leaving their hands sticking through the door long enough, and the “seekers” weren’t highly motivated.

Oh well, at least the craft was VERY popular! We made “Easter bonnets” from paper plates & paper bowls plus a few trimmings, this year including cake doilies, which really made them cute!