You Can Be Stumped and Stuck at Any Age
This Easter turned ugly for Ed, my old neighbor from Saskatchewan. Ed and Ruby spent a week at Easter in Edmonton. Ruby and their daughter wanted to go to look at some models of show homes in a survey of new homes under construction. Ed drove them as he likes to see the homes in various stages of completion to appraise the workmanship displayed. He sees himself as a building inspector. Ed left the women at the show home models. Then he drove on through the unpaved streets to inspect the new home construction. He forgot he was not driving his truck and got the car stuck in a muddy rut that held the car like a vice-grip.
When Ed found himself trapped in the mud on the construction site road. Fear in the form of panic flashed before Ed’s eyes when he considered the possibility of needing to spend money for a tow-truck. He was stumped as there seemed to be no other hope for the situation. It happened on a Saturday afternoon, and there were no workers building houses to help. All the joy of Easter with his family turned into gloom and pain. The sales personal at the model homes suggested Ed phone his automobile club. Ed is not a member of one. Ed delayed phoning hoping for a miracle, but he did call a tow-truck, and the driver took Visa. Liberated from mud, they drove home to the daughter’s house in silence.
There, Ed was acting like a bear with his foot in a trap until his six-year-old grandson asked him what was wrong. When his grandson heard about the car stuck in the mud like quicksand, and a tow-truck big enough to pull a transport was needed to pull the car out, his eyes and voice were full of excitement. What Ed, saw as the worst thing possible, his grandson saw as the greatest adventure ever. It cured Ed of his sourness.
On the first Easter, the third day after the crucifixion, two disciples of Jesus were walking to reach a village called Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were busy talking together about how they were stuck and stumped by all the things that had been happening. A stranger came along and joined them in their walk towards Emmaus. The stranger was Jesus, but they did not recognize him. As the stranger walked with the two men, they told the stranger about Jesus and his crucifixion and burial. They shared how the women found Jesus’ tomb empty, that very morning and that they had said they had seen angels who said Jesus was alive. In their confusion, grief, and hopelessness Jesus helped them to see from the scriptures, how Jesus needed both to die and arise from the dead.
When they reached Emmaus, they invited the stranger to stay with them, and when he ate with them, they recognized that the stranger as Jesus himself alive from the dead. He then vanished from their sight. They arose and returned joyfully, to the other disciples at Jerusalem. When they reached the other disciples, they confirmed that Jesus was alive from the dead. Joy and hope replaced their grief, confusion, and sourness.
