SYNOPSIS

At some level, all people of faith are pilgrims. The Muslim trek to Mecca, the Buddhist journey to Bodh Gaya, the Hindu to Char Dahm. Embarking on a spiritual journey is the manifestation of a deep-seated desire to walk in step with God – to experience his presence.

In the gospel of Luke, from the ancient Christian scriptures, there is a story of two travelers returning to their hometown, a village called Emmaus. Their pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem was over. They had just witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus, whom they had hoped was the promised Christ. The Messiah sent to redeem Israel and bring peace was dead. Their friends, fellow disciples of Jesus, were claiming their Teacher had been resurrected from the dead. Some even claimed to see an angel in the empty tomb.

This was all too fantastic for the two travelers to believe. They were consumed by doubt. As they walked home, lost in disbelief, a stranger joined them on the road. He entered their conversation about this Jesus.

When they got to Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, they invited the stranger into their home for dinner. He accepted. They sat down and as the man broke the bread in front them, their eyes were opened and they recognized who the man really was, Jesus, the resurrected Christ. And immediately he disappeared from their sight. Overwhelmed, they asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" Immediately, they got up and returned to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples the good news.

We were captivated by this story. We wondered if Jesus still walked with people along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. We wanted to know if real people’s eyes were still being opened to see a real God. So we set out in a RV patched with plywood as three investigators on the road from Jerusalem, Ohio to Emmaus, Pennsylvania. This is the story of our unexpected pilgrimage.