Walking In The Wrong Direction

A few summers of my life we spent working at a camp in Muskoka as part of a teen leadership program. One of the best parts was taking the students out on a 3-day canoe trip (it’s also how I originally met Amy as she was one of our trip guides). As part of the teen's leadership development, we would pair them up with another student and have them lead the trip for half the day; there’s often no better lesson than what experience can teach. The pair of students were given the map and told to direct our group, they choose when we rested, they set the pace for paddling, they lead us through portages, they determined if going down rapids were too dangerous or not, they picked our rest/lunch spots, and made sure to check that people were drinking water and not getting too tired. They were the leaders and we were there to help them to lead and provide an often much-needed layer of safety (no, we can’t run those rapids as it ends in a 10ft waterfall).

At some point on the trip we would find ourselves clearly going in the wrong direction (not the point of this story but it was almost always a male teen leading who just assumed they “knew" the way and never checked the map). Since the tripper(s) and leaders were responsible for safety, we knew the route we should take, but the teens were put in charge of the trip so we would often let them go in the wrong direction. We would always start with gentle reminders to check the map, playing this careful balance of letting them go far enough down the wrong path to learn from their mistake, but not too far as to put us off course and behind in the day; we were not going to add hours and hours of paddling in the wrong direction as we might teach them about mutiny at that point.

One of my favourite Jesus stories is right at the end of the Gospels in Luke 24 on the Road to Emmaus. You can read it here, but basically, two disciples are traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the events of the crucifixion and they run into Jesus (though they “were kept from recognizing Him”, which always makes me picture Jesus in one of those glasses and fake nose costumes). The three travelers go on the road together conversing along their journey. The disciples are shocked this stranger hadn’t heard about the recent events that shook the entire country, so they gladly fill the stranger in on the news of who Jesus was, that He died, and rose again. They eventually arrive at their destination and they insist Jesus stay with them. It’s not until Jesus is at the table and breaks the bread that they recognize Him and then Jesus up and disappears from their sight. They confirm it was Him as they recount the conversation and how Jesus was still teaching them while they journeyed together, so they immediately get up and go to Jerusalem to share the story with everyone and confirm Jesus is alive!

I knew this story growing up, but it wasn’t until someone recently pointed something out to me: Jesus walked. the. entire. way. with them knowing they were going in the wrong direction. He must have known that as soon as they recognized Him they would head back to Jerusalem. You would think that Jesus would save some time and reveal Himself earlier so the disciples wouldn’t have to go all the way to their destination and then turn around, but that’s not how He played it.

Perhaps Jesus knew these disciples needed the time to hear whatever Jesus was teaching them on the journey?

Perhaps Jesus knew they were not ready to process the truth of Him being alive just yet?

Perhaps Jesus really enjoyed this style of teaching, of journeying with people instead of just unloading the truth on them?

Perhaps Jesus just knew they needed the exercise and the walk?

Perhaps Jesus was just timing that we’re not made aware of in the story?

Perhaps Jesus just wanted to spend extra time with these disciples He invested in?

Whatever the reason, this interaction sits along with many other examples that reveal how Jesus chose to do life: He chose to walk personally with people and invest in their lives. He likely knew the disciples would turn around and head back to Jerusalem as soon as they learned it was Him, but He still walked in the wrong direction with them until they were ready to know the truth. He knew He still had something to teach them and they still had something to learn, so He walked and talked with them. He knew He needed to meet them where they were at, so He journeyed with them the whole way.

I hope we model this, just as Jesus did, in how we invest in others through our lives: walk personally with them where they are at.