Shut up and listen!

"Are you the only visitor..."

So go the first words of Cleopas to Jesus. What I find interesting is that the word so blithely translated 'visitor' actually means 'stranger, exile or alien without civil or native rights'. The idea of Jesus as stranger or alien is so much more accurate than visitor.

Jesus is a true child of Israel; living in exile
Jesus was not of this world though creator…he came from above, and for this reason he was an alien in his own country.
Jesus is an alien because he is not bound to one culture or region.

Both Peter and Paul in their later New Testament writings pick up this theme, except they apply it to the church, to the followers of Christ, and to us. We are the aliens, the exiles, the ones who are away from their true home.

Knowing this and applying this truth to ourselves might encourage us to change behaviours and recognize that:

Rather than shunning strangers, we would do well to journey alongside them.
Rather than exclusively speaking to those we encounter along life’s journeys, we would do well to listen first.
Rather than deeming others to be foolish, ignorant, and of no benefit, we would do well to assume that God might have revealed himself to strangers.
Rather than taking things at face value, we should realize that the Spirit is at work in the world around them.

For it was only in listening to this 'stranger'...this alien...that the eyes and hearts of the disciples on the road to Emmaus were opened.

It just may be that it is in our listening to others that we will more clearly hear the voice of God and experience a renewing of our understanding and vision.