Have you ever been awake through the night? Perhaps you were going through a difficult time and couldn't sleep. Maybe the baby was acting up, or sick. Possibly you were camping and got stuck with night watch detail. Whatever the case, if you have been awake, you've gone through what I call the "gray zone",
        those moments after the darkest night, but before daylight really comes; the moments when you feel the most tired, the air seems the most damp and the coldest, and time moves the slowest. For those awake during the night, this "gray zone" is the most difficult time to deal with.

        Other times in life can also bring you into the gray zone. Difficult situations that just seem to drag on. Many of you have gone through these times - when some initial catastrophe or tragedy happens, it seems that somehow the human body and mind musters the strength needed to deal with the situation. We collect all our emotional energy; the adrenalin begins to flow and we can deal with things. That's in the initial stages, the really dark, dark moments, the one end of the scale.
        Then there's the other end, when things start to get better and we can see visible improvement. It's like the light begins to dawn on a new day in our life. Things begin to warm up, feel better, look better. It's kind of like spring time, life begins again.
        But......
                It's those in between times.
                You've been dealing with crisis for some time.
                There's been a bit of change.... maybe.
                        But not much. Certainly not like you can say it will be over soon. You sure can't see that proverbial light at the end
                        of the tunnel very clearly.
                                When crisis turns into a grind.
                                        The gray zone.

The bible describes a couple of folks going through a gray zone experience. A time of confusion, uncertainty, bewilderment, not sure which way to go or what to do or how to take what's happening.
        Everything's up in the air.

They are folks that have been with Jesus - his friends, disciples.
        They've just gone through the darkest moment of their lives on Friday when their Rabbi was tortured and killed.
        And they have no real understanding, as we do from our perspective of 2000 years later, about Easter, the resurrection of Jesus and the great, final victory which Christ won over sin and death. They haven't got a handle on that - yet.
        They're stuck in between. Somewhere in what one person called "Saturday Mode"; what I've labelled the "gray zone."

        There's Friday and the crucifixion.
        There's Easter Sunday and the resurrection.
        And then there's that time in between.

That's where these two disciples are. Oh, they've heard a few rumours. Strange ones - an empty grave, angels, visions of Jesus. Stuff like that. Just enough to get a grieving person all upset again.

Read with me the account of these two disciples as the bible presents it to us. As we read it together, please take note of how God deals with these two struggling, uncertain people. 'Cause I want to try and figure out if there's anything in their experience which might assist folks like you and I when we're caught living in Saturday mode, in the gray zone, in that uncertain and draining time between the initial moments of crisis and adrenalin highs and the times when things seem to be getting back on track.
        What could the bible have to say that would be of benefit to us?
 

        An amazing story, isn't it?
        Trudging home in despair, in Saturday mode big time, and the one whose death they were grieving shows up as a holy guest along the way.
        One of the first questions most people have when they read this story is, "How come these guys didn't recognize Jesus? What was the matter with them?"
        Well, actually - nothing; nothing was the matter with them, at all.
Oh sure, they were probably emotional wrecks and somewhat preoccupied. You and I would be, too.
        Their eyes were probably blood-shot from not enough sleep. Minds racing. But -- hey, you'd recognize a loved one in spite of all that.
        If you look at other accounts of meetings between the risen Jesus and other disciples you will discover that this pattern of not recognizing him immediately was a common one.
        Mary Magdalene had it in the garden, mistaking Jesus for the gardener.
        The disciples, who were out fishing in a boat, had trouble figuring out that the guy talking to them from the beach was Jesus.
        As Matthew closes his account of Christ's life he describes Jesus talking to the disciples on a hilltop in Galilee. He says, "They worshipped him...but some doubted."
        Somehow, his appearance had changed. Not totally, but enough.

        So there they are, disciples in the gray zone, full swing into Saturday mode, and Jesus, the stranger with them on the road.
        He starts to draw them out, getting them into conversation about the tragedy which had exhausted them; which they didn’t feel like talking about.

        You've been there, right? In the grind time, when you feel all strung out, you maybe even avoid people because you just can't bring yourself to answer the question, "So, how are you doing" one more time. You don't want to face another sympathetic face, shake another hand.
        Just leave me alone!....
                Been there?

So Jesus draws them out into conversation.
They give their side of the story, the bits and the pieces, scattered stuff which they had encountered.
        And then Jesus comes back at them and, carefully, taking his time, puts things into perspective, "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets" (v.27). That was, by the way, a common way of referring to what we call the "Old Testament."
        He didn't just reach for a quick quote here, plucking pieces out of context in a glib manner, just to back up some uncertain claims. Rather, "he explained to them what was said in ALL the scriptures concerning himself."........ ALL the scriptures.

Beginning with the very start of God's revelation to humanity, the earliest prophetic utterances, right through to the end, Jesus shows how God had been planning everything that happened to him.

        From the moment of humanity's Fall, and the first promise of God that somehow, someway, someday, He would extricate his precious created sons and daughters from this dilemma into which they had managed to get themselves;
                this horror of sin
        - Right from that first moment and the first promise, the coming of Jesus as Saviour for humanity was woven inextricably in God's working with the human race. All of salvation history as the Bible presents it, was gearing up for the coming of Jesus.
        And everything after his life and ministry on earth, his death, resurrection and ascension,
                everything after that is a working out of the implications of what he had said and done.

The whole reason for the existence of the nation of Israel, and everything that God did with them, all the recorded details as the Old Testament (Moses and all the prophets) presents them -- it all revolves around getting ready for the coming of Jesus, the Saviour of the world.

        And Jesus shows this to those two disciples headed to Emmaus. He gives them a view of the big picture; helps them to see things they couldn't see for themselves, things too big for them, beyond their immediate perspective.

I think it's important we understand that -- That, like for these disciples from Emmaus, the events which seem to be swirling all around us while we are stuck in Saturday mode, in this gray zone, don't tell us the whole story.
        We don't, in those moments -if ever - have a handle on the big picture. All we see is one corner of what is, in fact, a rather large intricate puzzle of life.

        Like this puzzle here.
        [have along a jumbo-sized puzzle to use for illustrative purposes]
        This may be my life. Lots of sharp turns and corners and what seem to be, for all the world, gouges taken out of it. And I'm not really sure what to make of it all.
                How on earth could this possibly fit with anything?
        It doesn't seem to make any sense, at all!

And it doesn't. No matter how long or hard you look at this one piece of the puzzle, you will not be able to make sense of it. Not until you can see the rest of the pieces,
        - till you can see them put together.

The disciples were really stuck in their one little piece of the puzzle, and couldn't make head nor tails of all that had gone on until Jesus gave them a view of the overall picture.
        A big picture where God remains in control.
        Where he knows what he's doing.
        Where he hasn't wandered away, gotten distracted, forgotten about his people.
        Where he hasn't lost it.

        In spite of the horrible mess that Satan so diligently tries to cause, the chaos he tries to inflict, and the destruction he tries to spread with his powerful forces of evil, and his legions of demons,
        In spite of all that, God remains firmly in control of all history.
                Every step.
                        Every moment.
                                Every life.

Now, those disciples were privileged to be able to see this. They were blessed in being able to hear it first hand from the Son of God himself. A real blessing.
        Because not everyone in Saturday mode gets to have that privilege, that luxury.
                For many -- no, most -- EVEN those whose lives are described to us in the Bible, they simply had to carry on in the hope
                and trust and faith, in the determined resolve, that this was so:
                        That God WAS still in control.
                        That He HADN'T forgotten them.
                        That greater was HIS power than that of Satan.
                        That their lives, that all of life, remained firmly in His hand.

Job had to believe that.
As we saw last week, Habakkuk had to believe that.
Hebrews 11 is a whole chapter full of anecdotes about people who found themselves in the gray zone of life - really difficult situations, where the piece of the puzzle that they were holding just DIDN'T make sense. But they kept going, spurred on, buoyed by, strengthened and encouraged by the faith knowledge that their piece of the puzzle wasn't the only one;
        that God, the Master Planner, could see the big picture,
        and that He would, one day, pull it all together.
                Somehow. Someway. Someday.

That's a difficult thing to remember.
A hard thing to believe, sometimes.
        That God will "work all things together for the good of those who love Him." -- Romans 8.

Doesn't say that all things are good, or pretty, or enjoyable.
        It says that God will take all things,
                even the painful, dark, smelly things of life and somehow
                        -- somehow --
                work them towards good.
        Twisting what Satan meant for evil, and turning it towards good.

Even when all we see is the one puzzle piece, God is still at work.

So - there’s Jesus explaining to His two friends how the puzzle goes together.
Makes like he's going on. Get's invited in for supper. Prays. Breaks bread as was the common meal-time custom. And then.....
                WHAM!!!
                It hits them.
                        They see it.
                                JESUS!! He's right there!
And before they can say anything else, he's gone again.

Those two disciples wipe their eyes.
Their hearts sing.
And their feet high tail it back to Jerusalem to share their excitement and new hope with others who still may be stuck in Saturday mode, in the gray zone.

        Which I hope we can do, as well. Stick together as a community. Support each other. Encourage each other. Build the faith in each other that will get us through those deep gray Saturday moments, that will help us see the puzzle piece which is our life for what it is--
        one piece of the puzzle,

        the puzzle of cosmic history that remains
                ultimately
                        in God's hand.