America Walks the Emmaus Road: Brian Zahnd on the Secular and the Sacred

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm by Guest Contributor

America Walks the Emmaus Road: Brian Zahnd on the Secular and the Sacred 2018-08-16T14:21:29-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of Brian Zahnd’s brand new memoir Water To Wine. Brian has been gracious enough to let me share portions from each chapter every week for the next couple months. Chapter 7 may be the fullest exposition of Bishop BZ’s central thesis: that more secularism is precisely what the church doesn’t need (and more sacredness is precisely what we do need). And it starts with a timely illustration:

A sense of the sacred may be what we need most of all right now. The church in Western Europe and North America is struggling with deep disappointment. We are disappointed with the failure of the Christendom project.

The grand attempt to produce continents of Christian civilization through the apparatus of the state is either dead or dying. It appears that cultural secularism has already won in Western Europe and will win in North America (despite the determination of conservatives to fight to the bitter end in the ugliness of the “culture wars”). So we either deny what is happening, which is more easily done in America, or we angrily blame scapegoats, or we simply trudge along a bit sad about it all.

The church in the post-Christendom West is walking the Emmaus road, confused and disappointed, just like those two disciples on the first Easter (see Luke 24:13-35). Of course, the point of the Emmaus road story was that the two disciples had misread everything. Their disappointment was the result of their wrong expectations. They expected a conventional king after the model of the Pharaohs and the Caesars. They expected Jesus to be a war-waging Messiah like King David or Judah Maccabeus.

With those expectations they saw Jesus as a “failed” Messiah – a peace-preaching Messiah who ended up being executed by the Romans. Instead of kingdom come, it was Christ crucified – a dead end. As far as Cleopas and the other disciple were concerned, the movement in which they had invested their hopes and dreams had failed. There was nothing to do now but go back home.

So they walked the Emmaus road carrying a load of soul-crushing disappointment.

This is when Jesus came and walked with them in another form.

Brian Zahnd is the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church, a non-denominational church in St. Joseph, Missouri. He is also the author of several books, including A Farewell To Mars and Beauty Will Save the World, and the brand new memoir Water To Wine. Follow him on Facebook & Twitter.

Previous Post

March 24, 2016

Victory Over the Devil: Jeremy Myers On the Accuser and the Atonement

Next Post

March 29, 2016 Political Choices and Decisions for Jesus

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 July 2017 May 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 March 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 March 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz