Cleopas and Mary meet Jesus following their crushing witness of his death. They are hurting and don't recognize Jesus, yet Jesus' approach to ministering to them is that of a questioner. His approach demonstrates the importance of dialogue in our relationship with God. Throughout the gospels, Jesus posed nearly 300 questions, each designed to provoke deeper thought and personal examination. The story emphasizes the crucial role of Scripture study and understanding. When Jesus rebuked the disciples for being slow to believe the prophets' words, He highlighted the importance of knowing and engaging with God's written word. This can be accomplished through systematic Bible reading, verse memorization, group study, and regular meditation. Ultimately, true transformation comes through recognizing Jesus as the suffering Savior. The disciples' eyes were opened when Jesus broke bread, symbolizing His broken body on the cross. This teaches us that genuine understanding of God's Word requires embracing Christ's sacrifice and allowing this truth to transform our perspective on life's challenges.

Good stories are true stories. Not always in the sense that the events they tell happened in time and space, but, at the very least, a good story reflects an honest account of the world where the bad is not glossed over nor the good made little of. All good stories do this and all stories can be graded on this rubric: do they reflect THE Story? THE Story is the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There we see in time and space the fact that things are so bad that the Son must die to redeem sinners, but they are so good because he conquers the evil, but death to shame in his resurrection. There we see that things are so much worse than we ever thought and God's grace is so much better than we ever imagined.

The distinguishing mark of the Christian faith is that God comes down! He comes down as one of us in his incarnation. He comes down in time and space, speaking and acting in the world as one of us. He comes down lowly, not only in the manger but on the cross, the ultimate instrument of a lowly death. But he even goes down further. His body is taken down and is placed in the grave. And the Creed tells us "He descended into hell." And why? For us. For us and our salvation. He is The Descending God!