Many of us are watching someone we love walk away from God.
Maybe it's a son.
He grew up in church.
He knew every song.
And now he won't come anymore.
Maybe it's a daughter away at university, and the way she talks about God has changed.
Maybe it's a husband.
A best friend.
Someone who used to pray with us.
They have not made a big announcement.
They are just quietly leaving.
And we are scared.
We want to say something.
We want to grab them and turn them around.
And we don't know what to do.
The Bible has a story for us.
It happened on the very day Jesus rose from the dead.
Luke 24, verse 13:
"And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs."
Threescore furlongs is about seven miles.
Two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem.
Away from the empty tomb.
Away from the other believers.
They had heard the report that morning that Jesus was alive.
And it did not hold them.
They were going home.
These were not enemies of God.
They were disciples who were done.
Now watch what Jesus does.
Verse 15:
"Jesus himself drew near, and went with them."
Read that slowly.
He did not stand in the road and block them.
He did not say, "Turn around right now."
He did not correct their direction before He joined them.
He walked with them.
The wrong way.
The risen Lord, on the first day of His resurrection, spent the afternoon walking seven miles with two people who were quitting.
So here is the first thing we need to hear.
When someone we love is walking away, our first job is not to block the road.
It is to stay close.
To walk with them.
Now listen to His first words.
Verse 17:
"What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?"
He asked about their sadness.
Not their theology.
Their sadness.
And when they said, "Are you the only one who hasn't heard what happened?"
He said, verse 19:
"What things?"
Think about that.
He was the thing that happened.
He knew everything.
And He asked them to tell Him anyway.
He let them say the whole thing out loud.
And listen to what came out.
Verse 21:
"But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel."
We trusted.
Past tense.
That is the sound of someone walking away from God.
"I used to believe."
"I trusted Him once."
"I prayed, and it didn't happen."
Most people who walk away are not angry at God.
They are disappointed.
Something they hoped for did not come.
And here is the second thing.
We have to let them finish the sentence.
Most of us can't.
The moment someone we love says something we disagree with, we jump in.
We correct.
We quote a verse.
We defend God.
Jesus let them tell the whole story first.
Badly.
Sadly.
Wrongly.
And He listened.
Now, did Jesus ever correct them?
Yes.
Verse 25:
"Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."
That's strong.
But notice what He corrected.
He did not say, "You don't believe."
He said, "You don't believe all."
They had believed the parts of the Bible they liked.
The glory.
The victory.
The redemption of Israel.
But they skipped the parts about suffering.
So when the suffering came, they thought the story was over.
Many people walk away from God for the same reason.
They were given half a picture.
Only blessing.
Only breakthrough.
And when pain came, they thought God had failed.
And if we are honest, sometimes we were the ones who gave them half the picture.
So when we finally speak, we do not just argue.
We give them the whole picture.
Verse 27 says He opened all the Scriptures to them, beginning at Moses.
He showed them that the suffering was not the end of the story.
It was the road into it.
Now look at what happens at the end of the walk.
Verse 28:
"And he made as though he would have gone further."
He did not force His way into their house.
He waited to be invited.
And they said, "Abide with us: for it is toward evening."
Stay with us. It's getting dark.
So He went in.
He sat at their table.
He took bread.
He blessed it.
He broke it.
He gave it to them.
And verse 31 says:
"And their eyes were opened, and they knew him."
They did not recognise Him on the road.
They recognised Him at the table.
In the breaking of bread.
The most ordinary moment.
So here is the third thing.
We keep the table open.
We keep inviting them to dinner.
We keep being family.
Sometimes eyes open not in the argument, but at the table.
And then look at this.
Verse 32:
"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?"
Something had been happening in them the whole time.
They just didn't know it.
The ones we love may look like they are walking away.
But we do not know what God is doing in them on the road.
He may already be walking beside them.
And verse 33:
"And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem."
An hour earlier, they said it was too late to travel.
Now they walk seven miles back.
In the dark.
Immediately.
That is what one encounter with Jesus can do.
So, what do we do when someone we love is walking away from God?
We do not block the road.
We walk with them.
We ask about their sadness.
We let them finish the sentence.
When we speak, we give them the whole Bible, not half of it.
We keep the table open.
And we trust that the risen Lord is closer to them on that road than any of us can see.
He walked the wrong way with two people who were leaving, and He brought them back.
The patience He showed us on our own road is the patience we now carry to theirs.
That is how we make our redemption effective.