The end of the road

STUDY

AROUND the coastline of Scotland, a number of places could lay claim to being the end of the road. The lighthouse at the tip of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, just beyond the village of Kilchoan, standing on the most westerly point of the British mainland is one such place. From Portmahomack there is the strange experience of looking back towards the east coast, seeing Dornoch and the Sutherland coastal villages from a vantage point to the east. John O’Groats, Dunnet Head, St Abbs Head and many other places also give the sensation of marking the end of the road.

However, for this final People on the Move Bible study, we travel to the small town at the far end of the Road to the Isles. With stunning views across to Skye or over towards Eigg, Rum, and Canna, Mallaig is my choice to represent the end of the road.

The Bible is full of people reaching what seemed like end of the road places. On Mount Nebo, Moses reaches the end of his personal road. He looks ahead to the land his people will eventually enter, on the part of their journey that he cannot share. (Deuteronomy 34.1-8) The rich young ruler reached the end of the road when he decided his wealth mattered more to him than his relationship with Jesus. (Luke 18.18-29)

But time after time, what looks like the end of the road turns out to be nothing of the kind. Hezekiah seems to reach the end of his own personal road, only to find that God has another fifteen productive years in store for him. (Isaiah 38.1-6) Jairus thinks his daughter has reached the end of the road until Jesus shows him it isn’t so. (Luke 8.40-56) Peter thought he had reached the end of the road when he was arrested and imprisoned after James had already been killed. God had other plans, however, and Peter was freed from prison to continue his work, much to the surprise of his friends who were also sure that for Peter time was up. (Acts 12.6-19)

Mallaig is only the end of the road if you insist that road is the only way to travel. The tarmac may run out, but ferries will take you across to Skye or to visit the Small Isles or to the remoteness of the Knoydart peninsula. The journey can continue, as long as you are willing to travel a diff erent way.

Jesus insists that what seems to us like the ultimate end of our journey – death itself – is really nothing of the kind. We just need to recognise diff erent ways of travelling. “In my Father’s house are many rooms”, he said, before promising to get a place ready for us. When Thomas pointed out that he and his friends didn’t know the way to the place Jesus was going, Jesus replied: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no-one goes to the Father except by me.”

The ultimate end of the road place was the cross and the borrowed tomb where Jesus was laid. Yet at Easter, that became the starting point for a whole new journey, an adventure into new life.

What may seem to us to be the end of road is often, in God’s plan, the starting point for a whole new journey.

The Rev Richard Baxter is minister at Fort William: Duncansburgh MacIntosh linked with Kilmonivaig.

This article appears in the March 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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