EASTER III - A - 20 LUKE 24. 13-35
In last week’s gospel account
from St. John of Jesus’ second resurrection appearance to the disciples it was
Thomas who made the journey from doubt to faith by refusing to believe in the
risen Lord unless he could see for himself the marks of the crucifixion.
In today’s account from St.
Luke, two other disciples of Jesus make the journey from bitterness and despair
to belief in the Risen Lord, as He was made known to them in the breaking of
the bread.
Luke’s account follows the
Easter Day discovery of the empty tomb by the women who had gone there to
properly complete the burial of Jesus. They make their report to the disciples
in the upper room. They are not believed. Rather their report is dismissed as
idle chatter.
Obviously, these two disciples in today’s
account were present when the women reported what they had seen and heard at
the tomb. Saddened and dismayed at the recent events concerning Jesus, and now
the women’s report that even the body of Jesus was gone, they make their way
back to Emmaus talking about these things as they go.
A stranger, that being Jesus
approaches and joins them as they walk. Their eyes are kept from recognizing
him. He asks what they are discussing and why they seem so sad. They are amazed
that he does not seem to be aware of what has happened in Jerusalem
They share their bitterness
and their disappointment. We had hoped, they tell him, that this Jesus was the
one who would redeem Israel
Moreover, the women who had gone to the tomb
this morning said they saw a vision of angels that told them he was alive!
However, no one has seen him. Jesus said to them, why are you so slow of heart
to believe? Then he opened their hearts
to the scriptures concerning God’s plan from the time of Moses and the Prophets
that the Christ should suffer. Their hearts burned as he
spoke to them of these things. It was now late, and Jesus appeared to be going
further. The disciples were home and invited him to stay with them. Jesus
accepts their invitation.
As was the custom of the day, the guest was
asked to bless the food. He took the bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it
to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew it was the risen Lord.
Suddenly he was gone from their sight. They realized it was Jesus who had made
the journey with them and had resurrected their faith in Him by his teaching
and appearance.
They got up from the table
and made the return journey to the Holy
City
Today’s gospel can be seen as
a blueprint for celebrating the Christian life as an Easter people. Cleopas and
his companion, some say it was Luke himself, engaged in a faith journey. And it
began for them in the throes of hurt, disappointment and, perhaps, bitterness.
It was not until Christ
interpreted for them the meaning of his death in the larger picture that they
could see the realities of human living in the context of a saving faith. All
of us as Christians, like the two in today’s story, must walk the journey of
faith, knowing, first of all, that our daily walk will not be exempt from the
sometime harsh realities of our personal and societal lives.
Meaning, there is no escape
for those who believe from the problems of loneliness, despair, violence and
threats to our well being like the current crisis. “Some would say, “The Lord
is asleep while the storm is unleashed. He seems to abandon us to the waves of
doubt and fear. We are tempted to lose confidence.”
These are the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict
XVI in his most recent book entitled “From the Depths of our Hearts.” He is
writing to the priests of the Church to encourage them to stand fast in the
faith that brought them to say “yes” to the priesthood, to say yes to God, to
surrender themselves totally to Him and to trust in Him above all else.
They could have been easily
written yesterday or today to all of us who profess ourselves as Christians in
the face of the current universal crisis. We must stay on the right path. We
must remember that we walk not alone. Jesus walks with us in our lack of
understanding, our pain, our fear, our sense of isolation, and even our
bitterness.
As Christians, we will
encounter the evils of life. God’s invitation is that we surrender our doubt
and our fear, our lack of understanding, and place our trust into the crucified
hands of Christ who is always near to console, and heal.
The crucified and risen Lord
Jesus embraced what it means to be human. He embraced the fear of death, the
abandonment of the cross, the frailty of our human nature and the weakness of
our faith so that we might have life as God intended, and have it more
abundantly.
It is a new life Christ
offers us through the power of His resurrection. In our “yes” to Him, we
discover it and claim it for ourselves in both Word and Sacrament. It is the
sacrament of new birth (Baptism) which sets us on the road to new life. It is
in the sacrament of Christ’ Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist that we are
fed and nourished with His presence as we continue the journey.
Scripture and Sacrament are joined tightly
together. “Take scripture away and the sacrament becomes magic. Take the
sacrament away, and scripture becomes an intellectual or emotional exercise,
detached from real life. Put them together, and you have the center of
Christian living, as Luke understands it.” (N.T. Wright)
As Peter wrote in today’s
second lesson, “you have been born anew, not of the perishable but of the
imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.”(1 Peter
1.17-23) Though Jesus is no longer physically present, we can discover Him
living with and in us through the Holy Eucharist.
All who commune with the Lord
in His risen Body in faith have their eyes opened to know Him, for the Lord is
known most perfectly in the breaking of the bread.
May God grant us the grace to
always give Him our “yes” as we continue the journey, and may our hearts burn
in the conviction that the promise of God in Christ is True, that one day we
shall see Him as He really is and share in His glory. AMEN+
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