THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
On the Road to Emmaus
Too often we think we are all alone on the rocky road of life, with our struggles and discouragement but also our joys and happiness to share. Does the Lord know? Is he there? Our Christian faith and sensitivity, as known already from the earliest times of the Church, assure us that he is present and that he walks with us the sometimes rocky road of life. He speaks to us his word of life in the Scriptures proclaimed to us every Sunday. He is indeed our companion in life, that is, literally, he who breaks his bread for us, as he did for his disciples at the Last Supper and on the pilgrim road of Emmaus.
Reading 1: Acts 2:14, 22-33
14-21 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency:
22-28 “Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him. But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. David said it all:
I saw God before me for all time.
Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side.
I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic;
I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope.
I know you’ll never dump me in Hades;
I’ll never even smell the stench of death.
You’ve got my feet on the life-path,
with your face shining sun-joy all around.
29-36 “Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today. But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—‘no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’ This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received. That is what you see and hear.
Reading 2: 1 Pt 1:17-21
17 You call out to God for help and he helps—he’s a good Father that way. But don’t forget, he’s also a responsible Father, and won’t let you get by with sloppy living.
18-21 Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God.
Gospel: Lk 24:13-35
17-18 He asked, “What’s this you’re discussing so intently as you walk along?”
They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what’s happened during the last few days?”
19-24 He said, “What has happened?”
They said, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene. He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him. And we had our hopes up that he was the One, the One about to deliver Israel. And it is now the third day since it happened. But now some of our women have completely confused us. Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find his body. They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women said, but they didn’t see Jesus.”
25-27 Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?” Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.
28-31 They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: “Stay and have supper with us. It’s nearly evening; the day is done.” So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.
32 Back and forth they talked. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”
A Ghost Doesn’t Have Muscle and Bone
33-34 They didn’t waste a minute. They were up and on their way back to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and their friends gathered together, talking away: “It’s really happened! The Master has been raised up—Simon saw him!”
35 Then the two went over everything that happened on the road and how they recognized him when he broke the bread.
Prayer
God our Father,
our road in life is often tiresome
for it is the road of pilgrims.
Give us Jesus your Son
as our companion who journeys with us
and who warms our hearts with love and joy.
Let him keep breaking for us
the bread of himself that gives us courage.
Open our eyes to recognize him
in our downhearted and suffering brothers and sisters,
that they may see in us
something of our faith that our Lord is risen
and that he lives for ever and ever.
Reflection:
23 April 2023 III Sunday of Easter
Luke 24: 13-35
On the road to Emmaus
It is the month of April in the year 30 A.D. Two disciples of Jesus who lost all their hope with the killing of Jesus their teacher and prophet, are on their way back to Emmaus, a village twenty miles away from Jerusalem. Luke’s Gospel says Emmaus was just seven miles from Jerusalem, which is a mistake. This episode also raises in us a number of questions: Why couldn’t the disciples recognize Jesus during their whole day’s journey and conversation? The text says that their eyes were kept from recognizing him – a kind of blindness!
It indicates that the Risen Christ had something different in his appearance, that Mary Magdalene, Peter and other apostles could not recognise him when they first met him after the resurrection. Because, resurrection from death does not mean going back to one’s previous life, but entering the World of God.
We must also pay attention to the sentence describing Jesus at table with the disciples: “When he was at table with them, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them” – Luke explicitly recreates the celebration of the Eucharist. While they were still on the road, Jesus presided over the liturgy of the Word: “beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them in all the Scriptures” what was written about the Messiah [v. 27]. And later at the Breaking of the Bread, they recognise the Lord.
Luke wrote the Gospel around the years 80-90 A.D. Almost all the witnesses to the Risen Lord are by now dead. The rabbis taught that the Messiah would live a thousand years. They expected a glorious Messiah, a mighty and triumphant king. But, Jesus instead was defeated and killed. Their dreams are collapsed, and their plans have failed.
It is the story of the Christian communities of Luke. They are persecuted, victims of abuse. They see the victory of the evil; the wicked are better off than the pure in heart. They find themselves in the same state of mind as the disciples traveling to Emmaus. Many Christians behaved that way in the face of difficulties and persecution: some abandoned their communities; others refused the answers that came from faith.
It is our own story. We, too, are like the two disciples to Emmaus. We know well what Jesus did and taught. But this knowledge is incomplete. Without faith in the resurrection, our defeats are defeats; and life ends with death, a senseless tragedy.
An important element of this passage: the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as soon as they recognize the Lord, they rush to announce their discovery to their brothers and sisters and with them proclaim their faith: ‘The Lord is truly risen ….’