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Gospel: Luke 24: 13 -35
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
“Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Without faith, life can seem bleak and meaningless, certainly in the face of senseless suffering and injustice.
But with faith, our entire outlook changes.
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In today’s Gospel, two of Jesus’ disciples are headed to Emmaus, which was seven miles west of Jerusalem.
They were literally walking into the sunset; into the darkness; into the night.
That journey was symbolic of their own spiritual and emotional state.
They were without Christ. Believing Jesus was dead, the disciples began returning to their former way of life.
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place in these days?” they say unknowingly to Jesus. “We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.”
Little did they understand, Christ did more than that; he redeemed the world!
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Slowly, Jesus changes their perspective. First, he meets them where they’re at; he journeys with them; he listens to them and asks them questions. Then, he interprets the scriptures and breaks the bread.
By days end, their eyes are opened. The disciples make a U-turn and begin walking towards Jerusalem, towards the light.
“Were not our hearts burning within us?” they say. They’ve come to see that Christ conquered the world.
That’s the Christian perspective: God wins; life wins; love wins.
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Such a beautiful truth should make our hearts burn within us.
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