***
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 bread.
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
Has there ever been a point in your life when you felt like you lost your faith?
Or have you ever worried about your children, that someday they may lose their belief in God?
Our Confirmation candidates had their Confirmation retreat here yesterday. We must pray for them, too, that they will cherish the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which they’ll receive in a few weeks.
***
In today’s Gospel, we encounter two disciples who’ve lost their faith. Having recently witnessed the horror of Good Friday, they believe that Jesus’ death is the end of his movement. He’s not the political savior they hoped he’d be.
Many expected him to ride into Jerusalem and take Jewish sovereignty back from the Romans. But Jesus’ death marks the end of their dreams.
Bewildered and dejected, these two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem – and by extension, away from their faith.
***
While on the road to Emmaus, the Risen Lord appears to them as a stranger. Striking up a conversation, he allows them to share their story.
They speak about their sadness at having lost a friend, their disappointments, and their hope that Jesus would’ve been someone different.
“We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel,” they say.
***
Notice how Jesus allows them to walk away from Jerusalem and their budding faith, and yet he still accompanies them.
He asks questions. He’s patient. He listens, allowing them to tell their stories, in which they reveal how they just couldn’t see God present on Good Friday.
(How often is that us — we experience our own heartbreak or sadness — and we cannot see how God is present?)
In the case of the disciples, the process of journeying anonymously with Jesus allowed them to let their guard down and share their hearts.
But once they’re open, Jesus breaks open the scriptures and reveals himself.
***
He explains how the horror of Good Friday was predicted by the prophets; God wasn’t absent that day. He was, in fact, redeeming the world.
This conversation continues until the disciples reach Emmaus. Unwilling to force himself upon them, Jesus hints at going away from them. But they welcome him into their home, where he sits down, “takes, blesses, breaks, and gives,” them bread.
These same four verbs – “take, bless, break, give” – are also used by Luke to describe the institution of the Eucharist.
It’s here – at the breaking of the bread – that their eyes are fully opened. Finally, they see that Jesus has been with them all along.
After he disappears from their midst, they exclaim, “Were not our hearts burning within us?” Overcome with joy, the disciples rush back to Jerusalem to re-join the Christian community, sharing what they’ve seen.
***
So often that can be our own experience of faith — we only see that God is working, even in our sorrow, with the gift of hindsight.
But God has been with us all along! It’s often a matter of seeing.
***
For example, I was at the Cathedral yesterday for the funeral of a young soldier. He and 8 others were killed in a helicopter crash in Kentucky two weeks ago.
His mother got up to speak at the end of Mass, and this was her message to the hundreds of mourners present: Even in that horrific crash, Jesus was there. He took her son home.
That’s Easter faith. That’s the faith the disciples finally experience in today’s Gospel.
It’s the belief that God is always with us.
***
So, are there any characters in this Gospel account whom I can identify with?
Maybe, like the disciples, I’ve come to church today with delicate faith, feeling a bit lost, as if my life is moving in the wrong direction and I need someone to listen. Maybe I’ve had my own experience of Good Friday.
Jesus is here. I just wonder if we can see him.
Maybe I feel like the disciples after they recognized Jesus. During Holy Week and Easter, my eyes were opened. I came to understand the Lord and the scriptures in a new or deeper way.
Maybe I identify more with Jesus, the Good Shepherd, because God is inviting me to love someone who’s journeying away from the faith. Perhaps my role is to accompany them, to listen patiently, and, eventually, to break open the scriptures.
That mother who buried her son yesterday was like the Good Shepherd for many, reminding us all how much we need God.
***
Even if we walk away from “Jerusalem,” as it were, Jesus is with us. He is that gentle, sometimes silent, presence on our path who waits and listens patiently through the face of a friend, even a stranger, until we are ready to see him.
And when we are ready, our hearts begin burning within us as we recognize him in the breaking of the bread.
***
***
Image credits: (1) The Missional Network, Emmaus Road by Alan Roxburgh (2) Seeking the Kingdom (3) Sacrament of the Last Supper, Salvador Dali