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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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I’m sure we’re all familiar with the poem, Footprints in the Sand. It’s an allegorical poem about the journey of life. A person falls asleep and finds themselves walking along a beach, looking back over their life.
Along the way, there are two sets of footprints – one belonging to the dreamer and the other to God. But whenever the difficult or traumatic life moments came, the set of footprints dwindled from two down to one.
“I don’t understand why God, when I needed you the most, you would leave me,” the poet lamented. “My precious child,” God replied, “I love you and will never leave you. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
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In today’s Gospel, two of Jesus’ disciples are walking along the road to Emmaus. Physically, their backs are turned away from Jerusalem as they journey into the sunset, into the night. Spiritually, they are trying to rid themselves of their grief.
Jesus, their teacher and master, had been brutally murdered. Now they felt lost; directionless; abandoned. So, they tried leaving it all behind.
Suddenly the Lord appeared to them as a stranger, sparking a conversation. Symbolically, this was when he began to carry them as the sets of footprints dwindled down to one.
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The Lord attended to his friends in three different ways.
First, he inquired about the reason for their sadness. Although his disciples could not fathom how anyone in Jerusalem didn’t know about the death of their Lord, they began to open their hearts. Sometimes the simple act of sharing begins the process of healing.
Then the Lord opens the scriptures for them. While the bible does not answer every question we have about life and death, or good and evil, the Word of God does add a great amount of clarity. The Truth becomes a healing balm.
Finally, the Lord sits down and breaks bread with them. This removes the “cataracts” from their eyes, allowing them to see that Jesus was with them.
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When looking back over our own lives, hopefully we can say the same. When our hearts were burdened by pain and grief, our faith kicked in as we allowed the Lord to carry us.
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Image credits: (1) Medium (2) The Missional Network, Emmaus Road (3) Words of Hope, WordPress