Third Sunday of Easter (A) [Lk 24:13-35]
16.04.2023
From Sadness to Joy on the Road to Emmaus
Readings: (1) Act
2:14.22-33 (2) 1 Pet 1:17-21
1. Theme in brief:
Recognizing the
Risen Lord in life’s journey
2. Focus Statement:
When we are sad and
disappointed, the Risen Lord walks with us in our life’s journey; we need to
open our eyes of faith to recognize him, especially as he speaks to us through
the Scripture and comes to meet us in the Eucharist.
3. Explanation of the text
Today’s
gospel narrates the story of two sad and disappointed disciples of Jesus – Cleopas and his
companion – who are on a journey. They are going away from Jerusalem – a
place of shattered
hopes, expectations and dreams, to a village called Emmaus – a place
where they plan to settle down to their former way of life before they met Jesus (24:13).
As they walk, they talk and discuss with each other about the “things that have
taken place (in
Suddenly
the Risen Lord appears and accompanies them in the midst of their sadness
(24:17) and shattered dreams as if he too were a traveller like them; “but
their eyes were
kept from recognizing him” (24:16) – which refers to their spiritual blindness.
They need to go through a process of gradual opening of eyes of faith to
recognise the Risen Lord in their midst as well as the necessity that the Messiah should
undergo this suffering in order to enter into his glory (24:26). Before going
through this faith-journey, Cleopas thinks that his fellow traveller (Jesus) is
the only stranger
who has not heard about the heartbreaking event in
Jesus
gives totally a different explanation and meaning to the shocking event of his crucifixion.
Cleopas and his companion focus only on the single shattering event, but Jesus
puts it in the context
of God’s whole plan of our salvation. It is rather strange to note that those
who are “foolish” and “slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have declared” in the Scriptures (24:25) are
not the enemies of Jesus, but his own disciples! Jesus scolds them for not
understanding the fact that suffering of the Messiah was planned by God as
testified by Moses, all the prophets and all the Scriptures (24:27). He invites
them to a deeper faith to understand that suffering was necessary not only for the Messiah to
enter into his glory, but for his disciples also.
As
sunset draws nearer, still unsure of the identity of this stranger, the two
disciples request him to “stay” with them as it is evening – a reference to the
vocation of a faithful disciple of Christ to abide or remain with him. Jesus’
interpretation of the Scriptures on the way makes their hearts burning within themselves
(24:32), and prepares them for the opening of their eyes of faith to recognize the
Risen Lord (24:31) at the ‘Breaking of the Bread’ – a technical term in the
early Church for the Eucharist (24:30). This experience turns their sadness and
disappointment into a great joy. As they rush back to
4. Application to life
The Risen Lord walks
with us in all situations of our life’s journey, especially when we are sad, disappointed and
all our
hopes are dashed. For a believer, life is also a faith-journey
or a pilgrimage of faith. This moving story of travellers to Emmaus tells us
that we are always walking with a friend and a fellow traveller like us in our faith-journey.
He is no other than the Risen Lord. He walks with us in the midst of our shattered hopes,
expectations and dreams: a sudden death of loved ones, betrayal of friends, breakage
of relationships, a bad habit that gives us and others a lot of pain, an
insoluble problem, a bitter disappointment, frustration, confusion, despair,
sadness, depression, etc. Don’t we say now and then: “I feel disappointed with…
I did not expect this …. If only he/she could behave …. I never dreamt such a
thing would happen….” Sometimes our wonderful dreams are shattered – dreams for
our marriage when we married first, for our children when we gave them the best
of education, for those whom we did so much and for our own future are
shattered by shocking and unexpected events. Everything seems to be dark, and
we feel helpless and hopeless. In these moments we simply forget the promises of the Lord. He has promised
that he would be with us always even in the storms and trials of life, that he
walks with us in our life’s journey, and would take us one day where he is. We
need eyes of faith to recognize the presence of the Lord and believe that he is
with us in such situations. We have to invite the Lord again and again to stay with us
and support us when the evening hour of our life descends on us.
We notice a major change
that took place in Cleopas and his companion. Their sadness turned into joy;
their hopelessness turned into hope; and their plan to run away from Jerusalem to
settle down to their former way of life turned into their decision to go back
to Jerusalem after recognizing the Risen Lord in the breaking of the Word
(Scriptures) on the way and breaking of the Bread during the meal. They become
people whose hearts are burning. It is no wonder that many of us get
disheartened by lost hopes and broken dreams. Is this not our story too? We
too are tempted to “go back” to our own Emmaus, that is, our former ways – of
selfishness/ sinfulness/ doubts of faith/ superficial faith – when our hopes
and dreams are shattered or when our plans are not materialized or when we are
disappointed and frustrated.
Like Cleopas and his
companion, may be we are saddened by some shocking incidents that have taken place
recently in our family, circle of relatives, neighbourhood and workplace. May
be we are shocked by certain scandals in the Church, especially those involving
her leaders. Do these events lead to a slackening of our faith and dilution
of our zeal to proclaim the gospel? Can we look back at many of our painful
memories such as a serious illness, a sudden death in the family, an accident
or a public insult, a scandal in our family or Church and say with the heart of
faith that this experience is necessary for us? Is it not necessary that we
undergo this pain and agony now and then in order to share in Christ’s
suffering and learn the lessons which God wants to teach us? We need a
tremendous faith to understand God’s plan in all that happens in our lives,
and in the history of the world and the Church.
I still remember the shock of life I
received when one of the alcoholics got into a mental delirium (disorientation)
and came to kill me with a kitchen knife during one of the de-addiction camps
that I had organized. Thank God; he was controlled and subdued by other
participants of the camp. Now I understand in faith that this shock was necessary
for me to understand the extent of pain and threat faced quite often by so many
women (wives) due to domestic violence perpetrated by their alcoholic husbands.
We have to look back to any painful event of our lives with the eyes of
faith and find meaning into it in the light of the Scriptures. Falling short of
this faith, we easily get settled into despair and forget about our
faith-commitment as Cleopas and his companions had thought of. Jesus rebukes
us, as he did to them, for our foolish failure to look at all events of life
in the light of faith, and slowness to believe that Risen Christ is
always with us even when we do not recognize him.
As he did on the road to Emmaus, today
too he walks with us along the journey of life. Though he is our companion in
our journey, quite often we fail to recognize him. The Eucharist is a special
moment of grace for us when we put aside our other concerns of life and open
our eyes of faith to recognize his mysterious presence. We take him as a companion on our journey. He
invites us to be converted from being "slow of heart to believe" (24:25) to having our hearts
that burn within us (24:32) as he opens
to us the treasures of the Scriptures. A faithful reading and meditation on the
Scripture can make our hearts burning within us. When the ‘evening’
of our lives approaches and forces of darkness and despair overtake us, we need to
always cry to our companion (Risen Lord) in life’s journey: “Stay with me Lord
and never abandon me.”
Every Sunday the Risen
Lord strengthens our broken spirit and re-energizes our faith by
opening to us the treasures of the Scripture and feeding us with the Eucharist.
In every Holy Mass, first we recognize the voice of the Lord in the ‘breaking of the Word’ (=
Scripture readings) and respond to it in faith and obedience. This prepares us
to meet the living Lord in the ‘breaking of the Bread’ (= the Eucharist). From
the time Luke wrote this Emmaus story till today, we come together every Sunday
around the table of the Word and the Eucharist; listen to the story of God’s
wonderful deeds in the Scriptures; reflect over its implication for today’s
life; recognize the Risen Lord as he speaks in his Word and meet him under the
signs of bread and wine; renew our Christian commitment; and go back to the
world to share our new experience. This double spiritual nourishment makes our
hearts burn
with love for God and our neighbour. Thus we become witnesses
to the resurrection on our life-journey.
5. Response to
God's Word
What are our present
disappointments and broken hopes or expectations? What are the recent events in
our lives that shock or sadden us? Do we have eyes of faith to recognize the
presence of the Risen Lord in disappointments and when our hopes are shattered?
Do we feel that he is with us and supports us in hopeless and sad moments of
life? Does our Sunday Service help us to regain or revive our faith in the midst
of our humdrum life? Do we attend church on Sundays to strengthen our broken
spirit and re-energize our faith, or just to fulfil a routine or custom? If
shallowness of our faith is the main obstacle that prevents us from recognizing
the presence of the Risen Lord, what can we do to deepen it?
6. A prayer
Stay with us Lord in all
situations of our life’s journey. We invite you to remain with us as our
constant companion, especially when the ‘evening’ of our lives approaches and
forces of darkness, disappointment and despair overtake us. We cry out to you
in our life’s journey and say: “Stay with us Lord and never abandon us.” We do
believe that you are present in the midst of our shattered hopes and broken
dreams. When we are saddened by some shocking and painful events, give us a
deep faith to understand that they are necessary for deepening our faith. Strengthen
our broken spirit and re-energizes our faith by your Word and the Eucharist. Strengthened
by this spiritual nourishment, may our hearts burn with love for you and our
neighbour. Amen.
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