THIRD SUNDAY EASTER A 26 APRIL 2020
Jesus revealed: On the Road to Emmaus
LIVING THE CHURCH OR STAYING (Luke 24: 13 - 35)
For many of us life is a series of changes. Some of these are forced upon us, others freely chosen. We decide, for example, to move to a new suburb, look for a new job, replace our old car with a new model, go on a diet, enrol the children in a different school, or support a particular charity. When we make such decisions, we usually do so with expectations that the changes will work out, and that our lives will be so much better and happier. But things don't always work out as well as we hoped. As a proverb puts it: 'Man proposes but God disposes!’ Sometimes, in fact, all our efforts to change situations bring failure, frustration, disappointment, discouragement, and disillusionment, and we can’t help thinking and saying, ‘If only this hadn’t happened’, ‘if only that’.
This is just what happened to those two disciples with the sad faces whom we meet in the gospel today. To their credit they have previously responded to the invitation of Jesus to be his friends and workmates. They have learned a great deal from him about the meaning of life. They have shared his work of teaching and healing. They have enjoyed his company and accomplished a great deal of good. As the influence of Jesus has spread, they have been filled with hope for a better world for everyone - a kingdom world of justice, peace, and joy.
Now, however, this has all come to an abrupt end. For in these simply cannot go on. So disappointed and so disillusioned are they about Jesus, in fact, that they have even decided to leave the church, the community of his followers. This is just what they are doing when we catch up with them today. Slowly but surely, they are walking away from it all. Slowly but surely, they are putting Jerusalem and the other disciples behind them, and heading off to the village of Emmaus, some seven miles away, to start a new and different way of life.
It’s within this situation of unanswered questions, disappointed hopes and broken dreams that Jesus re-enters their lives. Not simply as Jesus of Nazareth this time, but as the Risen Lord, powerful and empowering! As they trudge along the road, with their eyes cast down, and their shoulders hunched, they start chatting to each other about all that has happened. All of a sudden Jesus himself joins them, but they are so preoccupied with their frustration and grief that they don’t recognise him at first. Yet they answer all his questions with the basic facts. They add that they have even heard a rumour that he is no longer dead but alive. Yet while they know and recall the basic facts about him, they have no idea how to join the dots. They need Jesus to explain to them from the scriptures that the Messiah would gain victory and glory only through suffering. So influential and impressive is Jesus' explanation of the facts that later they say to each other: 'Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us along the road ...?'
By now the sun is setting and they've reached their destination. Jesus pretends to go on. They have enjoyed his company so much that they plead with him to stay with them. He graciously accepts their invitation. There at table their guest becomes their host. He takes bread, says the blessing over it, breaks the bread, and gives it to them. Just as he did at the Last Supper! There and then they recognise him for who he is.
More than that, they immediately reverse their previous decision. They turn around and go back to the other disciples in Jerusalem. They go home, then, to the Church they have so recently left.
In recent years there have been changes in the Church throughout the world. While wanting more, some people have embraced the changes. Some have resented and resisted them. Others have struggled around the news of priests misbehaving, and of the cover-up by their superiors. For this too, some church members have been so disgusted that they have simply walked out.
What we all need in these times of change, disappointment, anger and disgust, is stronger faith, stronger faith in the on-going presence of the Risen Lord to his Church. We need this stronger faith and the hope and love that go with it. Especially right now, when we cannot come together in church to celebrate his presence and influence, and to support one another with our faith and love.
But our Risen Lord is with us right here right now, in ways that match his presence to his disciples on the way to Emmaus. He is here in our small home gatherings. He is here as he tells his story in our readings and in how we respond. And as soon as we can gather again with our fellow Christians, he will be here among us in our community-sharing around his table. He will be among us again, therefore, as both our host and nourishment for the next stages of our journeys of life. We can hardly wait, then, to go back to church.
May we welcome him, both then and now, with our minds and hearts and lives open to his powerful influence! May we welcome him especially as he comes to us today, comes to us in the mighty power of his Spirit, who was for us, who is still, and who will be, his second self!
Fr Brian Gleeson
'On The Road to Emmaus' - The Steeles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikY5NfrUSV4
Christ Appears on the Road to Emmaus:
Trên Đường Emmau (Lm Thành Tâm):
qua1955 .Chia sẻ Lời Chúa - Thứ Hai 27-4-20
