Fr. Manoj, April 26, 2020
The Scripture lessons for third Sunday of Easter have one common, encouraging theme: No matter what happens in our lives, the risen Jesus is always with us. The Emmaus incident is the story of a God who will not abandon us when we are hurt and disappointed. There are many people who found this story really helped at times when they were down, when there were disappointments in life, when they encountered illness and many of the crosses of life. They believed in him after he had vanished, having broken bread with them. He had accompanied them in a dark journey of life.
Luke’s Emmaus Gospel is a beautiful, theological dramatization of one of the encounters of the disciples with their risen Lord during those wonder-filled days after the discovery of the empty tomb (Mk 16:12-13). It is the story of how on Easter Sunday two disciples of Jesus, discouraged and devastated, set out on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus — a distance of about eleven kilometers — and were overtaken by a stranger going along the same road. They began to speak to him about all that had occurred in the Holy City during the previous week. Most probably, Cleopas and his companion were husband and wife, residents of Emmaus and disciples of Jesus who had witnessed His crucifixion and burial. These two disciples chose to leave Jerusalem on the afternoon of the third day after the death of Jesus – the very day they had received news that the tomb was empty. They were “prevented” from recognizing the Stranger, Jesus, perhaps partly by preoccupation with their own disappointment and problems. As they journeyed on, Jesus showed them how the Scriptures had foretold all that he had done and suffered, including his death and its purpose. His coming to them and walking alongside of them illustrates the truth that the road to Emmaus is a road of companionship with Jesus who desires to walk with each of us. “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). The incident further illustrates that Jesus is with us even when we do not recognize him.
The Old Testament describes how the Chosen People encountered God in unexpected ways. Gen 18:1-15 describes how Abraham, at Mamre, entertained three “angels” unaware. Running from his troubles, Jacob laid his head on a stone while he slept and saw a stairway to Heaven. He is presented as wrestling all night with a manifestation of God in the flesh. Moses turned aside from his flock of sheep to see why a bush would burn and not be consumed and heard the Voice of God from it. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in the Temple. Saul of Tarsus met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and Jesus got Saul’s attention by knocking him to the ground and striking him blind. God’s Self-disclosure to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus was unexpected, but in a radically different way from the encounters mentioned above.
The risen Lord meets us on the road to our Emmaus, both in the ordinary experiences of our lives, and in the places to which we retreat when life is too much for us. We, too, have hopes and dreams about better health, healing, financial security and family relationships. These hopes and dreams often shatter, as we experience this during the Pandemic which affects the whole world . The story promises us, however, that Jesus will come to us in unfamiliar guises to support and strengthen us when we least expect our risen Lord. Emmaus moments come to us when we meet the risen Christ on our life’s journey through rough times.
Have you ever thought , what would Jesus ask you if He meets you on the road to your Emmaus. Emmaus stands for the place where we want to go to escape from the troubles we are confronted with. It is a place away from Jerusalem where the Saviour, Jesus Christ has laid down His life for our salvation. So the journey to Emmaus means that we do not clearly understand the salvific plans of Our God in the midst of trials and tribulations of our daily lives. Or our eyes are blind and hearts do not want to believe the reality that the Lord is Risen, that He is there with us evermore alive , that He has the power over the powers of death. And He is able to bring life and joy to anyone who places their trust in Him.
So my question again, what would Jesus ask you if He meets you on the road to your Emmaus, or more concretely at this time of our lives where we experience uncertainities of life. I think it would be the same question as Jesus asked His disciples. “ What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” yes, Jesus is inviting us to reflect on what are we thinking , what are we discussing with others, What news are you searching in newspapers, in internet and on Television; what are the questions arising in your minds about your lives…present and future, what are the difficulties that arise in your heart as you journey on the way of Faith. Yes Jesus wants to hear from you as He walks along with you. It is a matter of consolation that Jesus has not let us alone to walk our way of the cross , but He is joining each one of us to strengthen us with His presence.
When Jesus asked the disciples the question, They stood Still. Till then they were walking hurriedly wanting to reach a safe haven. They stood still, means they came into the presence of the one who meets them, in other words they came into the presence of the Lord, who alone is their refuge and salvation. It can be referred back to the Psalm 46.10 where it says, Be still, and know that I am God. Stillness enables us to raise our hearts to God in faith and meet Him in prayer.
In other words it is an invitation to everyone who is troubled in different ways to come into the presence of the Lord with their burdens of life, so that they can find rest and salvation. The Lord alone can calm the fears of our hearts. The disciples faces were looking sad, they were disheartened, and they lost hope. They were questioning everything, even God. Just look at their question to Jesus. “Are you the only Stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” They are asking this question to the very one who has undergone all the sufferings for them. Sometimes do we not ask God the same question, as if He does not know what is happening with us. Do we not consider God as stranger? God is not a stranger, but he is the only real companion who walks along with us on our journey of life, who instills within us the faith by His calming presence. So let our hearts long to be in His presence, to experience the stillness of God as the Power that overshadows us.
We find how Jesus helps the two disciples to understand the realities through the light of God’s word spoken through the prophets. Jesus said to them, “oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and then enter into his Glory?” It throws light into our hearts and minds that how we should understand the realities that are happening around us and how should we interpret them. We need to bring everything to God’s presence,-may be our hearts are troubled, may be we are confused, may be we are in groping in darkness not knowing the answer or the right way, - whatever may we experience we need to bring them to the presence of God and remain their still to listen to what He speaks to us. In our stillness God will begin to enlighten our hearts to understand the realities through the light of the Word of God. It emphasizes that everything that happens in our lives are happening so that we may raise our eyes of faith to the Glory that is awaiting us when we walk the path of suffering with the one who has suffered for us.
The disciples were enabled to see the Glory when the scripture was interpreted to them. Do our hearts burn when we listen to the Risen Lord in the reading of the Scriptures. Christ comes to us most clearly in the Word. Vatican II (Dei Verbum 21) tells us that Jesus is to be equally venerated in the Eucharist and in the Bible. Therefore, we need to study the Bible, learn the Bible, pray with the Bible, memorize the Bible, meditate on the word of God with burning zeal, and practice what the Bible teaches. This is a blessed time to learn the scriptures more and meet the Lord and thus to behold the glorious life that awaits us.
Before I conclude, I think we need to learn the prayer that the disciples raised to Jesus as He walked ahead of them as if he were going on to next village. They urged him strongly, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over”. The Jewish custom required that Cleopas and his companion invite Jesus to dinner. Hence, they invited Jesus for a night’s rest in their house–and Jesus accepted the invitation. During the meal, when Jesus broke the bread and gave it to them, the disciples realized that this stranger was Jesus, the risen Christ, and Jesus immediately vanished.
Yes, when our joys seem to be drifting from our lives, when darkness begins to overpower different areas of our existence, we need to ask the Lord, to Stay with us. It is again an invitation from our part with faith to the Paschal lamb to enter into the inmost parts of one’s life to celebrate the Passover feast, a feast of deliverance with the mighty hand of God. Yes Jesus is the Paschal Lamb, and it is through His sacrifice and by the pouring out of His precious blood that we are redeemed, delivered and set free.
Peter exhorts (1 Peter 1:17-21) the early Church, made up of Hebrew and pagan converts, to place their Faith and Hope in God Who has saved them through the precious Blood of His Son and Who has raised Jesus from the dead. Peter repeats the assertion made in Acts, that Jesus’ death and Resurrection was part of God’s plan from all eternity. Hence, Jesus’ sufferings and subsequent glorification by God should serve to center the Christian’s Faith and Hope in God Who has accepted those sufferings as an act of Redemption for all mankind.
From this reassuring truth, Christians should sense God’s providence, both in their own current situations and in the whole of their lives, and they should understand the place of their present struggles in a wider context. The root of our Faith must be the Resurrection of Jesus, and Peter argues that it is essential for everyone in the Christian community to experience the risen Jesus alive and present in everyday life.
If we invite Jesus like the disciples to come and stay with us, He will gladly come and stay with us and celebrate the Eucharist with us to open up our eyes of faith to See him living and moving with us .With him let us move forward to the promised glorious life with God. Amen
“Stay with us,Lord, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over”.