When the two former disciples of Jesus encounter the Risen Christ on the road, as they have given up on all of their hopes in the Lord and are retreating from discipleship and returning to their home in Emmaus, one of them, Cleopas, challenges Jesus with the question: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” We can recognize a great irony in this question, because as we have come to know, Jesus is truly the only person in Jerusalem who knows the truth about the things that have happened there in these days. These downcast disciples, thinking only of their own disappointed hopes, were thinking only about defeat and an end to the community of faith that surrounded Jesus on his road to Jerusalem. In their view, everything had gone terribly wrong and they had been greatly deceived. They thought that they knew what had happened based upon what they had seen, but in their lack of faith, they missed the truth of what God had accomplished through Jesus - the defeat of death, the resurrection of the dead, the newness of life in the Risen Christ and the eternal life that is our true hope. What was most important was not what they had seen but what was unseen, the resurrection of Jesus! The resurrection cast everything in a new light to those who had the faith to see and believe. Because of their lack of faith, these two former disciples were prevented from recognizing the Risen Christ, even though he was walking right beside them.
These two disciples had seen the events of the crucifixion of Jesus, but they did not understand the true meaning of it, because, as Jesus points out to them, they were foolish and slow of heart to believe what God had revealed through the prophets. Their feeble and shallow hopes were based only upon their own expectations of how God would manifest his glory. St. Paul will later write to the Corinthians: “Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we too believe and therefore speak, knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence. Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God. Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2Cor 4,13-18) The truth of our life in Christ is greater than what is seen, and it is only in believing in what is unseen that we will be truly blessed, as Jesus says to Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (Jn 20,29). Even though these disciples had heard the good news of the resurrection of Jesus, they were still walking away downcast and disbelieving. They were relying only on what they had seen, and what their slow hearts could understand. How foolish we can be at times in failing to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. The event of the resurrection is given to us as the testimony of eye witnesses as Peter reminds us in the reading from Acts today: “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.” (Acts 2,32) Why are we slow of heart sometimes to believe? The resurrection is not a subject of speculative argument but an event of eye witness testimony!
The disciples on the road to Emmaus turn their journey around, and truly turn their experience of the crucifixion of Jesus around in their understanding, when they begin to walk with Jesus and allow him to explain how things must happen to fulfill the word of God. When Jesus meets them they are downcast and troubled by what they have seen and experienced, because they do not understand it. I am sure that they had their own explanations of things, none of which included the continuing presence of Jesus in their lives. Jesus is able to help them to see what is unseen, and to cure their spiritual blindness through the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist. The Eucharist teaches us how to see and believe what is unseen and hidden in mystery. Jesus gives them the gift of the truth which turns their sorrow into joy. The new hope that Jesus gives them is a living hope, for it is a hope based upon the presence of the Risen One among them. Once again these two, who once were disciples of Jesus, are disciples again and turn their lives around, to once again return to following Jesus. Once they see and they believe, what was seen is now unseen again, and Jesus vanishes from their sight, and is available only to hearts firm in faith.
In the resurrection we come to see and understand that Jesus is still very near to us, and is with us always on our journey of faith. If we remain with Jesus, we will be able to listen to his words, and see him revealed in the Eucharist. Only as disciples in faith can we understand the deeper meaning of events that happen in our lives. When we try to rely upon our own understanding of things, or listen to the explanations of others in the world, we are misled and can come to lose our hope.
The Emmaus story helps us to understand how important it is to continue to listen to the Word of God, and to seek an understanding of the events of our lives in light of the Word, and our encounter in sacrament with the Risen Jesus. It helps us to understand the importance of recognizing the continuing presence of the Risen Jesus in our midst, through the Eucharist and the sacraments. The Word of God, when properly explained and understood, can set our hearts on fire with love for God and neighbor, and the Eucharist can lead us to the joy of a life full of hope. We don’t need slow hearts that are reluctant to believe that God will fulfill all of his promises of life in Christ, we need fiery hearts, full of the Holy Spirit of love and truth, that will help us to live in faith and fill us with joy.
If we are walking away from the Church and the community of faith, that is represented in our story by Jerusalem, we will be filled with doubts and despair. The early community of faith gathered around the Risen Jesus, and sharing in communion with him around the table of the Eucharist, they were able to see and believe in his true presence in the breaking of the bread. The Eucharist helps us to understand the reason for our hope and keeps our lives filled with joy and hope.
We all have a journey of faith to walk but we do not need to walk it alone. Jesus will be our guide and our teacher through his Spirit and in the sacraments and will give us the strength to complete our journey and to keep walking in the right direction, towards the kingdom of God. With Jesus as our companion we can bear witness to the gospel with joy and strength. As Peter reminds us today, “conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.” (1Pt 1,17f) For our hope is not, praise God, in ourselves or our own understanding, but rather, “your faith and hope are in God.” Amen!