Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, April 23, 2023. The Gospel of St. Luke 24:35-48. Theme: Rediscovering Faith on a Dusty Road
The story of the two disciples on the dusty road to Emmaus is a reality check reminding us that not everyone was filled with wonder and gladness on the first Easter Sunday. Quite the contrary, Emmaus is the story of disciples who are downcast and confused by reports of an allegedly Risen Christ. They don’t understand how such a thing is possible or even if it could be possible. And so they seem to be giving up and going back to the life they knew before they had ever heard about Jesus of Nazareth. And we can read between the lines that deep down, this really broke their hearts!
But Emmaus is also the story of how Jesus doesn’t abandon us in times of spiritual confusion and emotional suffering that are a normal part of life. It assures us that He wishes to accompany us on these painful parts of our faith journey just as He does in the happier times. It teaches us that in doing so, however, He doesn’t force Himself into our lives and situations. Notice how Jesus didn’t push his way into the disciples’ company or ask to share their lodging for the night. He gave them the space they needed to make a free personal choice. And the same is true as to how He acts with us today.
This reminds me of a very famous painting of Jesus that shows Him knocking at the front door of a home. There are actually many versions of it around today. If you look closely, you’ll see that there is no doorknob on the outside. It can only be opened from the inside by the one who lives there. It’s a great visualization about how Jesus respects our freedom. He truly wants to come along with us as we walk through difficulty and suffering, but He waits to be asked and for the door to be opened into our lives.
He opens his ears and heart to us, just as He did for those disciples on the road, so that we, too, can ask our questions, express our frustrations, and unburden ourselves. And of course He wants to stay with us just as He did with them, bringing comfort and consolation just by His presence. But He wants all of this to happen on our own terms, so to speak, so that our response to Him will be genuine and free, because freedom is really the only way that true relationships can exist and grow, including our relationship with Christ.
As they reached the end of their 7-mile journey, the disciples didn’t want to part company from their mysterious Traveling Companion. The way He had explained the Scriptures to them made the smoldering flame of faith begin to burn once again in their hearts. They were beginning to have hope once again. Their disillusionment was diminishing. They sensed that there was something special about this Stranger and so they invited Him to stay and spend the night. And that’s when Christ most marvelously responded to their free choice to open the doors of their hearts to Him.
When they sat down together for their evening meal, He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. And suddenly… BAM! They recognized Jesus! There He was right in front of them and they were finally filled with joy! And then just as suddenly, he disappeared! Notice most importantly that the Gospel does not say that Jesus left them, only that He was no longer visible to their eyes. That's because He was indeed still there, truly present but now hidden under the appearance of the Eucharistic Bread.
And this is actually the main point, the central lesson of the Emmaus story. It teaches us that the way we encounter the Risen Christ up close and personal today is through His Real and Abiding Presence in the Eucharist. Christ is as present among us today in this “Breaking of the Bread” (which by the way was the original name for the Mass) as he was for those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. But the question is: do we have the eyes of faith to recognize Him as they did? Hopefully, we do and that’s great! But maybe some of us were never taught the full truth about the Eucharist in the first place. Or maybe for some of us our Eucharistic faith has dimmed or fallen victim to familiarity which can happen so easily with things we get used to in life.
If so, then like the two disciples trying to rediscover their faith, we need to turn to the Sacred Scriptures, to the Word of God for enlightenment.
The Bible clearly tells us that at the Last Supper Jesus intentionally gave us the Eucharist as His parting gift, as his Abiding Presence. All of the Gospels as well as the letters of St. Paul affirm that the bread is changed into the Body of Christ and the wine is transformed into his Precious Blood. Not as just a special symbol of Jesus nor simply as a sacred memory in His honor. But in reality and truth what is placed into our hands at Holy Communion is in actuality the Risen Lord. So every time we go to Mass, we can make the experience of the Emmaus disciples our own by recognizing that Jesus is truly risen from the dead and is really present among us in the Breaking of the Bread.
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