The Third Sunday of Easter, April 23, 2023

Luke 24, 13–35

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

We have already seen this Gospel Reading used for an Easter weekday Mass, but there is so much to consider in it.

One thing to think about is that the two men left Jerusalem even after they had heard the reports of the women that they had seen a vision of angels who announced that the Lord Jesus was alive.  The fact that the tomb had been opened was verified by the Apostles.  These men did not wait to find out more or to see what would happen next.  That they had no pressing need to return to Emmaus at that time is made clear through their swift return to Jerusalem after they knew that they had seen Jesus.  Were they lacking at least in curiosity?  Was their disappointment in the Lord’s Death so severe that they felt they had to leave Jerusalem?  But they did not leave right away; they waited until late afternoon.  They must not have stayed with the Apostles during that time, though, for when they return, they are told that the Lord had appeared to Peter, which they had not known before they left.

Another thing to consider is this: why did the travelers to Emmaus think to run back to Jerusalem?  What urged them on to return?  Their experience seems to have filled them with so much excitement that they had to share it with those most likely to understand and share it.  Their experience also would confirm the reports of the women who had seen the angels and it would make sense of the incredible fact that the tomb had been opened and no one could explain how.

“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?”  The question Cleopas asks the Lord, not knowing that he was the Lord, tells us of how wrapped up Cleopas and his friend were in the events of Holy Week.  Jesus was their whole world.  Estimates of the population of Jerusalem during the life of Jesus range from 20,000-40,000 people, swelling to ten times that number during festivals such as the Passover.  Much could happen in a city of this size that would not be known to most of its inhabitants, especially during holy days.

“Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe.”  In the Old Testament, a “fool” was one who did not have God before his eyes: “The fool has said in his heart: There is no God” (Psalm 14, 1).  Jesus calls them “fools” (literally, “O foolish men and slow of heart”) because even after his miracles and preaching, they still thought of him merely as “the one to redeem Israel”, that is, to fight the Romans.  They were thinking of him not in spiritual terms but in material terms, for they thought of nothing in spiritual terms.

“He was made known to them in the breaking of bread.”  Luke points out the realization of the Lord’s very real appearance by the two disciples in their supper as a sign of the Lord’s very real appearance on the altar during Holy Mass, which was sometimes called “the breaking of the bread” at the time.

We ought to give thanks to our almighty Lord who appears to us today, who fills us with his grace, who speaks to us through the Gospels, and who longs to greet us in heaven.