Wednesday in the Octave of Easter, April 12, 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 the bread.

St. Luke is the only Evangelist to report on the Lord’s post-Resurrection appearance to the two disciples walking to Emmaus.  He may have gotten the details on this encounter with Jesus from Cleopas, the disciple whom he names in his account.  John 19, 25 tells of a certain Mary of Cleopas who stood under the Cross with the Blessed Mother and St. John, and comparing this verse with similarly placed verses in Matthew and Mark, it would seem that she was “the other Mary” who was the mother of James and Joseph, relatives of the Lord. The early Church historian Hegesippus (d. 180) records the tradition that she was the sister of St. Joseph.  Cleopas would have been her husband.  When the disciples speak of “some women from our group” who had seen the risen Lord, Cleopas would have been speaking of his wife, who went to the tomb with the other women.  Cleopas has a feast day on September 25 while Mary is celebrated on April 24.

“They were conversing about all the things that had occurred.”  Cleopas and his fellow disciple seem to be returning to Emmaus after spending the Passover in Jerusalem.  The walk from that city to Emmaus should only have taken them a few hours.  As they walked they exchanged information about “the things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene” and lamented his Death, which seemed to them to be the end of their hopes for the redemption of Israel — they are thinking in terms of him being a political Messiah.  “Their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.”  Their conviction that he was dead may have kept them from knowing him or he may have taken another form.  John reports the Mary Magdalene also did not know him when she first saw him and thought him to be a gardener.  Even after the Apostles had seen and touched him on Easter Sunday and on the Sunday after that, they did not recognize him as they were fishing a week or two subsequently.  John also reports this.  

“What are you discussing as you walk along?”  We can understand this story in spiritual terms as our life on earth: after baptism we make our way to our true home, the “day” of our lifetimes shortening as we do so.  Our conversation — our words and deeds — revolve around the Lord Jesus.  He is foremost in our hearts and minds and his glory is the motivation for what we do.  We do not walk alone, but with our fellow believers, and we talk, work, and pray together, assisting each other on the way of salvation.  It is the Lord himself who nourishes us on this way, giving us his Body and Blood to eat and drink.  Strengthened by this heavenly food and drink, we are able to finish our journey.  At times, we feel very close to him, especially when we read the Scriptures and hear his words in our hearts, telling us of his torrential love for us which led him to die on the Cross to save us.  Knowing him means being excited to tell others about him so that they might know him too: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” 

“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”  That is, to Peter.  This may be a separate appearance the Lord made either before or after he appeared to all eleven of the Apostles, or this may be shorthand for, “He has appeared to Simon and the other Apostles.”  The literary device of “a part for the whole” is common in the Scriptures.  This would make sense because by the time Cleopas and his companion return to Jerusalem it is Sunday evening and the Lord has already appeared to the Apostles.

May our hearts also burn when we read or hear the words of the Lord.