We celebrate this first week of the Easter season as one great day of joy – Sunday to Sunday. Through this week and the Sundays of the Easter season we will listen to the stories of how, when, and where the first disciples encountered the risen Christ. They are quite different and varied experiences colored by the moment and each disciple’s personality. Many times, these experiences are not what we have in our own minds as preconceived ideas of what the resurrection is and how the risen Christ should present himself to us. Many of the experiences of the risen Lord in their lives do not take place in the form of place expects: not in the temple, nor with the sound of trumpets, nor angles, nor flashes of light.
Today we listen to one of the most marvelous and detailed stories — the Road to Emmaus from Luke’s Gospel.
Leaving Jerusalem, the disciples are full of troubles, doubt, grief, confusion, and despair. Their hopes of Jesus being the Messiah do not jive with their experience of his actual passion and death. They had other expectations and plans for the Messiah in their lives. The stories they heard about Jesus’ resurrection from other disciples seem vague and incomprehensible to them. The risen Lord reveals himself to them along the way and we see some important aspects for our own lives as far as being open to the risen Christ.
First, they are open to share in a friendship amongst themselves their deepest hopes and despairs. They are open to sharing the same with the traveler on the way with them. Openness to deep friendship and openness to others brings us closer to the risen Christ. Next, is the Word of God. The risen Christ uses the Word of God to illuminate their experience and deepen their understanding. Then comes generosity. Their generosity prompts them to insist that the other traveler on the way stay the night and share a meal with them. All this leads them to fully recognize the risen Christ in their lives in the moment of the breaking and sharing of the bread and meal. Their experience becomes fully illuminated by the presence of Christ.
From today’s Gospel, where, when, & how to experience the risen Christ:
deep friendship,
openness to strangers,
the Word of God,
generosity,
the eucharist.