Third Sunday of Easter
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Lectionary A
Acts 2:14a,22-32
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
Psalm 16
In this week’s homily I focus on the appointed Gospel passage for this Sunday, April 26, which recounts the story of the walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). In the reading from Luke, we meet two followers of Jesus who are returning from Jerusalem to a village named Emmaus (a distance of approximately seven miles). These two are walking and talking together about the grief and disappointment they are feeling about Jesus’s death. In fact, these two are so caught up in their despair that they do not even take notice of the fact that Jesus approaches them: “Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:15-16). Even more ironic is that instead of offering the kind of pastoral response one would expect in a grief situation, Jesus rebukes the two: “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared” (Luke 24:25)!
When we are caught up in our own grief or when we are focused solely on our own personal situation, Jesus often breaks in with the same kind of jolt. He guides us to see things in our lives we never would have known otherwise, broadening our perspectives and horizons. Likewise, over the breaking of bread back in their village of Emmaus, Jesus reveals himself to the two: “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:31). With this revelation, Jesus changes their hearts. He has commissioned them for mission. In our own faith walk with Christ, this same “Walk to Emmaus” cycle is repeated over and over again: 1.) Jesus meets us where we are, 2.) He listens patiently, 3.) He corrects our assumptions and 4.) He invites us to the table where we can then be commissioned.
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.