On the Second Sunday of Easter we considered Doubting Thomas and the very real and important role played by faith in our encounter with the risen Lord Jesus. The key role of faith is seen even more clearly in the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, which is the focus of today’s gospel. “You believe because you have seen,” Jesus told his disciples on his first appearance in the Upper Room. Yet when Jesus, resurrected and no longer bound by time and space, appears alongside the two disciples on the road, they are unable to recognise him despite actually seeing him with their own eyes.
Why is this? Simply because they are without faith in his promise of the resurrection. There is a delicious irony in their words to him about his death on the cross: “You must be the only one who does not know…” How Jesus must have chuckled inwardly at this statement. But kindly, gently, he proceeds to explain the Scriptures’ prophecy of his Death and Resurrection to them. Arriving at the inn where they were to spend the night – remember, it was too dangerous to travel by night in those days – they see him about to continue on his journey. Something about this “stranger,” however, moves then to invite him to be their guest. Then follows that moving moment when they “recognise him in the breaking of the bread.” In that instant, he is no longer with them, but such is their conviction that they have encountered the Risen Lord, that they get up and travel through the perilous night, returning to Jerusalem to report to the Apostles the Good News.
So, in this story, seeing is not necessarily believing. The two disciples had first to understand the meaning of his death. Their faith had to be awakened. Only then were they able to recognise the Risen Lord Jesus. And this reminds us that faith is the foundation of Christianity. It is not enough to know the facts about the Resurrection; but it is essential to believe in, and through this to encounter, the Risen Lord.
This story, if we read it carefully, should remind us of the central act of our worship; the Mass. First, Jesus quotes from Scripture, simultaneously preaching to them on its meaning. Is this not just what happens during the first half of the Mass? Then, as he says the blessing over the bread (“Blessed are you, O Lord, king of the universe…” the Jewish grace, prayers which we still use today at Mass), they “recognise him in the breaking of the bread.” – exactly what happens in the second part of the Mass. And the link? “Did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke to us on the road?” Listening to the word of God and its explanation prepared them for the moment in which they recognised him.
We, too, are privileged to travel with Jesus to Emmaus every Sunday when we participate in worship at Mass. That is why we need to follow the Word of God attentively, to listen carefully to the explanation of its meaning in our lives, and to affirm our faith strongly in the words of the Creed. In this way we are prepared, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, to recognise Jesus in the breaking of the bread. This is all part of a journey; our journey to encounter the living Lord Jesus face to face, and to know him in faith as surely as his disciples did. Let us enter this journey with joy and hope this Easter; and as did the two disciples, may we come to recognise him in the breaking of the bread and to know him personally as our Living Lord.
Fr. Phillip
