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| "...and how they had recognised him in the breakking of the bread..." Matthias Stom, Supper at Emmaus. |
How often in the lives of Jesus’
disciples did he say or do something they did not understand. But we are
frequently, told that “After he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered…and
believed.” In other words, the Resurrection threw a whole new light on Jesus,
his life, his words and his works. The Resurrection is the event that made, and
still makes, God’s purpose” for his whole creation clear. We are told, in the
hymns at the beginning of Ephesians and Colossians, that his plan was “to unite
all things in Christ, making peace by his blood on the cross.” The whole of
Creation is at war with itself because of sin, and sin has to be destroyed “by
the blood” before we can be “united in Christ.”
This role of Jesus as Redeemer literally
“risen from the dead” was a difficult one for his followers at first. The two
disciples on the way to Emmaus are a case in point. After the death of Jesus
they were deeply depressed, all their hopes in Jesus, as they thought, having
been disappointed. So disappointed that when Jesus joins them, they do not even
recognise him In fact, they say to him, “You must be the only person in
Jerusalem who has not heard…” of Jesus’ death, a wonderful irony that must have
amused Jesus no end. It is only after they have heard Jesus explaining that the
scriptures point inevitably to his death and Resurrection that they recognise
him “in the breaking of the bread.”
Jesus’ Resurrection really does change
everything. It truly does roll back sin and death. The world may hate him,
sneer at him, ignore him, persecute his followers. But whatever it does, it
cannot achieve the ultimate victory. “In the world you will have sorrow, but be
brave; I have already conquered the world,” he tells his disciples on his last
night on earth. That message is for us all. In the words of the Apostle Paul,
“He that endures to the end shall be saved.”
How real is the Resurrection to us? Real
enough so that there is nothing in the world that we fear? Real enough so that,
as Paul puts it, “Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.”? Real
enough so that when the world and the Resurrected Lord are in conflict, we will
unflinchingly choose the latter, no matter what the consequences might be?
Again, in the words of Paul, “In all these things we are more that victors
through the One who loves us.” Jesus is alive more really than even we are
alive, for he is beyond death. If we want to share in that ultimate life, we
must allow his Resurrection to become the greatest reality in our lives. Then, whatever happens, we can be assured
that indeed, “Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.”
Fr Phillip.
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