Word to the Wise
Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
[Acts 3:1-10 and Luke 24:13-35]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 recongized 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?"
Two disciples make a physical and spiritual journey. They go from despondency over the death of their leader and master to a complete understanding of the meaning of Jesus life, death and resurrection and recognize him in the breaking of the bread. There are very few stories in the gospel that show this journey so beautifully than Luke's account of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. It is not just these disciples but the whole community that had to come to terms with the sudden end of Jesus' ministry. They had to go through the process of making sense of the events in terms of their own religious experience, especially the "scriptures" that were available to them. They had to take hold of Jesus' command to break bread together in memory of him and recognize him in the breaking of the bread. Thus the experience of these two disciples becomes a paradigm for the whole community! In our own time, this journey may take shape in the way that our culture seems to put Jesus to death as a reality. We wonder if our faith makes any difference at all. Is there anyone who can "open our minds to the scriptures" so that we can "recognize him in the breaking of the bread?" Is there any way in which we can share this experience with others? Two thousand years later, the disciples on the road to Emmaus give us hope that we too may recognize that Christ walks with us on the way. He may, indeed, at first seem to be a stranger whom we happen to encounter. When our hearts are open to what he has said in the scriptures and tradition handed down to us and shared in the breaking of the bread, we will recognize him and restore our hope. AMEN
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