Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 23rd April 2023

Today we read the Gospel account from Luke, (Lk 24: 13-35), of the two disciples who meet the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus. It’s beautifully told, as only Luke can tell a story, and encourages us to reflect on our own encounters with the risen Christ, Jesus who walks along the road of life with each one of us. We mostly don’t realise that he’s here with us, or we just don’t recognise him, but our hearts burn within us and there are moments, fleeting moments, when we do recognise him in the breaking of bread. Only one of the two is named, Cleopas, the other’s name is written in heaven, but for the time being he represents each one of us. As the two walk along the road, what else can they discuss but the events that have taken place these past few days in Jerusalem, culminating with the crucifixion and death of Jesus. At a certain point, Jesus joins them and walks along with them, listening carefully to what they’re saying. He even asks them for more details, he of whom they were talking, the irony! Cleopas replies, “You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.” They lay bare their hearts and tell Jesus everything, even that they had been hoping for a political messiah, one who would liberate his people from the yoke of Roman rule. But Jesus has come for a far more radical liberation, the forgiveness of sin and entry into God’s kingdom, for, as St Paul writes, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

 

​When he has heard what they have to say, he explains what the scriptures really meant when they spoke of the Messiah. Even so, they fail to recognise him, although later they will recall, “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?” `it was a long walk, so he had time to go through the scriptures from Moses to the prophets. When they get close to the village, it looks as though Jesus is going further, but they insist he stay with them. When they sit at table, as a guest in their house, Jesus is invited to break bread and say a prayer. Luke tells us, “Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’” The four eucharistic moments are present: he took the bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and handed it out. This, preceded by Jesus explaining the scriptures to them, gives us the outline of what would become the Eucharist, Mass or Divine Liturgy, in which Christ’s Incarnation, Death and Resurrection become a living reality for those present, for it is truly Christ who explains the scriptures to us and breaks the bread of his body and blood for us.

 

​Cleopas and his companion, and remember that a companion is someone who shares their bread with us and sits at table with us, set out immediately for the return journey in the dark to Jerusalem, where further appearances of Christ have taken place. “They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, ‘Yes, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.” Today may we experience some of the joy and excitement of that first Easter when Jesus rose from the dead.