Easter Three (Revised Common Lectionary) | 04.19.26 | Luke 24.13-35 | Carl A. Voges |

The Passage

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

“And he said to them, ‘’What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?’ “And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ “And he said to them, ‘What things?’ “And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.’

‘But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.’

“And he said to them, ‘O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

“So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now spent.’ “So he went in to stay with them.

“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?’

“And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’

“Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.” [Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]

“The LORD loves those who hate evil; he preserves the lives of his saints and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” [Psalm 97.10]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord

The Great Fifty Days of Easter! Filling the lives of the Lord’s baptized people with fresh meaning, renewed energy and deep satisfaction for seven weeks! Three weeks out from that startling and overwhelming Day, however, even the baptized are finding themselves luxuriating in the accomplishments of the Artemis mission or concentrating again on the war against an unrelenting evil in the Mideast.

Still, today’s passage from St Luke keeps us imbedded in the transforming event of Easter Day! It storms into our lives through the Son’s breaking of his Bread. There are four levels of meaning in this breaking: [1] It expresses Jesus’ suffering, his dying and his rising; [2] It is the central element in Jesus’ Supper for his followers (when larger hosts are used in the consecration of the elements, the presider actually breaks it into a number of pieces); [3] It alerts us to turn to our Lord when our lives are breaking down; and [4] It reminds us, in such turning, to be exposed to the Lord’s Life on a continual basis. In such exposure he breaks down the life given us by the world at birth and restores us to the Life given at Baptism.

Getting to this breaking, however, is not easily done; the passage opens with an intriguing reality – two of Jesus’ followers prior to his resurrection do not recognize him when they encounter him on a seven-mile walk in the afternoon of Easter Day!

We know how sunglasses prevent us from recognizing people that we usually know. Or how someone recognizes you at gym in your workout clothes, but does not see you at the supermarket after a shower and a change of clothes! Or how the tinted glass in our vehicles keeps us from recognizing who the drivers and passengers are!

Pushing into this intriguing reality a little further, we also know that we can be so wrapped up in ourselves, we don’t recognize who or what is crossing in front of or alongside our lives! As the Lord’s baptized people, we are aware that it is easier to recognize the things in this world much more easily than the things of the Lord’s broken down and restored Life. Such non-recognition giving way to recognition is displayed vividly in today’s Gospel as the Son’s Spirit exposes us to the breaking of his Bread.

Today the LORD God turns us into the Sacrament that his Son gave his followers on the Thursday evening before Easter Day. He lets us see what it means to have the Son’s Bread and Body being broken in that holy Meal. He encourages us to understand how vital that Supper is – not only within the Church’s life, but also in the lives of his baptized people.

The world, however, has a much different way of looking at things. It bores in on the only life it knows, its own! It tries to put a lid on the harsh side of its birth-given nature by attempting to elevate what it believes to be a higher, attractive and better nature. This different way, however, does not work that easily. The higher, better natures are not always able to cover the wickedness and evil churning underneath and through them. The world’s way of looking at things and understanding them often leaves us bogged down in deep pretensions, unrelenting hurt and persistent exhaustion. Thankfully, our crucified and resurrected Lord has a much clearer way of looking at things, and this burst in on the world three weeks ago!

Like the two followers in today’s Gospel we often find ourselves reeling from events which are beyond our way of understanding. We would love to manage them, but we find ourselves hunkering down and helplessly letting those events spin out, trusting that they will not hit us too hard and that, somehow, we will get through them! This is what usually occurs – when we cannot explain the things that are happening, or when we are bewildered by what has occurred, or when we are too wrapped up with ourselves to even notice what is going on!

That’s what was going in the afternoon and evening of Easter Day as two of Jesus’ followers make their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They are discussing (the Greek word actually means “debating!”) everything that has happened over the last few days (events in which we participated during Holy Week!). While they are talking, Jesus comes up alongside them, but they are kept from recognizing him (notice that they are held back from that recognition). He asks them what matters they are discussing (their look is sad, the Greek word describes it as “sullen”) and they question him in a scolding way – Are you the only one who does not know what has happened in Jerusalem?

Our Lord encourages them to go on. They point out that Jesus was a prophet mighty in actions and words before the LORD God and all the people (people who did not recognize this prophet to be the Lord’s Son!). They note how the chief priest and rulers handed Jesus over for condemnation and crucifixion. They had hoped he would be the One to redeem Israel (this comment shows they still did not understand what Jesus meant by the redemption he offers).

They note it has been three days since his death has taken place. They also note that some women in their group had astounded them! They went to the tomb early that morning, but they did not find Jesus’ body and said they had seen a vision of angels who stated that Jesus was alive! Some other people then went to the tomb and verified what the women had said!

Jesus finally responds, commenting on their foolishness and their slowness to believe all that the prophets had declared. He asks if it wasn’t necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Jesus goes back to Moses and all the prophets, interpreting the things about himself in all the Old Testament Scriptures. This suffering is described vividly in the four Servant Songs of Isaiah, the Psalms and other places in the Old Testament; this means that the faithful people waiting for the Messiah did have clues even if they did not catch them!

As they come near to a village, Jesus walks ahead as though he’s going on. But they strongly urge him to stay, noting that it is almost evening and the day is nearly over; so

he stays! When he’s at a table with them, he takes the Bread and says a blessing, breaks the Bread and hands it to them. This action opens their eyes and they recognize him, but he vanishes from their sight! They say to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening up the Old Testament Scriptures to us?”

They promptly get up and return to Jerusalem, finding the eleven disciples and their companions gathered together. That gathering reports that the Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon! Then these two followers relate what happened on the road that afternoon and how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the Bread!

As noted earlier, there are four levels of meaning in this breaking: [1] It expresses Jesus’ suffering, his dying and his rising; [2] It is the central element in Jesus’ Supper for his followers; [3] It alerts us to turn to our Lord when our lives are breaking down; and [4] It reminds us, in such turning, to be exposed to the Lord’s Life on a continual basis.

These four levels are powerful reminders of how Jesus’ Life was broken for us, to the point of him being killed and of how that Life re-emerged in his rising from the dead!

These levels also remind us of where we are to turn when our own lives are breaking down – we turn to the Bread, the Life, of the Father’s Son.

Yes, we realize this is not our instinctive reaction – that instinct is to first go to ourselves and then to someone or something else! We see this working out in our parish communities whenever tough circumstances or situations rip into a person’s life – their first thought is that their participation in the Lord’s holy places (including his Supper) is to be shut down, mistakenly thinking that he has let them down! But our Baptisms into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have rescued us from such dead-end reactions and have fully imbedded us in the dying and rising of the Son’s Life!

Such rescues have enormous implications for our lives and the lives of the world’s people. When people drift from the only LORD God there is, when they are wrapped up in the gods of their own making, their lives get exhausted and broken down. At those points may they see the Lord bringing his Bread to them, breaking down the life given them at birth and re-setting them in the Life given at Baptism.

When people believe it is their own strength, their own ability or their own wisdom that is powering them through life, their lives will get stuck and break down. May they see the Lord bringing his Bread to them, breaking their lives down and then restoring them.

When people are so absorbed with themselves, doing wrong to themselves and others (even when they are not aware of the wrong!), their lives will get hurt and break down.

May they see the Lord bringing his Bread to them, breaking their lives down and then restoring them.

It is in such ways that we are brought to recognize who the Lord truly is! May the LORD God keep pushing into lives that are stuck, exhausted and hurt with the breaking of his Bread so we can grow in the recognition of the Life he offers his people every week from his Scriptures and Sacraments! Yes, we are in the Great Fifty Days of Easter! For seven weeks now the Lord will be filling the lives of his baptized people with fresh meaning, renewed energy and deep satisfaction!

Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord

---

Pr. Carl A. Voges, STS, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com