Third Sunday of Easter, cycle A

LUKE 24:13-35
IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK, THERE IS MENTION OF TWO DISCIPLES WHO MET JESUS AND REPORTED THAT FACT TO THE APOSTLES. ST. LUKE, WRITING ABOUT 20 YEARS LATER, AND HAVING MARK'S GOSPEL IN FRONT OF HIM, ELABORATES ON THAT STORY FROM ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. BUT LUKE IS NOT JUST TELLING US A STORY. THERE IS METHOD HERE. LUKE, AFTER ALL, HAS BEEN A CHRISTIAN FOR MANY YEARS, AND IF WE ARE TO SAY THAT THIS LUKE IS THE SAME LUKE MENTIONED IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES AND PAUL'S EPISTLES, THEN HE HAS BEEN LIVING IN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES FOR AT LEAST THIRTY YEARS. SO EVERYTHING LUKE WRITES HAS TO BE COLORED BY THE FACT THAT HE HAS BEEN A CHRISTIAN FOR MUCH OF HIS LIFE.
WE KNOW FROM OTHER SOURCES THAT IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CHURCH THE MEMBERS OF A COMMUNITY WOULD GATHER ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, AND WOULD SING HYMNS AND SACRED SONGS, THEN WOULD READ FROM THE SCRIPTURES OR THE LETTERS OF THE APOSTLES, AND THEN THE LEADER OF THE ASSEMBLY, USUALLY THE BISHOP, WOULD DISCUSS THOSE READINGS. AFTERWARDS THEY WOULD GIVE THANKS AND WOULD MEMORIALIZE THE LAST SUPPER, OFFERING BREAD AND WINE, AND SPEAKING THE WORDS OF JESUS OVER THEM. THEN ALL THE MEMBERS WOULD PARTAKE OF THE BREAD AND WINE, AND THE DEACONS WOULD BE GIVEN SOME OF THE BREAD TO TAKE TO THE SICK AND IMPRISONED AND OTHERS WHO COULD NOT BE PRESENT. THE CONGREGATION WOULD THEN BE DISMISSED. THIS IS ALL WRITTEN DOWN IN A DOCUMENT FROM THE SECOND CENTURY, IN A LETTER WRITTEN BY A CHRISTIAN WRITER TO A PAGAN RULER. IT IS PART OF AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN WHAT CHRISTIANS DO, AND WHO THEY ARE.
I THINK THE STORY THAT WE HEARD TODAY IS AN EVEN EARLIER REFLECTION ON THIS PRIMAL ACT OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. THINK ABOUT IT. WE HAVE TWO DISCIPLES, POSSIBLY A MAN AND WIFE – THE MAN IS NAMED, THE OTHER PERSON IS NOT, WHICH WOULD BE A CUSTOM IN AN ERA WHEN WOMEN WERE SEEN AS SECOND CLASS CITIZENS, BUT IN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD, THEY WERE CONSIDERED DISCIPLES – AND THEY ARE DESPONDENT, HEARTBROKEN, AND THEY HAVE LEFT THE LITTLE COMMUNITY OF FOLLOWERS OF JESUS BACK IN JERUSALEM.. THEY ARE ON THEIR OWN. A STRANGER JOINS THEM AND ASKS WHY THE LONG FACES? THEY ANSWER, AND THE IMPORTANT POINT OF THEIR ANSWER IS THAT THEY HAD HOPED THAT JESUS WAS GOING TO BE THE ONE TO SAVE ISRAEL. THEY HAD HOPED THAT HE WOULD BE THE GREAT POLITICAL LEADER WHO WOULD OVERTHROW THE ROMANS AND RE-ESTABLISH THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. JESUS THEN REPRIMANDS THEM, PROBABLY WITH A SMILE, AND PROCEEDS TO GO INTO THE SCRIPTURES AND EXPLAIN “WHY THE MESSIAH HAD TO SUFFER”. THEN WHEN THEY COME TO THE END OF THE JOURNEY, THEY INVITE HIM IN, AND HE BREAKS THE BREAD AND GIVES IT TO THEM, THEY RECOGNIZE HIM, AND THEY BECOME JOYFUL, AND THEIR FIRST IMPULSE IS TO RUSH BACK TO THE COMMUNITY WHICH THEY HAD LEFT, TO PROCLAIM THAT JESUS IS RISEN.
LUKE'S READERS, WHO WERE PROBABLY LIKE YOU AND I, HAD GOTTEN COMPLACENT AND BORED WITH THE WEEKLY CELEBRATION – WHICH WE KNOW FROM OTHER SOURCES WENT ON A LOT LONGER THAN THE 45 MINUTES OR SO THAT OURS DOES. AND LUKE CONSTRUCTS HIS STORY TO REMIND THEM WHY THEY DO WHAT THEY DO EVERY SUNDAY.
AND WE CAN TAKE THAT REMINDER TO HEART OURSELVES.
WE ARE HUMAN, WE WANDER AWAY FROM OUR FELLOWSHIP WITH THE OTHER MEMBERS OF OUR CHURCH. WE FORGET WHY WE WERE BAPTIZED, WHAT IT ALL MEANS. AND WE EVEN FORGET, HEAVEN HELP US, WHY JESUS CAME TO THE EARTH. OUR TENDENCY IS TO SEE HIM AS SOMEONE WHO IS THERE TO ANSWER OUR PRAYERS, TO MEET OUR NEEDS, TO FIGHT THE ROMANS AND RESTORE THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. AND THEN WE HEAR THE SCRIPTURES TOGETHER – AND LET ME DIVERGE FOR A MINUTE. IT IS A GOOD THING TO GET IN THE HABIT OF LISTENING TO THE SCRIPTURES BEING READ, INSTEAD OF READING THEM WHILE THEY ARE BEING READ OUT LOUD. I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE A LITTLE DEAF, LIKE ME, BUT WHEN WE ARE LISTENING TO SOMETHING, THE PART OF OUR MIND THAT WE USE IN DECIPHERING THOSE BLACK MARKS ON THE PAGE IS SILENT, AND THAT ALLOWS US TO BETTER HEAR WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS US TO HEAR. HEARING THE WORDS READ ALSO ENGAGES US AT AN EMOTIONAL LEVEL; THAT'S WHY WE LISTEN TO MUSIC, NOT READ IT ON A PAGE, WHICH WE COULD DO. AFTER WE HEAR THE SCRIPTURES, THERE IS AN INTERPRETATION GIVEN TO THEM BY THE HOMILIST, JUST AS JESUS INTERPRETED THE SCRIPTURES WHICH HE HAD CALLED TO THE ATTENTION OF THE DISCIPLES. AFTER THAT, THE EUCHARIST IS CELEBRATED, AND JESUS IS WITH US, AND HE COMES TO LIVE IN US, AND TRANSFORMS US. AND ALL OF US WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS EUCHARIST BECOME ONE BECAUSE THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CAN NEVER AGAIN BE DIVIDED. AND WHEN WE LEAVE THE EUCHARIST, WE ARE GIVEN THE GRACE TO BECOME MORE UNITED WITH OUR COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS, MORE INVOLVED, MORE ACTIVE; AND WE ARE GIVEN THE POWER TO PROCLAIM THAT THE LORD IS RISEN TO OUR FELLOW BELIEVERS AND TO THE WHOLE WORLD, THROUGH OUR WORDS AND ACTIONS.
SO THE STORY LUKE TELLS REMINDS HIS READERS WHY THEY GO THROUGH THIS SET OF ACTIONS EVERY SUNDAY. AND IT SHOULD REMIND US AS WELL. FOR MORE THAN 2000 YEARS CHRISTIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD HAVE GOTTEN TOGETHER AND ESSENTIALLY DONE WHAT WE ARE DOING TODAY, WHAT WE HAVE DONE FROM THE BEGINNING. AND FOR MORE THAN 2000 YEARS, THEY HAVE PERIODICALLY BECOME BORED AND COMPLACENT AND PERHAPS WONDERED WHAT THEY WERE DOING THERE EVERY SUNDAY? AND THE STORY OF EMMAUS HAS BEEN THERE TO REMIND THEM THAT WE FALL INTO ERROR WHEN WE LEAVE OUR COMMUNITY; BUT JESUS IS THERE ON OUR JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE, AND THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES CORRECTS OUR ERRORS AND MISCONCEPTIONS, AND THROUGH THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD, RENEWS OUR DESIRE TO PROCLAIM THE RESURRECTION IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH AND IN THE WORLD.
TODAY YOU HAVE HEARD THE SCRIPTURES, YOU HAVE HEARD AN INTERPRETATION OF ONE OF THE READINGS; AND SOON OUR PRIEST WILL SAY THE BLESSING OVER THE BREAD AND WINE, AND JESUS WILL BECOME THAT BREAD AND WINE, AND OUR PRIEST WILL RE-ENACT THAT MOMENT OF THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD, AND WE WILL RECOGNIZE OUR RISEN LORD. AND LET US PRAY, AS WE TAKE THAT BREAD AND WINE INTO OURSELVES, AS WE AGAIN WALK THAT ROAD TO EMMAUS AS WE DO EVERY WEEK, THAT OUR HEARTS WILL BURN WITHIN US, SO THAT WE ARE RENEWED AND SO THAT WE WILL LEAVE THIS CHURCH TO PROCLAIM THE RISEN LORD ONCE AGAIN.