May 4^th 2014. THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Gospel: Luke 24:13-35

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Luke 24:13-35

Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, 'What matters are you discussing as you walk along?' They stopped short, their faces downcast.

Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, 'You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days'. 'What things?' he asked. 'All about Jesus of Nazareth' they answered 'who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.'

Then he said to them, 'You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?' Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.

When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but they pressed him to stay with them. 'It is nearly evening' they said 'and the day is almost over.' So he went in to stay with them.

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?'

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.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The disciples on the road to Emmaus think they have understood everything. They have seen Jesus crucified and are leaving the city, dejected. Jesus meets them and explains to them the meaning of the scriptures. He helps them to see that God’s plan unfolds in ways that we do not comprehend. At one point he reprimands them severely for their stupidity and narrow-mindedness. This reprimand is also for each one of us! How easily we lose heart in the face of suffering and the cross! Sunday’s Gospel is a call for each of us to hand ourselves over to the loving design of God. Christianity is not a series of moral prescriptions. It is a way of life in which we must entrust ourselves daily to the providence of God. If God’s plan for us were easy to discern, then that would mean that it was as small and limited as we are. There is nothing mediocre about what God has in store for us! Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we must be ever ready to meet the Lord and be turned upside down by the discovery of what he has planned for us! Like those disciples, we must be prepared to change direction in response to our encounter with him.

One of the themes of Luke’s Gospel is the way that God’s plan for humanity comes to fulfilment

The first reading recounts Peter’s annunciation of the Gospel to the people of Jerusalem in the Acts of the Apostles. During his speech, Peter tells the people that Jesus was handed over to be killed according to the foreknowledge and deliberate design of God. What does this mean? The Gospel of Luke has the same author of the Acts of the Apostles and the notion of God’s design has a central place in the Gospel. Does this mean that God predetermined everything that was going to happen? No. Our freewill is a sacred thing that is fully respected by God. God is outside of things and manages to bring about the fulfilment of his will notwithstanding our contrary behaviour.

Our approach to understanding life is unable to comprehend the design of God. God’s plan unfolds through the cross, something that makes no sense to us at all

The problem of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is that they have not understood God’s design. They are downcast and believe that the cross represents the definitive failure of Jesus. They feel that they were wrong to have believed in him in the first place. Why does our faith tend to unravel in the face of the cross? Because our perspective on things is so narrow and limited. We are unable to comprehend the design of God which transcends us utterly. The things that God does are greater than the things that we are fixated with. Jesus reprimands the disciples for their blindness and inability to understand the message of the prophets. These words of Jesus are extremely harsh and they highlight the stupidity that is within all of us. Our limited viewpoint has difficulty comprehending the design of God which often unfolds through the absurdities of death and the cross. It is in these absurd situations that we experience the power of God. We are intrinsically gifted with the capacity to encounter God, but the encounter with God is something that does not fit in the conceptual scheme that we operate from on a daily basis. The design of God and the resurrection from the dead are not things that fit in the preconceived notions of the disciples of Emmaus.

Being a Christian involves being open to the work of God in our lives. The will of God is not something that is easy to discern. If it were, then it would mean that it was as limited and narrow as we are

If we do not open ourselves to the design of God, then we reduce Christianity to a series of ethical norms and prescriptions. Instead, Christianity involves an encounter with the providence and design of God that lies hidden within all of the things that happen to us. If we are not open to the design of God, then our existence is less a dialogue than a monologue dictated by a book that we call the Gospel. Christianity instead must involve a continuous discernment of God’s action within us and an openness to following his will. And his will, thank God, is never clear. If God’s will were crystal clear then this would indicate that it was as small and limited as we are. It would mean that it was something mediocre. We are creatures that are being led in ways that are marvellous and unknown. The disciples on the road to Emmaus are people who are in a state of sadness that is then transformed into joy precisely because they become open to the design of God. They discover that the way of things is greater and more surprising that they supposed. We think we have understood everything but our journey is just beginning!

Like the disciples of Emmaus, may we constantly have our plans overturned in response to the loving designs of God

The Gospel this Sunday should help us to make this leap into the arms of God. We must hand over to him the things that bewilder us. Let us no longer attribute absolute value to the categories that seem reasonable to our way of looking at things. The Lord is beyond all of that and is saying “Foolish people! So slow to understand the message of the prophets!” When we attend liturgy, when we begin to pray, we must always be aware that we have understood little and that we are in constant need of God to explain everything to us again from the start. Life is a process of rediscovering everything from a more fundamental perspective. May the Lord help each one of us to become like the disciples of Emmaus. They were on their way to a particular place but then they joyfully changed direction because they had met the Lord! May each one of us be changed continuously by the power of the Lord! May we live in obedience to his loving designs for us!