April 26^th 2020. The Third Sunday of Easter

GOSPEL: Luke 24, 13-35

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

Please check us out on Facebook

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Luke 24, 13-35

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them,
“What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him,
“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
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 recognized 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?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted
what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

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

Sunday’s Gospel tells the story of the disciples who encounter the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus. These disciples end up changing direction: at first they were leaving the holy city, and at the end they return there. But this is really a story about a change of mind and heart! Knowing that the Lord is risen is not just a matter of acquiring information, but of being transformed in mind and heart! Their change of direction comes at the end of a process. The Lord walks alongside them and enters into their current way of looking at life. Then he challenges them by telling them in no uncertain terms that their hearts are foolish and slow to comprehend. Then he dismantles their current “wisdom” by explaining the true connections of the Scriptures with the facts. To change their hearts, he must first work on their minds. When we exit the coronavirus lockdown, we must hope that we will not be the same as we were before it began. It would be a pity if this tribulation didn’t become for us an opportunity to change. This time of Easter and this time of quarantine are wonderful occasions to look at everything in a new way. It is time to realise how stupid we are, how we consistently fail to comprehend the meaning and transforming power of the Cross in our lives. Let us abandon our attachment to our own way of looking at things. Let us reevaluate things by walking with Jesus and allowing his Spirit to make our hearts burn within us.

The disciples end up changing direction: at first they were leaving the holy city, and at the end they return there. But this is really a story about a change of mind and heart! Knowing that the Lord is risen is not just a matter of acquiring information, but of being transformed in mind and heart!

Two disciples leave Jerusalem, where they saw Jesus die and their expectations dashed. At the end of the story, they will change direction completely and return to Jerusalem. This reversal of direction is also a reversal within the heart. At the beginning, Jesus says: "Foolish and slow-hearted to believe ..." and then he begins to explain the Scriptures to them; at the end of the story, their hearts are burning within them and they return to the Holy City. Let's take a good look at how this happens: meeting the risen Lord leads to a change of direction, but this change is only a consequence of something that must happen in the mind and the heart. Getting to know that the Lord is risen is not just an acquisition of information, but, in the case of these two disciples, it involves a radical transfiguration in their behaviour and in their inner life.

This change of direction comes at the end of a process. The Lord walks alongside them and enters into their current way of looking at life. Then he challenges them by telling them that their hearts are foolish and slow to comprehend. Then he dismantles their current “wisdom” by explaining the connections of the Scriptures with the facts. To change their hearts he must first work on their minds.

Let's analyze the different stages of this process. It all begins from an ongoing argument - the disciples are not talking amiably, but the Greek term used in the passage implies an altercation. And this is to be expected. If our direction in life is not right, then we will end up on a collision course with any travelling companion. The Lord enters the scene as a complete stranger and their eyes are "prevented from recognizing him". Jesus does not wear a mask, he is simply himself; the problem is in their eyes. Eventually, in breaking the bread, their eyes will be opened. But the first stage of this development began with Jesus walking alongside them, enquiring what they have understood so far. "What are you discussing as you walk along?" Interestingly, Jesus does not “know” what they are talking about. His knowledge is different from theirs. They list the things that happened; this list, even if they don't realize it, contains everything they need to believe! Those same elements of information will be announced by the Church over the centuries, but these two disciples still cannot make the leap of faith. Jesus listens to them and then begins: “Foolish and slow of heart!” The term "foolish" in the Scriptures is a very strong rebuke, and refers to a perverse and culpable type of stupidity. Jesus condemns their "knowledge" in order to open them up to a new wisdom. To get to the heart you have to go through the mind. Their “wisdom” must be dismantled, and the Lord does this by creating connections between the Scriptures and the facts that have taken place in recent days. This is the new wisdom: a different synthesis of the information that the disciples already had to hand.

When we exit this lockdown, we must hope that we will not be the same as we were before it began. It would be a pity if this tribulation didn’t change us. Rather, this time of Easter and this time of quarantine are opportunities to look at everything in a new way. We must realise how stupid we are, how we consistently fail to comprehend the meaning of the Cross. Let us abandon our attachment to our own way of looking at things. Let us reevaluate things by walking with Jesus and allowing his Spirit to make our hearts burn within us

What will change our situation in this moment is not simply the permission to exit the lockdown (even if we hope to do so as soon as possible!) It would be a pity if we were to pass through this tribulation in vain, and if we end up going out exactly as we were before we were locked up in the first place:  ill-oriented to life. Rather, what is needed is that we open ourselves to a different synthesis of life. We must realize our stupidity, because we always are stupid relative to him! In the face of the Cross and the failure of our expectations we are consistently foolish. But if we let go of our attachment to our own “wisdom”, then our eyes can be opened, we can change direction and do new and beautiful things. The risk we face is that we do not allow ourselves be changed by Easter, by the things that happen to us, by Covid-19. But if we open up our hearts, everything becomes bright and positive and we can live with joy, even in these dark times.