We are all pilgrims on a journey. I thought about how some of our children and youth have been on a special pilgrimage journey this year as they prepare to receive the Sacraments of the First Holy Communion and Confirmation at our parish at masses this weekend. So, in a lot of ways, our wonderful Gospel reading of the two disciples on their journey on the road to Emmaus speaks to us in the context of our reality today, in the way that we are all on a pilgrimage journey. We do not know exactly why those disciples were on the road leading out of Jerusalem that day - it does not explain “why” in today’s Gospel. They may have been fleeing the holy city out of fear. They may have been trying to run away from something. They may have been fleeing from their faith. It is curious that even though these disciples encounter the resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus, something prevents them from recognizing him. Perhaps their presumption that Jesus was dead and had not risen to new life prevented them from recognizing him. Perhaps the resurrected Christ was transformed in such a way that made his appearance so different and unrecognizable. Sometimes there are many reasons for our inability to recognize God’s presence in our lives. Like those two disciples, we might be too focused on the past and are not ready to look toward the future. Perhaps we’re stuck in past hurts and past fears. Or, we can be so miserable and so disappointed in ourselves and in the reality around us that we cannot see the ways that Jesus is with us in the midst of that reality. Rather than paying attention to what the stranger was telling them that day on the Road to Emmaus, or rather than looking at what was in front of them or listening to the Living Word, they were too much focused on death, too focused on their disappointments and their loss of hope. Those disciples probably felt like they were stuck in a hole, unable to get out. Perhaps some of us feel that same way in our own lives of faith.
The message we are to receive in the Easter season is a message of hope and joy. That is the message of the Road to Emmaus as well. Think of how these two disciples were able to break away from the past and all that was holding them back. They were able to leave behind their frustration and confusion and to work towards healing from their brokenness. They were able to look beyond the hopeless and see the hope in the presence of Jesus with them. They were able to offer kindness and help to this stranger whom they initially failed to recognize. Finally, after they were able to break open God’s word and break bread with this stranger, they were able to recognize Jesus in that stranger in their midst.
Yes, the disciples were definitely fleeing something in today’s Gospel, trying to get away from Jerusalem. But, along the way, they were conversing and debating, talking and discussing, inquiring and examining. They were trying to make sense of what was going on when, on the surface, things did not make sense at all. And that is what Christ is wanting us to do as well: to make sense of the reality of the risen Christ in our lives this Easter season, to converse and debate, to talk and discuss, to inquire and examine. We may want to flee and just forget about things, to not face some of the realities that are present in our lives. But the risen Christ is there to help us in our reality, whatever that reality may be. Christ is risen, but what does that mean for us?
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