Luke 24:13-35
The Emmaus disciples are sad and don’t recognize the risen Jesus. For the Scriptures, which speak of Him, are still closed to them; so they believe Him still to be dead. That’s how it is with our sinful nature; it keeps us from seeing things the way they really are and from grasping God’s Word. All we see is what we want to see, even when the Truth is standing right there in front of us. Without God’s working, we are blind to the things of Jesus.
And the fact is that Jesus also restrained the eyes of these two on the road to Emmaus. Jesus sometimes keeps us from seeing until we are ready, until He has prepared us to take in the truth. That’s why He makes the Emmaus disciples wait; they need to be catechized and taught first. Their hearts burn within them as Jesus opens the Scriptures to them. Perhaps that has happened to you, as you can almost feel your heart being filled with life and truth as you hear divine teaching.
Jesus expounds to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. All the Scriptures have to do with Christ. From the creation forward, they speak of Him who is the Word made flesh, now risen in the flesh. There He is in Eden’s Garden, put into the sleep of death in order that His Eve, the Church, might be created from the Sacraments which flow from His side. There He is, the Son of David in weak human flesh, doing battle with the Goliath Satan in the wilderness, fighting off his temptations and conquering him with the five smooth stones of the books of Moses. There He is in the lion’s den of Daniel, descending into the pit of the grave with a stone sealing the entrance, but shutting death’s ravenous mouth for us and coming forth in the morning victorious and exalted over His enemies. Jesus alone is the Key that unlocks the Scriptures. He is their center and substance, the very revelation of God.
Jesus speaks of how it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer before entering His glory. As the God who is love, He obligated Himself to come and help you in your lost condition. It was necessary so that the sins of the world might be taken away by Him who is the Lamb of God. For according to the Scriptures, there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood.
The Emmaus disciples were hoping that Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel. Strangely enough they thought He failed in that mission because of His cross. To them, and to every other fallen human being, that looked like defeat. To them, redemption meant deliverance from earthly oppressors like the Romans. We can fall into that trap, too, when we think that what’s most important is what happens in the political or economic realms–temporary, worldly deliverance. But Jesus accomplished a much greater redemption precisely in His suffering, bringing freedom not from temporal oppressors but eternal ones. You, O Israel, are released from Satan and sin and the grave. For Christ redeemed you from them with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. He now lives and reigns to all eternity to be your strong and merciful Lord.
It is toward evening. The Emmaus disciples ask this man, who is still a stranger to their eyes, to come in and stay with them. Jesus sits at the table with them. He takes the bread. He blesses and breaks it and gives it to them. And then their eyes are opened. Now they are ready to see. Now they are given to recognize who He is. Christ makes Himself known to them in the breaking of the bread and vanishes from their sight.
Doesn’t the risen Christ still make Himself known to His people in this same way yet today? By opening the disciples’ eyes at the table and then immediately vanishing from their sight, Christ is teaching His church where now to look for Him. You aren’t to look for Him in the same way as when He walked the earth during His ministry—or in visions or miraculous experiences. You are to see Him in the breaking of the bread, the Sacrament of the Altar. For it is there that Christ is truly present with His living body and blood. You are to regard every celebration of the blessed supper as another resurrection appearance of Christ. For it is there at the table that the resurrected Lord comes to abide with you and gives you to share in His life, that He may live in you and you in Him forever.
As this school year comes to a close, let us then become as the Emmaus disciples, our hearts burning with the flame of Him who is the Light of the world as He unlocks the Scriptures and teaches us of Himself; and let us especially rejoice when He makes Himself known to us in the breaking of the bread.