THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER "A"

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Cycle “A”: Luke 24, 13 – 35

There is a story about the great Christian writer, C.S. Lewis. At the age of 18, he was an atheist. Wanting to study at Oxford he took a train. He came out of the railway station on the wrong side and unawares he walked away from the centre of Oxford through the suburb of Botley. It was only when he found himself confused and in the countryside that he turned round and checked, and then saw Oxford behind him. Later on C.S. Lewis declared that this incident was a description of his whole life and of our relationship with God. Today’s Gospel seems to support this view. Our hearts go out to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, being sorry for themselves over the suffering and death of the one they thought of as the long-awaited Messiah. They were commiserating with each other. So deep is their grief that when Jesus appears they are too caught up in their feelings to recognise him. Jesus engages them in conversation but has to face a wall of words. They barely stop to draw breath. Jesus does well to slip a word in edgeways. Something in this unexpected fellow traveller fascinates them and they beg him to stay and eat. And the peculiar thing is that from being their guest, Jesus becomes their host.

For these disciples on the way to Emmaus relationship with the risen Lord is deepened in a long-hand round about way. We often have to go “all round the house” in order to get near to the One we seek. Through hard and seemingly unrewarding labour, we finally reach fulfilment, satisfaction. Anything truly important in life, truly worth while, usually requires more than a little effort and perseverance. The doorway to real love, real relationship, real joy, the doorway to God, opens where we are not expecting it.

During Eastertide we celebrate the event that is the key to our lives, our loves, our relationships: Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, Lord of all, risen from the dead. Jesus is the assurance of the ultimate triumph of life, love, hope, of all that is positive and life-giving, over death, sin, selfishness, despair and cynicism. Jesus has paid the ransom to free us from the useless way of life of selfishness to which, unhappily, we often return. And yet the doorway to the true life keeps opening unexpectedly. Mary Magdalene thought she was with the gardener that first Sunday morning. The disciples thought they saw someone taking an early morning stroll on the beach. Today two disciples chat with a fellow traveller on the road. A hauntingly beautiful story. The story of walking a new way towards Christ on a slow journey, one in which we are so often unaware of his presence beside us. Many a time we have had to take our place in the crowd and to learn that God’s way is not ours. At times we have wrong ideas about where God is to be found and how God should act, and how he is acting in our lives. We can miss God’s plan for our lives, because life has bruised, wounded, broken us, and blinded us. In today’s Gospel God teaches us that all these areas of our life have to undergo the Paschal Mystery. On the road to Emmaus we discover that there is no neat, easy relationship with Christ. Neat easy relationships are superficial, not real.

The Lord walks alongside us, though we haven’t the eyes to see him because of our disappointment and brokenness over the things we still cling to. If I keep yearning for what used to be in my life, I will miss the joys in which he makes himself present in my life today. But the brokenness and disappointments are not unimportant  -  they prepare us to see him, to have our eyes opened. Jesus asked the two people, “What matters are you discussing as you walk along ?” Christ wants to hear our version of his story, to hear out our disappointments with his story in our lives. We may look back on difficult times, and though we wouldn’t want to go through it all again, something good is being worked out -  a Presence there. And were it not for those difficult times, we would not be where or who we are today.  Holy Week, from Thursday to Sunday, quite simply and solemnly means that in the life and death of Christ all our lives are summed up. With the beautifully touching Emmaus story inside us, we can begin to expect the unexpected. But we may be absolutely sure that, come what may, the Father of Jesus will never allow our lives to be exposed to futility; our lives will not have been lived in vain.

PRAYER: (Janet Morley)

O God, whose greeting we miss

and whose departure we delay;

make our hearts burn with insight

on our ordinary road;

that, as we grasp you

 in the broken bread,

we may also let you go,

and return to speak

your word of life

in the name of Christ.

Amen.