As two dispirited followers of Jesus return from Jerusalem, a stranger joins them. They seem to be walking and talking away trying to process all the events of the past week. He asks them gently to reveal their sorrows to him (Luke 24:17-18). They wonder if this stranger is the only one who has not heard of Jesus. Yet something about the stranger’s questions makes them open their hearts out to him. So they narrate to him about the crucifixion, death, and burial of their teacher. They go on to say that some of the believers had found the tomb empty and now they believe he has risen from the dead. Resurrection seems so unbelievable they exclaim (Luke 24:19-24). They grieve deeply for their shattered hopes of a Messiah who they thought would save them.
We wonder what might have gone through Jesus’s mind when he heard their doubts and disbelief. We realize how far and deep our savior’s love is, as he reaches out to followers outside his inner circle. Jesus knew exactly how they felt and chose to join them as they walk back to Emmaus. Is this another instance of where Jesus says I know you will have doubts, but please don’t walk away from the fellowship of believers or the church? Do we not often have similar doubts in our own lives? Jesus’s death only points to the greatest hope there is for all of us who believe.
We wonder to which passages Jesus was referring (Luke 24:25-27). If we look into the Messianic prophesies in the Bible there are so many that point to why he was born, suffered, died and rose again.
The passages from Moses' writings and the prophets elucidate on what the scriptures had to say about the Messiah. Could Jesus have been referring to God’s promise to Abraham that through him the entire world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3)? Was it that the Messiah would come from the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)? Or that the Messiah would be a descendant of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16, Psalm 89:2,27)? Could Jesus have referred to Psalm 2, used for the coronation of the kings of Israel, as being applied to the coronation of him the chosen one, now King of Heaven and Earth? David clearly foresaw a relationship between a father and son, in God and the Messiah? Did he not also speak of the begotten son as Jesus, as the son of God (Psalm 2:7)?
Did Jesus speak of his encounter in Mathew 22:41-46, when he confronts the Pharisees with a rhetorical question, “Whose son is the Messiah?” They reply, “The son of David.” When Jesus asks them why David refers to the Messiah as Lord in Psalm 110:1, they were silenced. The Pharisees probably could never conceive that the Messiah, a descendant of David could be the everlasting God in human flesh (Isaiah 9:6). David grasped the plurality of persons in one God.
Did Jesus refer to the Prophet Micah who prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)? Prophet Zechariah prophesied the Messiah would come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). Could Jesus have referred to Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) and the role of the suffering servant, where he had to suffer and die? Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is the path he paved to God the Father (John 3:16) and the witness of the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 12:10) for all of us who believe. In Psalm 16:10 David says he is filled with great joy that God will not leave his soul among the dead. He says that God would not allow His holy one to rot in the grave. These verses are used by the disciples when they speak about the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2: 25-31). Did not this promise of King David come true when Christ rose from the dead?
We can imagine the shattered Sojourners strolling along with Jesus, as he speaks to them. As his words roll into their hearts like refreshing steams of living water they become more and more captivated by this stranger who speaks the truth with so much love. His presence makes their weary walk refreshing to their thirsty souls. Although it seems that Jesus has to go further, they invite him to abide with them for a meal, and he obliges (Luke 24:28-29). As Jesus breaks the bread, something about his familiar gestures suddenly illuminates their souls. Jesus disappears but touches their hearts and renews their thoughts by this close encounter(Luke 24:30-32). They ask each other, “As he spoke to us did you not feel your hearts burn?” Immediately they hurry back to Jerusalem, to tell the good news to Jesus’s followers that they have seen the Risen Lord (Luke 24:33-35). Although Jesus disappears from their sight, his presence has softly and tenderly shed his light into their souls. Their story now lives on in the hearts of all of us who have not seen but believe in Jesus Christ (the Messiah in Greek is Khristós (Χριστός), anglicized as Christ).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ we praise and glorify you for you have shown us the wonders of your love. When we are weary and lost you hear our cries. Thank you for strengthening and filling our hearts with hope of the world to come. Amen
10 comments:
On that famous journey to Emmaus he found fault with the two disciples for not believing what the prophets had said. They ought to have known from their Bibles that the Anointed One, when He came, would enter his glory through suffering. He then explained, from “Moses” (i.e. the Pentateuch) down, all the places in the Old Testament “concerning Himself” (Luke 24, 25–27). He clearly identified Himself with a figure often mentioned in the Scriptures; appropriated to Himself many passages where a modern scholar might see no such reference. In the predictions of His Own Passion which He had previously made to the disciples. He was obviously doing the same thing. He accepted—indeed he claimed to be—the second meaning of Scripture. —from Reflections on the Psalms
Let us give thanks for the divine plan and the necessary “slowness” of the holy fathers. They “doubted” so that we need not doubt.
Eusebius the church historian writes Church History (Book III)
They all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the Gospel also makes mention; to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Saviour. For Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph.
It is reported that after the age of Nero and Domitian, under the emperor whose times we are now recording, a persecution was stirred up against us in certain cities in consequence of a popular uprising. In this persecution we have understood that Symeon, the son of Clopas, who, as we have shown, was the second bishop of the church of Jerusalem, suffered martyrdom.
Early 5th c.
Sermon 234:2
Remember, though, dearly beloved, how the Lord Jesus desired to be recognized in the breaking of bread, by those whose eyes had been kept till then from recognizing him. The faithful know what I'm talking about. They know Christ in the breaking of bread. It isn't every loaf of bread, you see, but the one that receives Christ's blessing and becomes the body of Christ. That's where they recognized him. They were overjoyed and went straight to the others. They found whom they already knew. By telling what they had seen, they added to the gospel. It was all said, all done, all written down. And it has reached us.
St. Nerses Shnorhali,
Jesus the Only Son of the Father, part 2, 775-777,
12th century
On the same day of Sunday
At the road to Emmaus,
With Cleophas and his companion
You started to talk .
You made yourself known in the house,
In the breaking of the sacred bread;
As soon as you disappeared from their eyes,
Their burning hearts were plunged into perplexity.
Me too make me know the Unutterable:
Your hidden appearance so much desired
And let my heart burn in me
Remembering thy heavenly love.
St. John Paul II,
Apostolic Letter “Mane nobiscum Domine”
(2004), Introduction, 1-2
“Stay with us, Lord, for it is almost evening” (cf. Lk 24:29). This was the insistent invitation that the two disciples journeying to Emmaus on the evening of the day of the resurrection addressed to the Wayfarer who had accompanied them on their journey... Amid the shadows of the passing day and the darkness that clouded their spirit, the Wayfarer brought a ray of light which rekindled their hope and led their hearts to yearn for the fullness of light. “Stay with us”, they pleaded. And he agreed. Soon afterwards, Jesus' face would disappear, yet the Master would “stay” with them, hidden in the “breaking of the bread” which had opened their eyes to recognize him. ... Amid our questions and difficulties, and even our bitter disappointments, the divine Wayfarer continues to walk at our side, opening to us the Scriptures and leading us to a deeper understanding of the mysteries of God. When we meet him fully, we will pass from the light of the Word to the light streaming from the “Bread of life”, the supreme fulfillment of his promise to “be with us always, to the end of the age” (cf. Mt 28:20).
Our coming lives in eternity are going to be as Spirits, with no human way of recognizing others. We leave our cognitive abilities back with our brains of our bodies. Yeshua is the only One who rose in the Flesh and Body, so is a person as we know a person! But all the rest of us we remain as spirits, with no recognizable features for identification! Yeshua has promised us that we will partake of what He gave the disciples, the Heavenly Bread and Wine, once He rose to His Father. But recognizing our near and dear ones who left us earlier? How? Yeshua has clearly told us that in Heaven we do not keep earthly relationships - no husband's, wives, sons and daughters - we remain as spirits alone, worshipping our God who is Spirit!
Without cognitive brains, how do we experience the pleasures of Heaven or the pain and sufferings of Hell? I will wait to go to God to know the answer! But, there is pleasure and pain in the life hereafter, as Yeshua illustrated in the story of Lazarus, in Heaven and the rich man burning in Hell!
Transformation and Restoration
How are the Dead raised to life?
Some men will say, how are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
1 Corinthians 15:35
A Bible passage to reflect on - 1 Corinthians 15:35-58
Some of the mysteries in life are hard to understand even for the scientific mind. I am reminded of the old and familiar story of the famous scientist Michael Faraday who was trying to demonstrate the resurrection using the properties of silver.
One day he dropped a silver cup into a jar of acid. Instantaneously the cup started to disintegrate. Then using certain chemicals he brought the silver back as a blob. Then sent the blob to a silversmith who restored it to another goblet of similar shape and size. He said that if man can do this to silver, he believed that God can do this with our earthly bodies, he will take our flaws and weaknesses and transform us into ones that are flawless and powerful, just like the one Christ had after his resurrection.
What happens to our bodies when we are buried? They return to the dust and become jumbled up in the earth. Paul goes on to explain that there are earthly bodies and heavenly bodies. Today we have natural bodies but one day we will have spiritual bodies. Just like Adam became a living being, Christ is the last Adam who became a life giving spirit.
There will always be many who doubt and object to the concept of the resurrection of the dead. But to those of us who believe, we affirm that in Christ all things are possible. Christ is the author and refiner of our faith. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.
He who is dead to the world is not in the world, but in GOD, to Whom he lives; as Paul saith to his beloved disciples: “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with CHRIST in GOD.”
Ephesians 2:4-5 - New International Version
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Let us keep those who mourn in our prayers and remind them by the grace of God we are all alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:5). Let us never forget in Christ we have all been richly blessed with eternal life (John 11:25). We reflect on the agony and suffering of Jesus through lent, but rejoice as Easter comes upon us. The resurrection of Christ brings us much joy, so will we on the final day rejoice with our Lord and Savior (John 14:1-4).
Prayer:- Lord Jesus Christ instill in us a deep sense of remembrance of your broken body for us. By your death we have all become a part of your body.Amen.
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