Walking Along

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,

h e 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 the bread.

Walking, that is how the ninety percenters got around in the ancient world.  You could only walk so far in a day before you got tired and had to stop.  If that day happens to be the Sabbath, well, according to the more liberal teachers of the day you could walk a total of seven miles. So, on this Christian Sabbath (Sunday, actually Easter Sunday) two of the disciples were walking to Emmaus which was within the seven-mile limit imposed by the temple gang.  What does one do when you have such a journey to take and plenty of time to take it?  Why you discuss what is going on in life, in politics and perhaps even religion. In this case, we have two of the Lord's followers walking along, they were depressed, and they were discussing the death of Jesus.  They had felt that this Man was the Messiah, the promised one of the ages.  His death seemed to scratch all that.  Then this morning some of the women of their party were going to anoint the body of Jesus because they had to bury it quickly because the Sabbath was upon them. They had reported that the body was gone.   Jesus came and joined them but their eyes were withheld from recognizing Him.  He asked them what they were discussing while they walked along.  They looked at Him as they would look at any other fool.  They asked Him if He had heard of Jesus and what happened that past weekend.  He told them that they were slow to believe and he explained to them every passage in the Bible that referred to Him.  He pretended that He was going to continue past the destination that the two disciples were stopping at.  They begged Him to come in.  When He did he sat at table with them and broke the bread and handed it to them.  Their eyes were opened and they saw it was the Lord.  He disappeared from their sight.  

Why did he disappear? Was he some sort of magician?  Not at all.  He disappeared from their sight because He was there in the bread.  He was present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity and still with them.  This breaking of the bread story shows how important the earliest Christians found the Eucharist.  When you receive communion do you go back to your seat and open the church bulletin while the choir sings?  If your mother or father came into the room, would you ignore them? If the Queen of England entered your living room would you continue to watch the television?  Of course not, you would give all of your attention to your visitor.  This is what you should do every time you receive communion.  It is Christ you receive and He is in you and as close to you as you can get this side of heavens door.  Don't let Him sit there alone. Speak to Him, pour out your heart.  He wants to hear what you want to say.  He has risen, He is with you, He is in you, He is There! 

No commercial about Purgatory today - this is where I would normally put my request for you to pray for the Holy Souls in purgatory.  But I am not going to say anything about it today.