Peace be with you. Friends, we come to this
Third Sunday of Easter, and our Gospel is
what N.T. Wright calls the masterpiece within
the masterpiece. He means the whole
twenty-fourth chapter of Luke is a masterpiece, but within that,
we find this account of the disciples on
the road to Emmaus. And it’s a masterpiece
for all kinds of reasons, but I think basically
because it’s a summation of the spiritual life. I mean, you can read all
the dynamics of the spiritual life off
of this story. Look how it starts: “On that first
day of the week, two disciples of Jesus
were walking to a village seven miles from Jerusalem
called Emmaus.” Everything in Luke
moves toward Jerusalem. That’s where the action is. That’s where the cross and
Resurrection take place. That’s where the coming
of the Spirit is. Everything moves
toward Jerusalem. Jesus sets his face
toward Jerusalem. So these two disciples
are walking the wrong way. That’s the point
we’re meant to see. And again, everybody,
we’re meant to identify with them. They stand for all of
us disciples of Jesus who nevertheless keep
getting it wrong. We keep walking away from
where we should be going. Here’s the good news though: even though they’re
walking the wrong way, Jesus comes and
walks with them, though they don’t
recognize him. Several things here,
but it’s that primacy of grace, which
I talk about all the time because you could say it’s
the master theme of the Bible. It’s not as though we
have to perform adequately to get God to love us. That’s just the wrong logic
in the spiritual order. Rather, even when we’re
walking the wrong way, Jesus comes and
walks with us. These great themes in Pope
Francis come to mind here. The pope keeps
emphasizing accompaniment, and that’s what this is. They don’t have to perform
to get him to accompany them. Jesus simply comes,
and he walks with them. And then, with this
kind of delicious irony, Jesus himself says, “Well, hey, what are you
talking about as you go?” What I love here
is it’s a template, I think, for anyone involved
in the work of the Church. What will never
work very well? If we simply start
pontificating from on high, we simply start wagging the
finger morally at people. That almost never works. The first step —which is in
imitation of God, it’s a step of grace— is to move into
somebody’s world. Walk with them even
when they’re walking the wrong way. Ask them what they’re
talking about. What’s on your mind? I always remember
Paul Tillich, the Protestant theologian,
who said, “Most sermons are answers to
questions that nobody’s asking.” So Tillich recommended
what he called the method of correlation: to correlate the questions
of the time with the answers
of the Gospel. Well, that’s a good
instinct for any teacher, preacher, pastoral minister. What are you talking about?
What’s on your mind? Again, Pope Francis
is really good, I think, at emphasizing
these motifs. And now the irony continues
because it’s Christ himself asking the question. Then we hear 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?” And then Jesus, “Well, what things?
What are you talking about?” And then Cleopas and his
friend begin to recount, for the Lord himself,
all the basic details of the life and
ministry of Jesus. “He was a prophet mighty
in word and deed before God and all the people,
our chief priests and rulers handed him over to
a sentence of death and crucified him. We were hoping he would be
the one to redeem Israel. And now, it is the
third day since these things took place, and some
women in our group say he has risen
from the dead.” Now what’s extraordinary is they get everything
right, don’t they? They’ve got the basic
structure of the story, as, I would suggest,
practically anybody, at least in the West today,
would be able to do, right? If you were
to ask someone, “Well, hey,
tell me about this Jesus of Nazareth,
about Jesus Christ,” they’d probably tell
you this basic outline. So why are they dejected? Why are they walking
the wrong way? Why are they so sad? Because though
they have the data, they don’t have
the meaning. Sometimes you can see all
that’s there to be seen, but you don’t
get the pattern. I think I’ve talked to you
before about the cartoons in the “New Yorker”
magazine. I get “The New Yorker.” I like it largely
for the cartoons, and they’re very clever. And 95 percent of the
time I get the cartoon, why it’s funny. But sometimes I’ll
look at a cartoon. I’ll see everything in it, all the characters,
their expressions. I’ll read the caption. I’ve seen it all,
but okay, I don’t get it. Why is that funny? And it might take some
time before the light goes on and you get it. But see, getting it doesn’t
involve seeing any more data. It’s not like, “Oh, I missed that character
back in the corner.” No. What I come to see
is the pattern that links all
of this together. Now, come back
to this story. They’ve got all
the details right, all the data right, but
they don’t have the pattern. And at this point, it’s a
turning point in the story. At this moment, Jesus,
who’s been listening and walking with them in
this non-judgmental way, hearing their point
of view, he says, “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?” Now, notice something,
please. We talk about accompaniment.
Terrific. I’m all in favor of it. We talk about
walking with people, listening to them,
not being judgmental, not wagging the finger. Yes, yes, I agree
with all that. Primacy of grace.
Yes. But notice, Jesus does
not just wander around with these two fellas. He doesn’t just walk
any way they want to go. At a decisive moment
in the process, he begins to teach them. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you see the pattern
that the Christ had to undergo suffering so as
to enter into his glory?” Now they see the pattern
of a suffering love that goes all the way down
to express the divine mercy and thereby comes to glory. There’s the pattern. And then with that in mind,
here’s for everybody that wants to get more deeply
into the Scriptures: “Then beginning with Moses
and all the prophets, he interpreted to them
what referred to him in all the Scriptures.” That’s beautiful. And believe me,
every one of us who’s ever studied the Bible,
we would love to have been a fly on the
wall at that moment, when Jesus himself
walks through the entire Old Testament, the law and the prophets,
Moses and the prophets, and lights up how everything
in the Old Testament speaks of him. Because that’s where
the pattern was revealed for the first time. So yes, accompaniment,
yes, in this very non-intrusive and
inviting way. But then, then,
at a decisive moment, he begins to teach
out of the Bible, revealing the pattern
so they would understand who he is. Now, the story
intensifies at this point. “As they approached
the village to which they were going . . .” So they’re getting
close to Emmaus. He gave the impression
that he was just going to be heading on,
and they were so enraptured
by his teaching that they say,
“Stay with us.” So he does. And then famously,
they sit down to eat. And Jesus takes bread
and he breaks it. The characteristic
Eucharistic gestures. What’s the Eucharist?
What is it? It’s God’s love
unto death. “This is my body
given for you. This is the chalice of my
blood that’s shed for you.” The Eucharist means
suffering so as to enter his glory. The Eucharist means the
divine mercy fully expressed. That’s why in that moment of
the breaking of the bread, their eyes were opened, and they got it. They saw him. The teaching about
the Old Testament, the revelation
of the pattern, they were starting to see. You bet they were
starting to see. Their hearts were
burning within them. Quite right. But then it was in the
Eucharistic moment that the pattern was fully
revealed to them and they knew who they
were dealing with. They knew who he was. Everybody walking
the wrong way, that’s all of us sinners. But especially today,
so many walking away from the churches. Jesus comes,
and you know what, he might come in your guise. He might come because
you walk with somebody. Remember, we’re his eyes,
and his ears, and his hands, and his feet. So Jesus
—maybe it’s through you— comes to walk with those
who are walking in the wrong direction. Listens, of course. “What are you talking about?
What’s on your mind?” But then he breaks
open the Word, and then he breaks
the bread. And in these great
liturgical moves, his identity is revealed. That’s why —my fellow Catholics,
especially, listening to me— this is why we have to draw
people back to the Mass. I mean, what is this but
the Mass, but the Mass? There’s the liturgy of
the Word followed by the liturgy
of the Eucharist. And in both those moments,
it’s Christ who is addressing us. Now, look how
the story ends. “They recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.” How come he vanished,
by the way? Von Balthasar says
because he disappears into the mission
of the Church. Beautiful, huh? He disappears into
their mission. Listen: “So they set out at once
and returned to Jerusalem.” They started going
the wrong way. But the encounter with Christ
through the Word and through the Eucharist now sends them
back in the right direction. Despite the danger
of the road, despite the lateness
of the hour, despite their fear
of what would happen to them in Jerusalem, they go back to
the sacred city. At the end of Mass, after
we’ve experienced Christ in the breaking open
of the Word and the breaking of the bread, we hear those words: “Go. Go, the mass
has ended. Go, proclaim the Gospel. Glorify the Lord
by your life.” That’s the sending that
takes place at the end of this story. How beautiful, by the way,
back they go to the eleven in Jerusalem. They return to the Church. They return to the Church,
and there they find their identity and their mission. So can I urge everybody on
this Third Sunday of Easter, as we are privileged to
read this beautiful story — go back, open your Bibles,
Luke chapter 24, this masterpiece
within the masterpiece. Let this story
wash over you, because you’ll find
on display all the dynamics of the
spiritual life. And God bless you.
