Third Sunday of Easter
In many ways, this sermon is a continuation of my homily last week. I had said last week that the time after Easter is the most dangerous time for Christians because people give up their spiritual discipline and slip back into their old way of life. On the other hand, I had suggested that somehow, we must find the motivation to keep Christ in focus. No other passage describes this better than that gospel reading about the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Let me highlight the things I want to emphasize. First, this gospel passage is about disciples. Secondly, they are on the road. Third, while they were downcast their conduct is intriguing. They let a stranger join them, they allowed the stranger to speak with them and they invited him into their home. We find these very themes in today’s second reading, Peter who last week reminded his communities to suffer through various trials, now tells them, “conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning.” First, Peter is addressing the second generation of disciples. The term ‘sojourning’ reminds us of the disciples on the way. And then Peter asks them to “conduct themselves with reverence,” almost like the disciples in today’s gospel reading.
I want to say today, that in this post Easter season, Peter is addressing us. As disciples, each one of us is also on the way. Life is a journey after all, isn’t it? We are all sojourners, visitors on the earth. We are here but a few years and then we are gone. But, here is the difference –some people are on the way as disciples and others are not. At the end of our lives we should be in peace that we conducted ourselves, as Peter says, with reverence. At the end of our lives we should be able to look back at our lives and say that we lived our lives as disciples.
This homily will draw on three things that will help us be disciples that conduct ourselves with reverence:
a) Scripture – One for the Road. Note that the disciples on the road to Emmaus were downcast. As far as they were concerned, life happened and it did not go the way they had anticipated. Talking about Jesus’ death, they said to the Stranger, “We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.” At the end of that conversation the Stranger began to direct the disciple’s minds to the scriptures. This experience stuck with the disciples. Looking back at that experience, later they said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” What does this mean for us? This means that, as each one of us tries to live as disciples on the road of life, as sojourners, God’s word is indispensible. It is in the scriptures that Christ meets us as we traverse through disappointments and surprises, despair and hope, anxiety and contentment, pain and comfort. It is in the scriptures that we become familiar with Christ’s thoughts, his words and his actions. To ignore the scriptures is to shut the door to Christ. If some kind of a systematic study of scripture is not part of your daily life, this Easter season is the time to join the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
b) The Eucharist – Breaking Bread together. By evening, the Stranger is ready to break company. The disciples on the other hand want the Stranger to sit with him for dinner. As the gospel passage indicates to us, it was at the breaking of the bread that everything came together for the disciples. It was at the breaking of the bread that not just their journey to Emmaus, but the meaning of life became clear to them. At the end of the passage the disciples, instead of going to Emmaus, were on the way back to Jerusalem. Now their hearts were indeed burning. Today, I am not just saying that we must attend mass every Sunday. There are many people who attend mass every Sunday and their hearts to not burn. I am not even saying that the breaking of the bread in the Eucharist must be at the very center as we journey through life. No I am saying that the breaking of the bread is the journey. The breaking of the bread is the reason why we are born and the breaking of the bread is why we can die in peace. It is where the journey begins and where the journey ends. The breaking of the bread is our life and our eternity. The breaking of the bread is what life is all about; our work, our marriages, our birthdays, our relationships, our pets, our leisure, indeed our whole life must find meaning in the breaking of the bread. Only then will our hearts burn the way it did for the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
c) The Stranger – The Face of God. Till the breaking of bread, the disciples thought they were taking to a stranger. However, they invite the “Stranger” to eat with them. Think about it. If they had not invited the “Stranger,” they would have missed God. For a moment look around you. How many strangers do you see? Any one of these strangers could be the face of God. It could be through the strangers here that God could come to you in a totally new way. Often when we come to church we like to sit in the same spot. We like to sit around people we know. But do not overlook the stranger… we might miss God. Let us be careful how we treat the “strangers” on the East end of the city, on the “dangerous” West side, the immigrants who do not speak our language, the honest Muslim who merely wants to live a normal life. Be careful about rejecting strangers. We might reject God. Today, do not leave without meeting with a stranger.
In all the possible ways, this Eucharist is a replaying of the disciples on road to Emmaus. We are all on the way as sojourners. But today, Christ has opened the Scripture to us. Today, Christ will break bread with this. Today, Christ comes to us in the strangers around us. Today, Christ will send us back to where we came from so that we can continue our journey with burning hearts.
- Fr. Satiish Joseph