Finding Christ on our Journey to Emmaus (St. Luke 24:13-35)

In the name of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, One True God. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus

One of my favorite resurrection events that is mentioned in the Gospels is written by St. Luke 24:13-35. It is a situation where we all can place ourselves in during our daily lives and it is wonderful portion to meditate upon during this season of the Resurrection of our Lord and find comfort in our lives. This Gospel portion is read on the Fourth Sunday after Pascha (Easter) in the Indian Orthodox Church.

In our own lives, we have all traveled the road to our personal Emmaus, away from Jerusalem, city where God dwells. In one way or another at some point of time, we all would have had our hopes dashed and promises crumbled in front of our eyes. We can find ourselves with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, going away from Jerusalem, a city where all their hopes were dashed with the crucifixion and death of their teacher Jesus Christ. The disciples, Cleopas and Luke (as per tradition), dejected on the death of Jesus and unbelieving on the words of the women who went to the tomb of Jesus, made their way back to their home in Emmaus, which is 7 miles away from Jerusalem. While they were walking with their head down and talking among themselves of their sordid fate of life, Jesus came in their midst as a stranger and started conversing with them.

They tell the stranger about their friend, their master, their rabbi, the one whom they described as a mighty prophet and how He was unjustly condemned to death and violently killed on the cross. They share their troubled thoughts about the reports they heard from the women about the tomb being empty and crazy notions of some who said He is alive. They found it difficult to give breath to their dashed hopes, fearing that it would be extinguished, once again. We then find Jesus opening up the Scriptures and sharing with them the plans of God. He shared with them the prophesies that were made regarding Himself by the prophets, beginning from Moses.

We too are called to be in conversation with out Master and place our dashed hopes and crushed promises in the palm of God, for He has a plan in each of our downfalls. Just as the hearts of the disciples started burning on hearing the promises of God on their journey to Emmaus, we too would find our hearts fill up with hope and promise of a better tomorrow. When we look at the disciples on the road to Emmaus and back from there, what a difference we see in them through the presence of Christ in their lives. Before meeting Christ, their eyes were downcast and minds filled with depressive thoughts of the suffering of Christ. They stopped their journey because the day was almost over and darkness was settling around them, just as the darkness was settling in their hearts. But after meeting Christ, they returned to Jerusalem, their eyes no loner downcast but opened, hearts filled with light filled with the presence of Christ with them, no longer afraid of the dark night surrounding them, but eager to share the light of the presence of Christ with their fellow disciples. This is the difference that Christ brings in our lives when we focus on Him instead of on the negative and the difficulties surrounding us.

We have all traveled the road to Emmaus at some point in our life, but what a difference the presence of Christ makes in our lives. Our eyes are opened to a new way of looking at reality by the Word of God. We recognize the Real Presence of Christ in our life through the Divine Liturgy. Christ is not just present but transforms us, renews us, recreates us just as He restored hope and joy once again the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Emmaus Road and Liturgy

Another thought that has been in my heart is how Christ’s encounter with the disciples on the Emmaus Road is a model for the Divine Liturgy that we celebrate every Sunday. Let me try to expand my thoughts on the same. The Liturgy is divided into two parts:

1. The Liturgy of the Word, which we begin with the Hourly Prayers, Entrance into the altar, Preparatory prayers, the Readings from the Old Testament and New Testament letters followed with the reading from the Gospel,
2. The Liturgy of the Eucharist, which includes the blessing of the divine gifts, the Anaphora, the Eucharist and the Dismissal.

Just as the two disciples, eyes downcast and their minds troubled with their problems, we come to our home, the Church, to be in company of our family members, hoping to just have a good time and share our problems with them and hope to get some respite. But unknown to us, Christ draws near to us over the course of the Liturgy and we find ourselves conversing more with Christ and we learn to trust in God’s plan for our lives. We learn more about God’s plan and through the ministry of Christ and the teachings of the disciples during the Liturgy of the Word, we learn and understand more about Christ and enjoy His presence in our midst.

And just as the disciples failed to recognize Jesus in their midst on their journey, we too find our eyes blinded and do not recognize Christ in our midst. But we continue in our prayers to bless the offerings and we pray that God consecrate the offerings to become His Body and Blood. Ironically, just as the disciples’ eyes were opened during the breaking of the bread and they knew Christ, our eyes are opened too and recognize the presence of Christ, through the grace of God, present in the offerings consecrated by God (hopefully). We feel the energy and the excitement of communing with our Creator. And having ourselves filled with the non-perishable food, the spiritual food in the form of the Body and Blood of Christ, we find ourselves filled with the presence of Christ in our hearts and lives. We also feel the peace and the tranquility of being steadied by our Saviour. Many a times, the devil still attacks us with all sorts of thoughts and excuse and may perhaps put real obstacles in our path, but if we persist and persevere till the end, all these problems fade away in the presence of the burning love of God’s fiery presence.

Finally, we reach the same situation faced by the disciples in Emmaus, of deciding on beginning a new journey and a newfound goal – a journey back to Jerusalem to share the presence of Christ with others. Here begins our journey as well, pointing to a Liturgy after the Liturgy. Just as the disciples raced back to Jerusalem, in the middle of the night, hearts and eyes filled with the light of Christ, we are also sent back into the dark and chaotic world outside the four walls of the church, to be small churches where ever we might be residing or working or studying, to share the experience of Christ with others around us. We are called to take up the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist in our small little homes because the Divine Liturgy is our road to Emmaus where we meet with the risen Christ.

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George