Luke 24:13-35

Acts 3:1-10

Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9

Luke 24:13-35

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,

he 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.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, each mass is a new Emmaus. In the Liturgy of the Word, I walk with your Son and he opens the Scriptures to me. In the Liturgy of the Eucharist, I sit at table with your Son and receive the Bread of Life. Open my eyes today to see with faith and inflame my heart with your divine love.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Cleopas and Mary? One interpretation of the identity of the two disciples who journeyed to Emmaus was that they were Cleopas and his wife, Mary. They were Jesus’ uncle and aunt. “According to John’s Gospel, we know that ‘Mary the wife of Clopas’ followed Jesus and was in Jerusalem for the Passover. Indeed, she was with Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25). John’s spelling of Clopas follows the Semitic spelling, whereas Luke, naturally, uses the Greek spelling” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 274). It seems, then, that Clopas/Cleopas is returning home after Passover with his wife, Mary. 

2. Walking with the Lord Jesus: The deeper meaning of this possible interpretation that Mary, the wife of Cleopas, is the other disciple is this: “At the first creation, God walked in the garden amidst a man, Adam, and his wife, Eve. Now, on the first day of the new creation, Jesus walks with a married couple. This couple has lost all hope, and yet by walking with Jesus, their hearts come back alive. When the first couple in Genesis at the first meal (from the forbidden fruit), ‘then the eyes of both were opened’ (Gn 3:7); as Jesus breaks open the bread at table with the couple from Emmaus, ‘their eyes were opened’ (Lk 24:31). The eyes of the original couple are opened to shame and guilt, whereas the eyes of the new couple that Jesus walks with to Emmaus have their eyes opened to the resurrected Lord in the Eucharist. The old creation begins with a married couple falling from grace, whereas the new creation begins with Jesus blessing a married couple by breaking open the Scriptures and the bread, where they recognize him in both” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 275).

3. References to Jesus in Genesis: Jesus opened the scriptures to Cleopas and Mary by interpreting everything that pointed to him in the Five Books of Moses. We can take a closer look at what Genesis, the First Book of Moses, says about Jesus. In Genesis 3, God promised to send a savior, the seed of the woman, to crush the head of the serpent. In Genesis 4, the innocent Abel was killed by his brother, Cain. Genesis 22, God also promised that the seed of Abraham would be the one through whom all the families of the earth would receive a blessing. At the end of the Book of Genesis, Jacob blessed that the kingship, the royal scepter, would never pass from the line of his son Judah. Jesus is the seed of the woman who crushed the devil and saved humanity from sin and death. Jesus is the innocent Abel, who was crucified by his brothers. Jesus is the son of Abraham and the Lamb provided by God, who unleashed the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon all nations. Jesus is the Son of Jacob, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the royal Son of David who reigns eternally at the right hand of the Father.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I am called, like the disciples on the way to Emmaus and like Peter and John, to stay with you and to be sent out on a mission. Open the Scriptures to me so that I may carry the Good News of salvation to all those I meet today.

Living the Word of God: Throughout the year, as we read and hear the Scriptures, we are on the road to Emmaus with Jesus. He is the one who opens to us the Scriptures and brings us to the fullness of truth. He makes our hearts burn with love for him and the gift of the Eucharist. How can I dedicate quality time this Easter to meditating on his Word?