3RD
SUNDAY OF EASTER – A
Luke 24:13-35
What if you invested your life to a
cause which had gone wrong or to a dream which became a nightmare? What if your significant other or a beloved left you for good? What is there to hope for when the reason to
hope falls into an abyss of despondency?
The two disciples of Emmaus represented the
common and nameless disciples who after the death of Jesus were abandoning
Jerusalem which used to be the symbol of their hope and dreams. While leaving Jerusalem behind and going
back to their former lives, they were entering into darkness as symbolized by
the setting of the story which was about twilight. Bhut before they plunged into the darkness of
their fallen dreams, the Risen Christ joined them in their journey. Too much engrossed in their loss, they did
not recognized Jesus although they were aware of the earlier sightings and
stories of women that day. Walking
along with them, Jesus let them vent their frustrations about their prophet and
the failure of his cause. In the midst
of the darkness of their hearts, Jesus enlightened them by explaining and
interpreting the Scriptures. Because
the day was almost over, they invited Jesus to stay with them; inside the house there was a reversal of
roles: the invited Guest now became the
Host before a meal which soon became familiar to the disciples. Jesus took the
bread, blessed, broke and gave it to them:
these were the Eucharistic actions of their Master that was known to
their circles. With that, their eyes
were opened and they recognized him but he vanished from their sight. Going back to their journey when the
‘stranger” joined them, they affirmed that their hearts were burning when the
scriptures were being explained to them.
Immediately they went back to Jerusalem and reported their encounter to
the Eleven.
In moments when things go wrong after
we have done our best, we feel betrayed by life and deep inside us we cry out
“It is unfair”. When our efforts and life-long works are not
noticed and appreciated, we cringe into self-pity and we say “It is
unjust.” When God seems indifferent to
our prayers and pleas and we do not understand his silence, we are tempted to
think “God has forgotten me”. The Emmaus
experience tells us that the two disciples fell into disappointment because
theirs was a human hope which was
based on the human interpretation of the events. Jesus brought them to the level of Christian hope which was the divine
way of seeing realities. Seeing through
the human eyes, the death of Jesus was a total failure but in seeing through
the heaven’s eyes, it was a glorious exaltation of both God and man. We experience this in the present time when
we gather as disciples of Jesus and celebrate the Sacraments in the Church, the
apex of which is the Eucharist “the breaking of bread.”
Each of one of us has set a goal (or
goals ) in life; we all want to achieve something definitive in this life. Our efforts are geared towards its blossoming
and realization at the definitive time
we have set for ourselves. But our time
is always ticking and towards the end we will have to face the reality of the
irreversible degeneration when all we treasure most will disintegrate into
trash and decay. This was the dilemma of
the two disciples of Emmaus and the same dilemma that we have to contend with
for the rest of our life. Without Christian hope we will all fall into hopelessness and despair. The only way out is to see everything around
us as a gift! The only way to possess
that gift is to share it in communion with our fellowmen. The two disciples of Emmaus could not contain
the gift of the Risen Christ to themselves so they went back to Jerusalem with
a mission to share their experience of the Resurrection.
The mission entrusted to
us is far greater than our own desires in life.
Truly beautiful!!!maraming salamat po
ReplyDelete