Homily:
3rd Sunday in Easter – Cycle A
Friends, as we begin this
third week of Easter, we are taken back, once again, to Easter Sunday. After viewing the experience of Christ’s
resurrection through Mary and her encounter with the empty tomb, then the
disciples gathered in the upper room, we now view the experience of the resurrection
through the eyes Cleopas and his companion as they travel back home to Emmaus. One of the things that strikes me today as we
encounter this very familiar story once again, was that these two disciples
thought that they had it all figured out: the Messiah was going to be a great
king who would rid them of the Roman occupation and restore the kingdom of
God’s people. Surely this Messiah would
be recognized by all of Israel who would rally behind him, glorifying God and
rejoicing that he, after many centuries, had finally fulfilled his promises to
his faithful people. When many of the
Israelites, especially the religious elite, rejected Jesus as the Messiah—going
so far as to have him killed as a blasphemer—many of Jesus’ disciples began to
think, “Well, we must have been wrong about him.”
Striking about this conclusion
is the fact that not only had these two heard the testimony of the women who
went to the tomb, saw it empty, and received a message from two angels that
Jesus had been raised, but they also heard the testimony of others who went to
the tomb and found it as the women had described (perhaps one or both of them
were in that group). Not only is this
evidence that they were not expecting the resurrection (something for which
Jesus will chide them along the way), but it is also evidence that, for them,
resurrection from the dead was so implausible that they didn’t wait around to
find out whether it was really true or if there was some other “foul play” at
work. No matter how they came to the
conclusions to which they came about the Messiah, Jesus’ death and resurrection
didn’t play into them and so they turn away from the community of believers and
walk back to their home: their former way of life.
The great 4th
century bishop and theologian, Saint Augustine, reminds us (and I paraphrase)
that “If at any time we feel like we have come to some conclusion to our
inquiry about God, we are wrong.” What
he is saying is that it is impossible for us to have God completely figured
out. God is mystery. Of course, a mystery is not just something
that is unknown, but rather something that is unknown yet knowable. As a mystery, therefore, God is
knowable—infinitely knowable, in fact.
Our human minds, however, can never know him completely; and so,
whenever we find ourselves coming to a conclusion about how God is going to
respond in a certain situation, we should pause and make room for God to
surprise us with something unexpected. The
(presumably honest) error of Cleopas and his companion was that they didn’t
allow for the unexpected resurrection of Jesus.
God’s loving kindness, however, wouldn’t leave them in their error.
One of the things that always
surprises me about this passage is that the “eyes” of Cleopas and his companion
“were prevented from recognizing” Jesus as he walked with them. “Prevented?
Why?” Let’s think about that for
a moment. Last week we heard Jesus tell
Thomas... what? “Have you believed
because you have seen me?” he said, “Blessed are those who have NOT SEEN, YET
BELIEVE.” This incident with Cleopas and
his companion happened before Jesus spoke these words to Thomas, but they can
help us make sense of why their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. Looking back at Jesus’ ministry, we’ll see
that his goal was always to demonstrate that he was not some “new thing, come
to shake up the establishment”, but rather that he was the fulfillment of all
of the promises that God had made over the centuries: for if he was just a
“flavor of the day”, and if there was no scriptural foundation for his claim to
being the Messiah, he’d be quickly forgotten.
But if he is the fulfillment of God’s promises, well then his disciples
would have a solid foundation on which to build.
Therefore, Jesus spends his time
walking with the disciples explaining how he (whom they don’t yet recognize as
him, remember) fulfilled all of the ancient prophesies. In other words, he invites them to “unravel”
the mystery. By their own admission
later, the disciples’ hearts were “burning within them” as they recognized
that, indeed, Jesus was the Messiah as they came to understand that the Messiah
had to suffer and then be raised from the dead.
Now that they understood how the Scriptures all pointed to him—that is,
now that they had solidified the foundation for their belief—they were then
ready to recognize him in the breaking of bread: that is, the Eucharist.
Friends, we are now more than
one month under this “stay at home” order, which has separated us from the
sacraments: a separation made especially painful because it comes during the
time of year that we most have cause to celebrate. Perhaps some of you are starting to feel a
little confused about your faith.
Perhaps you’re starting to feel comfortable with livestream Masses and
that realization is unsettling to you.
Or perhaps the opposite: you cannot get comfortable with livestream
Masses and so want to abandon them, and that is unsettling. Or maybe it’s just the prospect that this
could go on for a much longer period of time that makes you question where God
really is in all of this (or even if he is in it at all!).
No matter what you are
experiencing today, the message of our Gospel reading is this: go back to the
scriptures—that is, the source and foundation for what you know and believe—and
seek the assurances that God does indeed work in unexpected ways to lead his
people through uncertain times and look for the clues that he is present in our
own time (trust me, they’re there!). (The
“Lectio” series on Formed.org has a collection on the biblical foundations of
the Eucharist. I recommend you watch
it.)
Perhaps you’ll find your heart
burning within you as you encounter these familiar sources in the context of
our novel circumstances. Regardless of
whether your do, make yourselves open to the sometimes unexpected ways of God
and your efforts will make you ready to see Christ with renewed eyes in the
breaking of the bread here in the Eucharist, ready to receive him into your
bodies once again, and ready to rush back into the world to proclaim what you
have seen and heard: that “The Lord has truly been raised and we have seen
him!”
Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – April 26th,
2020
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