Easter Monday
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
Today’s Gospel from St. Luke records that, on the first Easter day, two of Jesus’ disciples travelled from Jerusalem to a nearby village called Emmaus. They talked about all the things that had happened, and Jesus himself drew near to them, but they did not recognise him. He asked them what they were discussing. One of them who was named Cleophas expressed surprise that the man who they thought was a stranger did not know all that had recently happened in Jerusalem. “And they said: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people; and how our chief priests and princes delivered him to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we hoped that it was he that should have redeemed Israel.” It was now the third day since these things had happened. Some of the women who had been Jesus’ followers had gone to the sepulchre where he had been laid and found that the body was not there. They said that they had seen a vision of angels saying that he was alive. “Then he said to them: O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory.” When they drew near to their destination they constrained him to stay with them now it was near the end of the day. When he took bread with them, blessed and broke it their eyes were opened and they recognised that it was Jesus, and he vanished from their sight. They then went back to Jerusalem, where they found that the eleven were gathered together saying that Jesus had risen and had appeared to Simon. “And they told what things were done in the way, and how they knew him in breaking of bread.”
Jesus of Nazareth had acquired a reputation as a great prophet mighty in word and deed. He had proclaimed that in his own person and ministry the Kingdom of God, when his will would finally be done on earth as it is in heaven, was breaking into history. He had performed great miracles in which the eyes of the blind were opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped in fulfilment of the hope of Isaiah. This gave credence to his claim to be the anointed liberator of Israel. This was popularly supposed to be another king David, who would defeat the pagans and establish an independent kingdom. It was true that Jesus had withdrawn from an attempt to make him king by force after the Feeding of the Five Thousand, but he had allowed himself to be greeted by the crowds waiving palm branches in his recent entry into Jerusalem. It was hoped that he would be the one who would redeem Israel. But a few days later such hopes had been completely crushed by his crucifixion. The hope for a second exodus that would deliver the people from slavery had been dashed again. It was even more mysterious that some of his women followers had gone to the sepulchre where he had been buried and, instead of finding his body, had seen a vision of angels declaring him to be alive. Two others of his disciples travelled to the nearby village of Emmaus that same day discussing among themselves the strange things that had happened. It seemed impossible to make any sense of what was going on.
At this point they are joined by a stranger who they do not recognise who gives them an entirely different perspective on the mysterious recent events. He expounded the Scriptures to them and declared that far from pointing to another national liberator, a warrior and conqueror like King David, it was actually necessary that the Christ should suffer these things in order to enter his glory. After all the suffering righteous man was a prominent theme in many of the Psalms and it was clear that it was often the most faithful, like the Maccabean martyrs, who suffered the most. It was usually supposed that the nation would have to pass through a particularly severe period of tribulation, the so called messianic woes, before it could be delivered. There were even passages in Isaiah about a suffering servant who was despised and rejected by men, who bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors and was finally vindicated for his patience and perseverance in the face of adversity. Perhaps all this showed that suffering and death before subsequent vindication was the vocation of the Messiah after all.
They are so fascinated by what the stranger is saying that they invite him to stay with them. It was when he took bread with them, blessed and broke it among them that their eyes were finally opened and they recognised that it was none other than Jesus himself who had met them on the road and had expounded the true meaning of the Scriptures to them. He then vanished from their sight and they returned to Jerusalem where they found the eleven disciples gathered with the good news that Jesus had indeed risen and appeared to Simon, whereupon they told their own story of how he had made himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.
There is much that we can learn from this today. The contemporary mood is one of bleak pessimism not unlike that of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. We had put our faith in a philosophy of Enlightenment that claimed to resolve all our problems on the basis of reason and science alone, but we have found that it has not brought all the good things that were promised. We are now living in a post modern era of cynicism and despair in which we have abandoned faith not only in Christianity but in reason and science as well. Reality is reduced to whatever we think or feel at any given time and all claims for truth above and beyond ourselves are treated as suspect. The two disciples failed to recognise Jesus because they were blinded by their preconceptions about what the Messiah ought to do. Our own age has not recognised him either, firstly because the Enlightenment taught us to distrust all religious claims, while this post modern age has reduced him to just one spiritual teacher among many. But suppose our eyes are finally opened to the one who makes himself known to us in the breaking of the bread. How should we respond?
The answer has been given to us in the words of St. Peter, which we heard in today’s reading from Acts. It is by proclaiming the truth about Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Though he was killed, God raised him up on the third day and appeared to those who even ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. They were commissioned to proclaim the good news to the people, testifying that it was he who would be the final judge of the living and the dead. All who believed in him would receive the remission of their sins.
Let us remain faithful to that proclamation in our own time and place, as we continue to bear witness to the risen Christ who expounded the true meaning of the Scriptures to those first disciples and made himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.
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