Octave of Easter 2006 (W): Acts 3.1-10; Luke 24.13-35
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Albert’s Priory, Irving, TX
Hear it!
They are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Even now, after the betrayal by Judas, the trail before Pontius Pilate, the crucifixion on Golgotha, the last pleading words to God from the cross, and the rending of the temple veil, the disciples are slow of heart to understand the meaning of the prophetic events that find them without their Teacher. Mary Magdalene’s witness to the empty tomb jogs them a bit, enough to visit the tomb and see for themselves that he is not there. But still there lingers a small rumor of a doubt against the evidence: “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.” You can hear the disappointment in Cleopas’ voice; he is wistful, darkly pensive. How foolish they are! The disciples, slow of heart to believe, sometimes slow enough to test even the Messiah’s patience, cannot muster the—what is it? The courage? Trust? Spirit?—cannot muster the strength of heart, the faith to see the clear prophetic signs, the arc of Christ’s redemptive history to its predicted conclusion: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
What are they missing? Notice how this gospel begins. The disciples are “conversing about all the things that had occurred” in Jerusalem. They were talking and debating, rehashing events and worrying about what it all means. Jesus shows up and walks with them. Cleopas recounts to the disguised Christ the events in Jerusalem, “the things that happened to Jesus of Nazarene…” The disciples have the chronology right, this happened, then this, one event, then another. They have the plot and the characters. They don’t have, not yet anyway, The Story, the Big Picture. They lack the heart, the courage, to be witnesses to the Biggest Possible Picture of what happened on Golgotha, to teach the truth of the Empty Tomb. And so, Jesus walks with them on the road to Emmaus, teaching them how to see the Biggest Possible Picture. He reveals to them, opens for them, the text of the prophetic signs found in scripture and says, “I am here and here and here.” He gives them courage, hearts set ablaze with awe at the divine hand in human history.
And, as if this weren’t enough, he reveals himself again when he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. They are awakened from their disappointment and despair, from their wistfulness and pining depression into loving recognition and apostolic action. They go to the Eleven gathered in Jerusalem and witness to the witnesses that Jesus had made himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.
If we will survive as disciples until Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church, we will survive by hearing the Word of God and eating the Bread of Life. We cannot be foolish disciples, slow of heart to believe. Why? Because we have Christ breaking the bread for us daily, revealing himself to us on every road we travel. We have the witnesses of scripture, tradition, the magisterium, one another, and we have Christ among us, here, now in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.
Do not be foolish or slow of heart to believe: “The Lord has truly been raised!”
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
St Albert’s Priory, Irving, TX
Hear it!
They are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Even now, after the betrayal by Judas, the trail before Pontius Pilate, the crucifixion on Golgotha, the last pleading words to God from the cross, and the rending of the temple veil, the disciples are slow of heart to understand the meaning of the prophetic events that find them without their Teacher. Mary Magdalene’s witness to the empty tomb jogs them a bit, enough to visit the tomb and see for themselves that he is not there. But still there lingers a small rumor of a doubt against the evidence: “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.” You can hear the disappointment in Cleopas’ voice; he is wistful, darkly pensive. How foolish they are! The disciples, slow of heart to believe, sometimes slow enough to test even the Messiah’s patience, cannot muster the—what is it? The courage? Trust? Spirit?—cannot muster the strength of heart, the faith to see the clear prophetic signs, the arc of Christ’s redemptive history to its predicted conclusion: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
What are they missing? Notice how this gospel begins. The disciples are “conversing about all the things that had occurred” in Jerusalem. They were talking and debating, rehashing events and worrying about what it all means. Jesus shows up and walks with them. Cleopas recounts to the disguised Christ the events in Jerusalem, “the things that happened to Jesus of Nazarene…” The disciples have the chronology right, this happened, then this, one event, then another. They have the plot and the characters. They don’t have, not yet anyway, The Story, the Big Picture. They lack the heart, the courage, to be witnesses to the Biggest Possible Picture of what happened on Golgotha, to teach the truth of the Empty Tomb. And so, Jesus walks with them on the road to Emmaus, teaching them how to see the Biggest Possible Picture. He reveals to them, opens for them, the text of the prophetic signs found in scripture and says, “I am here and here and here.” He gives them courage, hearts set ablaze with awe at the divine hand in human history.
And, as if this weren’t enough, he reveals himself again when he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. They are awakened from their disappointment and despair, from their wistfulness and pining depression into loving recognition and apostolic action. They go to the Eleven gathered in Jerusalem and witness to the witnesses that Jesus had made himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.
If we will survive as disciples until Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church, we will survive by hearing the Word of God and eating the Bread of Life. We cannot be foolish disciples, slow of heart to believe. Why? Because we have Christ breaking the bread for us daily, revealing himself to us on every road we travel. We have the witnesses of scripture, tradition, the magisterium, one another, and we have Christ among us, here, now in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.
Do not be foolish or slow of heart to believe: “The Lord has truly been raised!”
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