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But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?" And He said to them, "What things?" So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see." Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went into to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
- Luke 24:12-35
Yesterday, we read that after the women had gone to see had gone to see Christ's tomb, and to prepare spices and fragrant oils, they rested on the next day because it was the Sabbath, according to the commandment.. The next day, which was the first day of the week (Sunday), very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'" And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.
But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened. Of the apostles who scorned the women's story of the news of the Resurrection, it seems to be only Peter who has run to the tomb to see for himself the evidence of their story. Peter, as always, is one in the Gospels whose emotions are always evident and exuberant. Everything he feels, he lives. It seems to be a connection with his capacity for deep faith, his depth of sincerity, and he is the first one to be at the tomb and to marvel. Let us remember also that he has a very personal failure and encounter with Christ to heal from.
Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. These two are Cleopas and, according to tradition, the Evangelist Luke himself. My study bible reminds us that it was a common literary device for a writer not to give his own name (see Mark 14:51 and John 21:24).
And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. A note here tells us that the nature of the resurrected body is so different from its previous state that it is not immediately recognizable (John 20:14, 21:4, 12; see 1 Corinthians 15:35-44). It's also able to take different forms, which is what occurs here (see Mark 16:12). My study bible also reports that Christ intentionally prevents them from recognizing Him in order to expose their doubting thoughts and then cure them by means of the Old Testament Scriptures (see later verses in today's reading).
And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?" And He said to them, "What things?" So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see." We see the expectations of these disciples, couched in contemporary expectations of Messiah. My study bible says their hopes for redemption was still embedded in a foolish misunderstanding of the Messiah as political savior or deliverer. With His death, this hope is finished.
Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. My study bible says that it's partial faith to believe either in a Messiah who only suffered or one that would only reign in His glory. Complete faith means an understanding that the Messiah encompasses both -- all of this was foretold in the Law and the Prophets, as Christ points out to these disciples although they don't know who He is. Our faith is so much more than one separate from the other; it is both, for without both the true saving mission of Christ cannot be complete.
Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And He went into to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. My study bible says here that the Lord breaks bread in the same manner as in the Last Supper (22:19), which is an image of the Eucharist in the New Testament Church. All those who commune with the Lord in His risen Body in faith, my study bible tells us, have their eyes opened to know Him, "for the Lord is known most perfectly in the breaking of bread." The effect of hearing the Scriptures taught correctly and with faith is their "heart burning within" them. (See also 2 Timothy 2:15.) My study bible says, "This burning is the conviction that the words and promises are true."
The breaking of the bread becomes an image multiplied in our minds for its impact here. St. Augustine teaches about the essential nature of this part of the story: the disciples have no idea who they are talking to until this moment. He says, "The Lord’s absence is not an absence. Have faith, and the one you cannot see is with you" . . . "They know Christ in the breaking of bread. It isn’t every loaf of bread, you see, but the one that receives Christ’s blessing and becomes the body of Christ. That’s where they recognized him. They were overjoyed and went straight to the others. They found whom they already knew. By telling what they had seen, they added to the gospel. It was all said, all done, all written down. And it has reached us" (Sermon 234.2). Many ancient commentators write of the "darkness" that pervades the story of the crucifixion, up until this moment of enlightenment, revelation. Although the disciples have all been warned repeatedly by Jesus about His death, they were unprepared in their minds for the truth of the Resurrection. It seems that it is just the women who can accept the word of the angel, who reminded them of the prophetic words of Christ Himself (see yesterday's reading). But for these disciples, and hence for all the rest of us, it is in the breaking of the blessed bread. St. Ephrem the Syrian has written of this moment in one of his hymns -- "Even when the army surrounded Elisha, a voice proved the key to the eyes of the shepherd. When the disciples’ eyes were held closed, bread too was the key whereby their eyes were opened to recognize the omniscient: saddened eyes beheld a vision of joy and were instantly filled with happiness" (Hymns on Paradise 15.4). The breaking of the bread isn't something that comes about by accident, and it's not just a "good idea" for a kind of symbolism. It's a deliberate revelation; it's a revelation at the Last Supper in which Christ solemnly teaches to "do this in remembrance of Me," and it's a deliberate moment of revelation here in today's reading. When we start to understand something that has been deliberately revealed, we're not just talking on the usual "human" terms of understanding of life events, but rather a deliberate kind of scene that is given us for the purposes of continual revelation of things beyond our present understanding, meanings that keep intervening and revealing new insights for our own lives and the manifestation of our faith. This is what the Eucharist is, a gift, a revelation that keeps on giving in more dimensions than we can acknowledge or know, and on into the future. This is Mystery, and it is the reality of God present in our midst, even at our table.
