WALKING WITH JESUS

A friend pointed out to me a day or two ago that I hadn't written a post for Easter. I had been so delightfully busy during Holy Week that writing a post simply slipped my mind. Please excuse me!

Here's something I've been reflecting on since Thursday, when I preached on the day's gospel passage. In

the familiar story of the two apostles on their way home to Emmaus on the first Easter morning, Jesus suddenly begins walking with them along the road. The gospel tells us, however, that “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” I began to reflect on that little sentence, “their eyes were held back from recognizing him.” The Greek verb krateo , "to hold back" connotes a powerful force. For instance, in Chapter 7 of the Book of Revelation four angels are assigned to “hold back” the four winds in the four corners of the Earth. Here we can imagine the cosmic dimension of the power of this "holding back."

So, returning to the two disciples on the road, what is the powerful force that is "holding back" their eyes from recognizing Jesus as he walks along beside them? We could think of itas something extremely powerful, like the strength of those four apocalyptic angels holding back the winds.

Jesus has become unrecognizable to the two sad disciples, a stranger to them. Jesus as a stranger, you see, represents the mystery of God‘s ways. The two disciples are not expecting a suffering, crucified Messiah. (Remember that one of them admits to Jesus “we thought he was the one to redeem Israel.") But now, after the crucifixion they have given up that hope and have started walking home. God’s way of delivering Israel is not one they could ever have expected. And so they do not recognize the Savior when he comes. Their preconceptions are what "holds back their eyes."

Our preconceptions can sometimes blind us, too, from recognizing the Risen Jesus. When things go terribly wrong, say, when some painful event brings awful suffering into our life or the life of someone we love, we can lose the sense of God’s presence in our sufferings. In short, Jesus can become a stranger, just as he was to the two disciples on the road, as he represents the mystery of God’s ways.

But what an advantage we have over those two disciples on the road! Our advantage centers on the idea ofthe “Paschal Mystery." The Paschal mystery includes Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. All three are  inseparably united, The Church doesn’t celebrate the feast of Easter in isolation from Jesus’ suffering and death. For instance, the missal has this official title at the beginning of the Holy Thursday liturgy: “The Sacred Paschal Triduum.” We can't have Easter without Good Friday.  

So, unlike those two companions on the road, we who believe in the Paschal Mystery should be on the lookout for the crucified Messiah all the time. We know he comes to us in so many guises: in our own sufferings as well as in the person of  the sick, those who are suffering emotionally or mentally, victims of war, prejudice, or natural disaster, and so forth.

Let us pray for the grace to be quick to recognize the victorious crucified Savior as he walks beside us every day, especially in our own particular sufferings, whatever they may be.

Have a Blessed Easter Season!