Let’s get to know and experience the Resurrection (Luke 24:13-35)
The Risen One makes himself known to us in his word, the Eucharist, and the brothers.
Have you heard the statement: Seeing and personally experiencing once is more than hearing and reading a hundred times? Yes, especially when we meet someone, share something, or visit places.
The disciples of Emmaus say about their personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus during the breaking of bread: “Didn’t our hearts burn when he talked with us on the way and explained the Scriptures” (Lk 24:32)?
The Emmaus disciples’ experience in the Church’s beginnings shows that the resurrected Jesus will take care of the growth of his disciples’ faith. We have no witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. None of the people was there and did not see when and in what way the Lord Jesus won over his death and rose to a new life. However, Jesus himself took care of the witnesses who saw him after the resurrection, met him, by whom he could be recognized. Among them is Cleopas and the second disciple, who leave Jerusalem on Sunday morning for Emmaus, about twelve kilometers from Jerusalem. We call them Emmaus disciples after the place where they recognized the resurrected Christ as a fellow pilgrim. The disciples were probably among the seventy-two disciples who accompanied Jesus on his travels during his three years of ministry.
They did not believe the words of the women who returned from the tomb before dawn and “claimed that angels had appeared to them and said that he is alive” (Lk 24:22-23), which is the proof of their journey. On the way, they talk about Jesus, “who was a prophet, powerful in deed and word before God and before all people; how the chief priests and the leading men had him condemned to death and crucified” (Luke 24:19-20). Jesus himself, certainly not only because of their doubts, uncertainty, fear but also because of their likeness until the end of time, himself first as the Unknown admonishes and explains: “You who do not understand and hard of heart… And starting from Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them, which was applied to him in the whole Scripture” (Lk 24,25-27).
The event experienced by the disciples of Emmaus is not just a simple discussion, but it is like a Eucharistic catechesis – a “liturgy of the word” followed by a “liturgy of the Eucharist,” where they recognized Jesus in their fellow traveler and neighbor. Jesus’ words can be understood as a model for announcing the good news of Jesus’ teachings. The fact that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead becomes the core of the gospel, which until the end of time will be talked about, proclaimed, and even died for this teaching.
The meeting of the Emmaus disciples points to two sources of knowledge of Jesus as Savior. We can recognize Him when reading the Holy Scriptures, when celebrating the Eucharist, and in our neighbor. If we want to know and love Jesus as best as possible, it is necessary to draw from these springs as often as possible for the spiritual wealth they hide.
Jesus makes himself known. Our cooperation is also essential. The disciples delayed Jesus: “Stay with us, for it is getting late” (Luke 24:29).
Already, the first Christians approached the reading of the Holy Scriptures as a sacrament. St. Jerome says: “We receive Christ not only in the Eucharist, but also in Scripture.” And St. Augustine clearly states: “The true Christ is both in the word and in the Eucharist.” And in one sermon, he asks: “Brethren, what do you value more: the Word of God or the Eucharist?” And he himself gives the answer: “I tell the truth that Jesus is no less present in the Word than in the Eucharist.” The first Christians held Christ in the Eucharist in great esteem, that they built tabernacles – houses of worship, and also the Scriptures were always kept in a place of honor.
An elderly man says to the priest: “I am doing well when I apologize after the Holy Mass, just like at the beginning of the Holy Mass in the silence of God, that I did not survive, I did not concentrate as well as possible during the entire St. mass, especially when reading from the Scriptures?” After the holy mass, this man also thanks God for the gift of listening to God, who speaks to him. And he often tells his God that he carries him away not only in the form of bread, but also in the words he listened to.
It is right that we can find time to read and reflect on the Scriptures. This is often how we get light, warmth, strength, taste … into life. And we can always have Scripture with us. It is also possible to get it in a pocket edition. Don’t we have a similar experience? “Didn’t our hearts burn when he talked to us on the way and explained the Scriptures” (Lk 24:32) when we reached for God’s word in joy and need?
The truth about Christ’s resurrection must not and cannot be silenced. Vice versa. The fact that Christ rose from the dead – let him live in us, let him be what he is meant to be on our journey in this life on the way to eternal life. To know the resurrected Christ and to live with the resurrected Christ. Christ makes himself known and wants to bestow his love on everyone who seeks and discovers him. The event of the meeting of the Risen One with the disciples on the way to the village called Emmaus is a challenge for us as well. They believed thanks to his words. He himself gifted them with his love. He removed their sorrow, their sorrow, their disappointment when he triumphed over his death. It is fitting that we can give thanks for quiet encounters with Jesus in the Scriptures, the Eucharist, and in our neighbors. Let us give thanks, and our faith will grow. Let us be grateful, and our horizon of faith will expand. Let us give thanks for the mustard seed of faith, and it will grow into a bushy tree.
Have you ever been to the Sistine Chapel? The work of artists came to live there. The colors were given their original value. Now, after the renovation, it is beautiful.
And so it is with our faith that we have the right relationship to the Holy Scriptures, the Eucharist, and our neighbors. Seeing and experiencing the closeness of God is an experience that is worth doing even more. It is right that we know the love of Jesus.
The Easter season offers us more witnesses of Christ’s resurrection. It is right that their example and behavior become, for us also, a new impulse of love for the resurrected Christ.
