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| “The Emmaus Disciples” by Abraham Bloemaert, 1622 |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Acts 3:1-10
Peter and John were going up to the temple area
for the three o'clock hour of prayer.
And a man crippled from birth was carried
and placed at the gate of the temple called
"the Beautiful Gate" every day
to beg for alms from the people who entered the
temple.
When he saw Peter and John about to go into the
temple,
he asked for alms.
But Peter looked intently at him, as did John,
and said, "Look at us."
He paid attention to them, expecting to receive
something from them.
Peter said, "I have neither silver nor
gold,
but what I do have I give you:
in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise
and walk."
Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised
him up,
and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong.
He leaped up, stood, and walked around,
and went into the temple with them,
walking and jumping and praising God.
When all the people saw him walking and praising
God,
they recognized him as the one
who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of
the temple,
and they were filled with amazement and
astonishment
at what had happened to him.
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Commentary on Acts 3:1-10
This
dramatic cure of the lame beggar is the first miracle worked by the apostles
and begins a series of events that place the disciples in the footsteps of
Jesus. "'This cure,' says St John Chrysostom, 'testifies to the
resurrection of Christ, of which it is an image. [...] Observe that they do not
go up to the temple with the intention of performing a miracle, so clear were they
of ambition, so closely did they imitate their Master' (Hom, on Acts, 8)."[4]
In this first action, the beggar is
cured in the name of Jesus and immediately he is led into the temple area. The
symbolism here is that Jesus heals us and leads us to faith. The miraculous
cure also serves a secondary purpose. In addition to demonstrating the power of
God’s intense love invoked through the name of Jesus, it also serves to draw a
large crowd to hear the kerygmatic discourse of St. Peter which follows.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 105:1-2,
3-4, 6-7, 8-9
R. (3b) Rejoice, O hearts that seek
the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations,
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.
R. Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
The song of praise exhorts us to
praise the Lord constantly and to remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac.
We praise him also for the new covenant in Jesus, for which the Son of God
became the sealing sacrifice. It emphasizes the saving power of the name
of the Lord. In using the name of God, the speaker implicitly gives glory
to God for the blessings that follow.
CCC: Ps 105:3 30
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Gospel: Luke 24:13-35
That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus' disciples were going
to a village seven miles
from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things
that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing
and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing
him.
He asked them,
"What are you discussing as you walk
along?"
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in
reply,
"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?"
And he replied to them, "What sort of
things?"
They said to him,
"The things that happened to Jesus the
Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him
over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
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.
Some women from our group, however, have
astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see."
And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you
are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should
suffer these things
and enter into his glory?"
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they
were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on
farther.
But they urged him, "Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost
over."
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at
table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they
recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,
"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the
Scriptures to us?"
So they set out at once and returned
to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the Eleven and those with them who were saying,
"The Lord has truly been raised and has
appeared to Simon!"
Then the two recounted what had taken place on
the way
and how he was made known to them in the
breaking of the bread.
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Commentary on Lk 24:13-35
This story of the disciples on the
road to Emmaus is found only in Luke’s Gospel. There is a mention in Mark (Mark 16;12) that is
vague but probably refers to this event. The actual location of Emmaus is not
known, but it is estimated that it was between seven and eighteen miles from
Jerusalem. The focus of the story is the unrecognized Jesus (similar: in John 20:11-18, Mary
Magdalene thought he was a gardener). Jesus interprets scripture and then
he is recognized in the breaking of the bread (the Eucharistic reference).
"In the course of their
conversation with Jesus, the disciples' mood changes from sadness to joy; they
begin to hope again, and feel the need to share their joy with others, thus
becoming heralds and witnesses of the risen Christ."[5]
CCC: Lk 24:13-49 1094; Lk
24:13-35 1329,
1347; Lk 24:15 645,
659; Lk 24:17 643; Lk
24:21 439; Lk
24:22-23 640; Lk 24:25-27 112,
601; Lk 24:26-27 572,
652; Lk 24:26 555,
710; Lk 24:27 555,
2625; Lk 24:30 645,
1166; Lk 24:31 659; Lk
24:34 552,
641
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Reflection:
The disciples on the road to Emmaus were almost
assuredly giving up. They had just seen the Lord, for whom they had such
high hopes, crucified and killed by the Romans. Now they were headed
toward Emmaus for some unknown reason. It has been speculated that they
were going home or perhaps, fearing further violence against Jesus’ supporters,
they were simply running away. Whatever their reasons might have been,
the most likely purpose for their trip was to be headed away from the Lord
rather than toward him.
The story tells us that Jesus joined them as
they walked and, after hearing them explain how they perceived events that had
taken place, he proceeded to break open the Law and Prophets, citing all of
those instances that predicted what had unfolded in Jerusalem three days prior
(remember, this is taking place at almost the same time as Mary is finding the
empty tomb). Intellectually the disciples must have been thinking all of
this made sense (in retrospect they would look back and remember how that
revelatory conversation had caused their hearts to burn).
Still they did not recognize him until he
recreated the Eucharist for them at the meal. How blessed they were, who
were shown Jesus in the Eucharist in such a way. And how sad it is that
many of us today have failed to recognize Jesus, even when we are told
countless times that Jesus left us his body and blood in just that way.
The beauty of the story of the disciples on the
road to Emmaus is that we can all put ourselves in the place of the
disciples. Sometimes, on that dusty road, we are frightened and we feel
like we don’t know it is the Lord who is walking with us. At times we are
very close to Jesus and at times we feel like those disciples must have felt at
the beginning of their journey: that they were running away. We place
ourselves at different times and in different places on that road, and pray
that we always recognize the Lord in those who travel with us. We most
especially pray that in this Easter Week we recognize the Lord in the bread and
wine, his Risen Body broken for us.
Pax
In other years on this date: Optional Memorial for Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest And
Martyr
[1]
The picture
used is “The Emmaus Disciples” by Abraham Bloemaert, 1622.
[3]
The
readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm
and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[4]
The Navarre
Bible, "Gospels and Acts," Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002,
p. 737.
[5]
The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts,” Scepter
Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p. 513.
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