I invite you to consider that there is a stranger in your life that is the presence of the Risen Lord.

 

Third Sunday of Easter  A  2023

 

In today’s gospel we have the story of two disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  During their walk with the Lord, their eyes were closed from recognizing Him.  But later that day, when Jesus was at table with them, he took bread, blessed, broke it, and gave the bread to them.  At that moment their eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognized Jesus just before he vanished from their sight.

 

The Easter story and the story of the Emmaus journey hover around us all the time.  It tells us that God never forces himself on us.  To repeat God never forces himself on us but joins us in a walk in the garden or visit of a friend or while sorrowing at the death of a friend or watching the beautiful scenery or reading a consoling letter from someone we love.  God speaks to us in the voices of those who are hurt or are sorrowful, the faces of the poor and the needy, in the victims of prejudice and the generosity of those who care, in an ordinary meal and especially in the Eucharist. Again, God speaks to us in the stranger and in the voices of those who are hurt or are sorrowful.

 

A story:  There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God.  So he packed some biscuits and some soft drink and started his journey.  When he had gone three blocks, he met an old woman sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons.  The boy sat down next to her.  He was about to eat, and he noticed the old lady looked hungry.  So, he offered her a biscuit.  She gratefully accepted it and gave him a beautiful smile.  He offered her a soft drink, and again she smiled at him.

 

They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.  As it grew dark, the boy got up to leave but before he had taken a few steps, he turned and ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug.  She gave him her biggest smile ever.  When the boy reached home a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.  She asked him what made him so happy.  He replied, “I had lunch with God.”  But, before she could respond, he added, “You know what?  She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”

 

Meanwhile, the old woman also returned to her home.  Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face, and he asked, why she was so happy?  She replied, “I had lunch in the park with God.”  But before her son responded, she added: “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.”

 

Our God is a God of surprises, and our God is present to us when we welcome the stranger.

 

The Emmaus account is a recognition story, so to speak.  It depicts how the two disciples came to recognize the presence of the Risen Christ in their midst.  There were two key elements in the development of an Easter faith: hospitality to the stranger and the Eucharistic breaking of the Bread.  Insofar as we welcome the stranger in our midst and insofar as we live Eucharistic centered lives, we indeed will be Easter people who discover the many ways the Risen Lord is present to us in the stuff of life.

 

 

For the original disciples, the Risen Lord was present in their midst, and they did not recognize him.  From the Gospel account of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, the key to finding Christ is to know where to look.  The two disciples had all the facts but none of the meaning. 

 

How about us?  Do we too have trouble recognizing the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst?  The message of this Biblical account is that hospitality shown to the stranger is a way of recognizing the presence of the Risen Lord.  I would invite you to consider that there is a stranger in your life that is the presence of the Risen Jesus.  Perhaps this stranger is asking us questions we would rather not hear.

 

Yes, we all have expected ways of recognizing God’s presence in our midst.  Jesus continues to make his presence known but often in ways we least expect.  May we not close down to the unexpected ways we encounter the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst.   

 

None of us has full control over the course of our lives.  The Lord comes to us as an unrecognized stranger.  The stranger in your midst may be a person or it may be a situation you would rather not have to face.  It can be a work situation, an illness, depression, or whatever cross you are facing in your life.

 

 

Back to the

Gospel account, the two disciples, in the midst of their discouragement and disappointment, said to the stranger:  “We had hoped that he would be the one to redeem Israel.”  The disciples were confessing their profound discouragement.  Their hopes were dashed when their leader was crucified.

 

How do we identify with those two disciples in which we too had hoped, and those dreams are shattered:

 

n  We had hoped our children will live out their faith in the same way we do.

n  We had hoped that our Church and government leaders would not disillusion us with how they live their lives.

n  We had hoped that violence and conflict would not continue to characterize our lives.

n  We had hoped all parishioners would be active stakeholders in the life of the parish.

n  We had hoped that Rochester would have more sunshine.

 

The original disciples did not understand the meaning of the suffering and death of Jesus.  They thought they were defeated.  They did not understand that death was not a defeat.  Rather, death was the way to us to share more fully in the Risen Life of Jesus.

 

Like the original disciples we too have difficulty in understanding the meaning of suffering, setback, and death in our lives.  It can seem like our dreams are shattered. 

 

 

I invite you to consider that there is a stranger in your life that is the presence of the Risen Lord.  Recognition does not come easily.  We gather in this Breaking of the Bread so that our eyes will be opened.  We gather in this Breaking of the Bread so that we can embrace unexpected strangers in our life -- whether it be a person or whether it be a situation.  The Risen Lord is to be found in all of life.  It is in hospitality shown to the stranger and in this Eucharistic Breaking of the Bread that we will know the joy of the Risen Lord in our midst.