Disappointed, disillusioned, discouraged – these are the feelings of Cleopas and his companion as they walk toward Emmaus. The Messiah that they had followed and believed as their Savior from the illegal occupants of their land, the Romans, had been crucified like other criminals. With this shameful death, Jesus was a public spectacle, exposed to the ridicules of all who passed by.
A week before, they were joyful, excited, and hopeful as the enthusiastic crowds welcomed Jesus waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna.” But now Jesus is dead. Their hope for a political Messiah is dashed. Their dream is broken!
But as the two disciples travel along, Jesus joins them without recognizing him. As they walk together, Jesus listens to their sad story. “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures” (Lk 24:27).
This method of catechesis of Jesus was adopted by the fathers of the Church. They looked for type, prefiguration, and preparation in the Old Testament and found antitype, realization, and fulfillment in the Gospels. Also, this is the method adopted in the choice of the readings in the liturgy. Except during Easter, the First Reading is taken from the Old Testament which finds fulfillment in the Gospels.
Adopting the attentive listening attitude of the two disciples, we will also feel “our hearts burning within us” (Lk 24: 32) as God’s word is proclaimed and is “broken” to us in the homily. The enlightening and encouraging words of Jesus inflame the hearts of the two disciples. But, they recognize him only at the Breaking of the Bread.
The 2,000-year-old story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is made present to us today. Disappointment, disillusionment, discouragement – these are also our feelings when we have lost our earthly “saviors” – when our political candidate for president had been defeated or cheated in a rigged election, when our leader is killed, when we have lost our parent, spouse, brother, sister, son or daughter. But Jesus walks with us and listens us. And if we listen to him like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus will explain to us through the Scriptures that the feelings of disappointment, disillusionment, and discouragement should not pull us down to despair, but they should lift us to hope.
This is the meaning of his Death and Resurrection that Peter proclaims in the First Reading (Acts 2:14, 22-33). “God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death” (Acts 2:24). Now that he is risen, he extends his presence to us through the Breaking of the Bread. He “breaks” himself as food for us. When we eat his Body and drink his Blood, we are strengthened with joy, hope, and courage. “Broken” by disappointment, disillusionment, and discouragement, we are made whole again.
As Saint Peter proclaims in the Second Reading (1 Pt 1:17-21): “You were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ as a spotless unblemished lamb… through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”