Third Sunday of Easter

This Sunday the Church opens to us the scripture passage of the Road to Emmaus, where two people are walking away from Jerusalem—away from the Christian Community on the Resurrection Sunday. At first glance it seems understandable. The man who they had been following, and who claimed to be the Messiah, had just been brutally executed. The fear and sadness which this must have caused allows us to excuse them for taking flight.

However, there seems to be something else going on. The two people begin to explain to the seemingly ignorant Jesus (who, interestingly, they did not recognize), “Jesus the Nazarene was a prophet mighty in deed and word,” and that they “were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel.” With these two phrases, we already get a hint of what could be considered a distortion in Jesus’ messianic mission. They continue: “Besides all this, it is now the third day since [his death]. Some women have astounded us... they had indeedseen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive.”

The passage indicates that they had left Jerusalem after they heard the annunciation of the Gospel message by the Apostles themselves—that Jesus had been risen from the dead! This begs the question. Why would they have left? How had the empty tomb and the annunciation by the angel of Jesus’ resurrection not moved their hearts and given them a hope greater than ever before? Were they looking for a different type of Messiah? Were they too caught up in their own desires and plans for the messiah, that they did not allow for a greater gift to fulfill their hearts?

These questions I can very easily ask myself. What is it that keeps my heart from burning with hope upon hearing the message that Jesus is, indeed, alive? 

Michael Gokie