3rd Sunday of Easter Year A: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima
Theme: Your hope is not dead: Lessons from the Emmaus experience.
Readings: Acts 2:14.22–33; 1 Pet 1:17–21; Lk 24:13–35
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, for three years, Jesus some gathered men around him and taught them of the new kingdom he had come to establish. From their knowledge of history, these men knew that some charismatic leaders sprung up in the past, overthrew some leaders and established their own reign. So, they saw Jesus as one of those Charismatic leaders and, thus, built their hopes, dreams and aspirations on and around him.
These men left all their jobs and happily followed Jesus from town to town and counted his success as theirs. They made contributions to assist his ministry and hoped to regain what they had contributed when he had established his kingdom. They eagerly waited for him to seize power and liberate the Jews from both the Roman government and the corrupt Jewish leaders and, then, make them princes in his own kingdom.
However, on Good Friday, these men were confronted with what they never anticipated — the death of Jesus on the Cross. In the death of Jesus, their dreams, hopes and aspirations were shattered. A glimpse of the frustration and hopeless situation of these men could be seen from the discussion of the two disciples who were going to Emmaus in the gospel reading of today. Of course, they were going back to their former lives, they were going to pick up the pieces of their lives. A look at what they told the stranger they met on the way, who was Jesus, helped to show the level of their frustration. They said to him, “but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” This expression gives a sense of a long held hope that has been crashed. Their frustration was even made worse by the story they heard that Jesus’ body was missing from where he was buried. To these disciples, the death of Jesus meant a setback to their dreams and hopes of a better future.
Like these disciples, many people are also facing different degrees of frustration in their lives. Some people have invested so much in their lives and businesses, but nothing tangible seems to come out. Some people have lost that job that caused them so much money and effort to secure. Some people have lost that person who is the financial pillar of the family to the cold hands of death. Some people have been crippled by sickness and other problems and see no way out of them. Some people are just waiting for death to end their sad story.
Luke dramatized the Emmaus story to show how people feel when they are hit by frustrating and devastating situations. He equally used this Emmaus experience to teach us that with Jesus, our hopes and dreams for something good cannot die, and that problems can only shake the hopes and dreams of those who believe in Jesus but cannot eradicate them. Peter beautifully painted this same picture in the first reading when he made reference to the Psalm of today (Ps 16:8–10). He said, “For God is close to me, I shall not be shaken; therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoiced; for He will not leave my soul among the dead, nor allow his beloved to see corruption.” For those who hope in Him, even death cannot conquer them and their hopes.
Here, then, are some lessons we need to draw from this Emmaus encounter.
The first lesson is that Christ joined the two disciples in their journey, but they could not recognize Him. Dear friends, those two disciples didn’t recognize Christ because they were enveloped by their worries and frustrations; may be they didn’t even look at his face. Christ is always near to us in our difficult times, but most times we get engulfed by our worries that we hardly notice his presence.
Whenever you devote your entire attention to recounting your sad stories and brooding over them, you may be blinded by them to the extent that you may fail to recognize their solutions when you see them. Don’t allow your worries to blind you from looking at the face of Jesus. He is always standing by your side. Look beyond your problems and look up to Jesus and you will get or hear something new. When you look at the face of the risen Christ, he will help to set your mind on things that are above, for our help shall come from God who made heaven and earth.
The second lesson is that we should not fail to open up to Christ and to people in our difficult moments. If the two disciples had not opened up to Christ when he approached them, they wouldn’t have received a solution to their worries. Most times people think they can handle their problems alone and they shut both God and other people out. Such people often end up hurting themselves. Christ is interested in sharing in our troubles and discussions, let us not shut him out; let us rather open up to him through prayers. In difficult moments, don’t shut people out too. Christ came to the two disciples in the form of a stranger. That stranger or friend might have the solution to your problems.
The third lesson is that we should always listen to Christ speak to us when we have told him our problems. What many people do is to pray or cry to God in times of trials and difficulties, but they don’t wait to hear God speaking to them. In this Emmaus story, the two disciples gave a listening ear to Jesus. And with the scriptures, Jesus gave them another view of their story: how God had planned to make them great from a situation which they considered as hopeless. St Peter also did the same explanation to his audience in the first reading. He used the scriptures to tell them how God was going to use the mistake they made in killing Jesus to save the world instead.
Christ speaks to us through the scriptures, through the homilies we hear every day, and through the Eucharist we receive. Through them, he shows us how God will transform our hopeless situations. Through them, Christ makes sense out of every senseless situations of our lives. Today, Christ invites us to look at our problems from the light of the scriptures. It is an invitation that will lead us to understand that in Christ, hopes for a better future do not die, for our hope in God does not disappoint us (Rm 5:5). He also invites us to look at the Eucharist with faith, so that we can recognize him in the breaking of the bread and in the reception of his body.
Finally, the Emmaus story tells us not to allow our problems to stop us from helping those in need. In this story, the disciples looked beyond their problems and offered a helping hand to a stranger who needed a shelter for the night. That act of kindness was key to the change they had in the story of their lives. If they had not invited him to stay with them and to share their meal, they would not have had that eye opening at the breaking of the bread, which was actually the answer to their worries. We need to look beyond our pains and look at others who need help too. Often our own problems make us not to notice others who need little help.
Dear friends, reach out to strangers and helpless fellows, the Lord may use them to reveal to you the way out of your own troubles.
Peace be with you.
Rev Fr Isaac Chinemerem Chima