With Hearts Burning (3rd Sunday of Easter A)

(image grabbed from https://www.gerhardy.id.au/)

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the Master calls a butterfly.” This quote from the American writer, Richard Bach, echoes our Easter faith. We look beyond the sorrow, the seeming defeat of the cross of Christ and see the glory, the joy of the victory of Christ’s resurrection. Particularly in this time of great fear and anxiety, loneliness and possible depression all over the world brought about by COVID-19 pandemic, it provides all of us this much needed hope to see what’s going on through the eyes of our Easter faith.

Like the caterpillar, we can be oppressed by our short-sightedness and hence allow the darkness of the present situation to completely envelop us. Our faith in the Risen Lord, however, is the ray of light that cracks through the darkness of our cocoons and help us realize that we are destined to fly with wings of adorable colors.

The account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in today’s gospel (Lk 24:13-35) provides us this Easter hope. It recounts to us how these two disciples have been overcome with disappointment and discouragement because of the event of the death of Jesus Christ whom they had hoped to be the Messiah, their deliverance from oppression. With crashed hope, they walk away from Jerusalem finding it hard to believe what has transpired-- even the news of Him rising from the dead. They have given up on their aspirations; and their journey to the village, Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, speaks volume about their decision to have nothing to do anymore with this failed Messiah. This is their “caterpillar view.” But the Risen Lord does not let them stay in this short-sightedness and hopelessness. The account continues to show how the Risen Lord enlightens them with a short course on the Scriptures and with the breaking of the bread until they finally realize how their hearts are burning within them with new zeal and joy so much so that they have to set out right away back to Jerusalem to tell others that Jesus is risen!

This “Emmaus account” is our Easter assurance that in our moments of darkness and hopelessness we can count on Jesus to walk with us, to stay with us, and to bring us back to our feet running with hearts on fire!

Jesus walks with us. As the two discouraged disciples walk away with heavy hearts, Jesus, the risen Lord, walks with them. Jesus accompanies them through their darkest hours, helping them see some rhyme and reason amid their hopelessness. Jesus points out through the Scriptures how faithful God is to his promise. He shows them how his suffering and seeming defeat on the cross leads to his victory, how his humiliation leads to his glory, how his death leads to everlasting life as promised by God.

Jesus walks with us during our difficult journeys in life. His Easter victory is always our strength and assurance of God’s faithfulness. Many times we cannot fathom the mysteries of life—its pains, sorrows, meaninglessness at times. But the Lord invites us to live by faith. God is good. He is faithful. The resurrection of our Lord is God’s fidelity to his promise. This we can take to the bank.

In moments of discouragement, disappointment, and hopelessness let us allow Jesus to walk with us. He is God’s Word; let us find consolation and enlightenment as we reflect on the word of God giving us assurance of his goodness and grace. Let us invite the Risen Lord to cast away the darkness and fill our hearts with his shining glory, making them burn within us as it did those of his disciples at Emmaus.

Jesus stays with us. The Lord indeed accepts the invitation of the two disciples: “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over” (Lk 24:29).  The Lord takes this opportunity to join them at table and break bread with them. ‘Breaking bread’ is the early name for the Eucharist. And indeed, we see Jesus taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread to them. It is exactly during this moment that they recognize him as the Lord.

We experience the abiding presence of our Lord in our Eucharistic celebrations. When we do the breaking of the bread “in memory of Him,” we are not just recalling his sacrifice done in the past; the Eucharistic celebration makes present among us who participate in the meal the one and the same sacrifice of Jesus Christ in his last supper. Just as the two disciples recognize the Lord during the breaking of the bread, we also experience the presence of the risen Lord in all our Eucharistic celebrations.

When we are down and our days seem dreary, where can we go? We look for Jesus. In the Eucharist we hear his Word and we experience his living presence. We invite the Lord to stay with us. And he’ll make our hearts burn within us.

Jesus brings us back to our feet. Hearts burning with zeal and new found joy cannot be contained. The two disciples, upon recognizing the Lord, cannot wait for the next day. They have to set out at once. Now! The good news burns inside them; they have to be back on their feet, aching to tell the others back in Jerusalem who may still be reeling in their own hopelessness too. As they arrive though, they join the Eleven and other disciples affirming with joy that the Lord has been truly raised. This is the first Easter community!

We are Easter people. We carry with us the good news that brings hope to the sorrowing, the anxious, the discouraged, the depressed and anyone who sees the darkness of their cocoon as the end of the world. We may have been once in the same darkness but we now have the risen Lord with us whose glory has broken through our own experiences of hopelessness. Then, as Easter people, we have to be on our feet. We have to set out and proclaim that God is always true to his Word; that He abides with us, and He brings life to all.

The Lord is alive! This we proclaim with hearts burning.