Gospel Reflection on Luke 24:13-35
- Apr 16
- 4 min read
April 19, 2026
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emma′us, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cle′opas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.---
We often find ourselves abandoning structures and devours initiatives that once held out great promise. These might have been a new method in our work or some new technology or even promising new partnerships in which we had placed our trust or hope.
This is where we find two of Jesus' followers. They're abandoning Jerusalem, the place of God's promises and heading to Emmaus, an obscure and little known town.
It's interesting that these disciples already possess all the vital pieces of information that form the basis of the Christian belief and the resurrection.
They know the catechism. They know about the empty tomb. They've heard the narrative of the women who saw the angels. They had the data. But they expected it to produce an easy solution.
How often we lose sight of the resurrection because we fall in love with a mistake and perspective and we end up in delusion and despair.
We tend to think the Lord will save us in a particular way and we fall in in love with our idea, our hope. But His way of redeeming us is always different from what we expect.
These disciples know the facts but they've interpreted them in a weak and inadequate manner.
It seems that in every age we must be liberated from our own illusions or our own interpretations of how God should save us. Our own version of the Messiah.
Jesus, the stranger, is actually walking beside them. But they can't see Him.
He challenges their interpretation. Quite bluntly: 'you foolish man, slow to believe.'
It's not very easy to have our interpretations challenged. Our convictions thrown up and upside down. For knowledge is not just a collection of facts but the correct synthesis of those facts.
Jesus wants to show them that there's another perspective, that suffering is an essential part of the path of the Kingdom.
When it comes to evening, they ask Him to remain and He is finally recognized at the moment of the breaking of the bread. But He disappears precisely at that moment.
For He is no longer to be found out there in some holy place or temple, but in them, in the community of believers of which they were once apart but had left.
And so despite the fact that it's nightfall, the time of danger, they return to experience a fullness of God's presence in the community of believers.
They are unable to do exactly the opposite of what they had been doing previously.
Their lives have been changed and they become witnesses to His presence in their burning hearts. Their hearts have been changed by the Stranger who listened to them along the way.
In the same way during the Eucharist we have our hearts touched by the Scriptures and then we meet Christ in the breaking of the bread.
The story of Emmaus is a story of every Eucharistic celebration and how we need to listen to the strangers that cross our paths, who listen to our story and offer us new insights into how we too can discover the presence of God dwelling in our own burning hearts.
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