Third Sunday of Easter, Year A
What a disappointment it is for us when we put our trust and hope in something
Only to realise that we have hoped in vain.
We make plans for our future and for the rest of our family,
We make sacrifices and use our resources in view of our hope
And then we end up only with the bitter taste of disappointment.
So many faces and names cross my mind as I speak.
I too, like the rest of humanity, have experienced moments of lack of hope and disillusionment.
I think of a friend of mine who after years of hard work at university ended up unemployed.
I think of another friend of mine who after a beautiful courtship and wonderful wedding
lost her spouse only a few months later.
At moments like these, it is easy to lose hope.
Not only do we lose hope but we also start doubting everything
And we even find it hard to trust anyone any more.
Even life itself becomes hard to live.
We become cynical and find it hard to plan ahead or to think of the future.
The only thing that makes sense is what I have in my hand now and nothing else.
It is funny how,
while I was reading and reflecting on this gospel,
I got this funny feeling:
It must have happened to you too some time or other:
You are on the bus or are waiting in a queue
and the conversation of two people next to you grabs your attention.
You almost want to join them in their conversation:
they are grumbling or complaining about something
We usually feel that we can make a good contribution to their conversation
by adding to their grumbling about what is not going fine in our lives.
These two disciples on their way to Emmaus too were complaining.
In fact they were complaining about their lost hopes and their shattered dreams.
They were hoping that Jesus was going to redeem Israel
But their hope died with his Crucifixion on Calvary.
Injustice, sickness, violence,
racism, poverty, loneliness
All these things can cause us to lose hope.
But then the two disciples make an experience
which perhaps nowadays we would call an "Aha! moment."
They get a sudden realisation of something they were not aware of before.
They make a true an encounter of the Risen Christ
Two things happen in this encounter:
Christ starts explaining himself:
Or perhaps we should say he starts ex-plicating himself:
because that is exactly what he does:
he starts un-folding himself before them.
As though you have a large piece of folded fabric or cloth with some exotic tribal design
and which you start unfolding so that you can appreciate it in all its beauty and complecity.
First, he starts explaining or unfolding the Word of God - which is Jesus himself,
Then he unfolds his own body by breaking the bread, which is Jesus himself.
The word of God, the Bible is not simply a guidebook
or just a list of do's and don'ts.
It is much more than that:
It is an encounter with Christ,
which changes our whole outlook on things.
The broken bread is what it is:
sharing of our goods and resources,
sharing of our lives,
that others too may have a new hope.
And in doing so,
As Jesus explains himself to these two disciples,
their own life-history starts taking shape
It is not a reversal that has taken place.
The cross, that is, the passion and death of Jesus are not reversed.
Death on the cross is not undone;
Rather it is outdone.
This is why the disciples found it hard to recognise him.
They were expecting so see somebody they knew.
Instead, Jesus shows them something new.
Very often that why we end up being so disappointed.
We simply expect that our hopes are restored.
But instead Jesus gives us an altogether new hope.
He opens up a window in areas in our life where otherwise we see only a dead end.
Somebody once described hope as
the weeds that grow up through the smallest cracks of concrete.
It is in fact a growth towards light.
This week, Pope Francis released a TED talk.
For a good part of this talk he speaks about hope.
He says that hope is a virtue of the heart.
It does not lock itself into darkness
it does not dwell on the past
it does not just get by in the present
but opens up to the future.
As the disciples of Emmaus themselves say,
They were able to see him and recognise him finally.
Only because their hearts were open to receiving him and recognising him in his Word.
Just as when I catch fire when I am in contact with fire
and I get wet when I am in contact with water,
in the same way, when I encounter the Living One,
When I am really in contact with him,
then I too live for it is he who can give us life
and life everlasting.
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