"On the first day of the week”

Read Luke 24:13-35 [Easter Sunday at an afternoon Mass and Easter Wednesday’s Reading]
Jesus appears to the two men going to Emmaus,

Search: Road to Emmaus

During the Third Day, Jesus appears to two men. The men walked with Jesus and talked with Him but they did not know who He was. It was in the breaking of the bread that they recognized Him, and then they went to tell the disciples.

Jesus had already appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary that morning and now chose to appear to the disciples walking to Emmaus. Emmaus was seven miles away from Jerusalem. It would have taken about three hours to walk this distance. Why were these disciples going to Emmaus?We cannot be sure, but it is not important where they are going but rather where they are departing from. They are leaving Jerusalem, leaving the pain of the passion and death. Perhaps these two are in despair and just want to get out of town. When and why have we walked away from Jesus? How has Jesus met us on our walk away from Him?
 
Why did Christ appear as a stranger to the two disciples? “Christ conformed Himself to their state of mind; for these disciples, as it appears, did not yet believe that He was God, although He had often declared that He was, and proved it beyond contradiction; they regarded Him as a prophet and doubted His Resurrection. They looked at Him up to this time only with their outward eyes, that is, without faith in His divinity, and therefore the Savior did not reveal Himself to their soul. It is thus that God generally proceeds towards us. He makes Himself known to us and gives us His graces in proportion to our faith, hope, love, and fidelity.” [1]
 
Why did Jesus say He was going farther? “To give them an occasion of showing their love for Him a stranger, whom they did not recognize as God; and also to give them an opportunity of practicing a work of charity, for it is pleasing to God that we hospitably invite and entertain strangers. Thus did Abraham and Lot entertain angels in the form of strangers, and saints in the New Testament have done likewise to Christ Himself.” [2]
 
How did Christ expound the Scriptures to the two disciples? “It is probable that He showed them how His passion and death were foretold and prefigured in various ways; that He was sold like Joseph, and that His scourging was prefigured by the blood-stained coat of Joseph. He probably drew their attention to the ram which was ensnared in the thornbush, and His crowning with thorns; He carried His cross to Mount Calvary as Isaac, loaded with the wood on which He was to be sacrificed; was deprived of His clothes and derided in His nakedness, as Noah by his son. His crucifixion was prefigured by the serpent Moses set up in the desert. The animals prepared for sacrifice in the Old Testament, and especially the Paschal lamb, were types of Him, who, like them, was killed and sacrificed on the cross, without having His bones broken; finally, Jonas who was three days in the whale and then came forth again, imaged Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. He showed them, also, how clearly David and Isaiah foretold and described His passion.” [3]
 
How is the walk to Emmaus similar to the Mass? Jesus spent a lot of time with the two disciples. He walked with them for three hours and “…beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.” Scripture says that it was evening when they arrived in Emmaus. Jesus gave the impression that he was “going on farther,” but they urged him, “Stay with us.” Jesus stays with them and says Mass for them. “While he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.” This phrase is the same phrase that He said at the Last Supper. These are the same words we hear during the consecration at Mass. There are two parts of the Emmaus story, the walk and the meal. The walk, when Jesus interpreted scripture for them, is the Liturgy of the Word. In the liturgy of the Word, the Church “beginning with Moses” reads an Old Testament Reading and a Psalm, then through the Second Reading, Gospel and Homily interprets Divine Revelation to the faithful. The Liturgy of the Word should create a burning in our hearts to have Christ stay with us, but we will never fully know him through Scripture alone. In the Eucharist, the fullness of truth, we come to fully recognize him and come to know and be convinced of eternal life through Christ.
 
The breaking of the bread is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It is in the breaking of the bread that the two men recognized Jesus. We have the spiritual presence of Christ in the Liturgy of the Word, but it is in the Liturgy of the Eucharist that we have both the spiritual and physical presence of our Lord. Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” These two men experienced all three of these on the road to Emmaus.  Jesus spoke to them and told them of his death and resurrection. The two disciples forgot about His promised resurrection. Jesus then began to teach them and they began to remember what Jesus had told them. Finally, Jesus involved them in the most intimate way, the Eucharist, and they learned both that Jesus had been raised from the dead and the meaning of the Eucharist. Christ performs the rite of the Eucharist right before He dies and it is the first rite he performs when He rises. Thus Christians "do this" every time we come together. It is not Scriptural to "do this" periodically or sporadically as some denominations do.

How did the two disciples recognize him in the breaking of the bread after not recognizing him when he interpreted all of Scripture that pertained to Him? The two were not at the Last Supper. The logical thought is that they were catechized by the apostles while Christ was entombed. The apostles more than likely performed the rite of the Last Supper "In memory of Me" two or three times while Christ was entombed as Christ's last wish was to "Do this."

Why did Jesus vanish? At the Mass Jesus is physically present under the appearance of bread and wine. At the breaking of the bread at Emmaus, Jesus vanished because He was present in the Sacrament and they disciples recognized Him and so He no longer needed to appear to them in human form but instead remained present sacramentally.

We remember that in the morning of the third day, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary recognized Jesus, paid Him homage, and then were sent on a mission. We see this same pattern of recognizing, paying homage and going on a mission in the two men on their way to Emmaus. They recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, they pay homage and are in awe, then “they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them.” What a day for these two! It started in despair walking three hours away from their fears. When Jesus left them, it could have been dark already, perhaps 6 or 7 p.m. They choose to walk back to Jerusalem that night, another three hour walk, which would have had them meeting those gathered in the Upper Room late that night. They “set out at once” no matter what the cost. Yes, it is dark and late and they are tired, yes they are going back to the place of their fears and despair, but they were inspired to complete this mission. What keeps us from “setting out at once” and being obedient to Christ without hesitation?

Read Luke 24:35-48 [Easter Thursday’s Reading]
Read John 20:19-29 [Divine Mercy Sunday’s Reading]
 
If we combine the accounts of Luke and John’s Gospel we get a picture of what happened on Easter Evening and Night.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus appeared in the midst of the disciples who were gathered.  They were startled and terrified and He said, “Peace be with you”, “Why are you troubled?”, “Why do questions arise in your hearts” They thought he was a ghost; he showed them his wounds, ate with them and taught them. He then says to them, you are my witnesses, I am sending the promise of my Father, stay in the city until you are clothed with power on high. [4]

After appearing in the morning to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and then during the day to the two walking to Emmaus, Jesus now appears to the Apostles in the Upper Room. He used the same process of perceive, receive and respond with the Apostles as He did with Mary Magdalene, the other Mary and the two men. He first wants the Apostles to not be afraid, so He shows them His wounds as proof that it really is the one they loved and followed. Once they recognize (perceive) Him, He allows them to receive Him, by sharing a meal with them and teaching them. Then Jesus gives them hope by saying that they will be His witnesses and that He will send the promise of the Father. He also gives them the task of staying in the city until they are clothed with power. The Apostles must go through the process of perceiving Jesus, receiving Jesus and responding to His call. The Mass flows in a similar way: we perceive Jesus is the Word, we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, and then “Ite missa est”, we are dismissed into the world. “ ‘Ite missa est’ translates ‘Go, you are dismissed.’ Missa, from mittere, to send. This is the solemn dismissal of the faithful, from which the Mass eventually took its name.” [5] During the concluding rite of the Mass at the dismissal there are several phrases that can be said, all of which reflect the mission of Easter Sunday to “go”. “Go forth, the Mass is ended” or “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord” or “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life” or “Go in peace”. The people reply: “Thanks be to God”. [6]

In the Gospel of John, it says that it was the evening of the first day of the week and the doors were locked. Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Jesus must first conquer the fear that the Apostles have before He can be received and so He says, “Peace be with you.” It was in the same upper room, which had now been locked for 72 hours since Holy Thursday evening,that Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood. He would now institute a third Sacrament, the Sacrament of Reconciliation with His words, “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” Three Sacraments in three days, all centered on the mystery of our faith, the passion, death and resurrection.

In Matthew’s Gospel there is no Upper Room. Remember Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are told to tell the Apostles to go to Galilee and there they will see Jesus. In Galilee, “the eleven disciples went to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them”. Once again they see (perceive) first and then worship (receive) second. Once they have perceived and received, the great commission is give and they are challenged to respond “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” In Matthew’s Gospel, the Resurrection appearance stresses the Sacrament of Baptism, but does not mention the Eucharist or Reconciliation, as do the others. Within non-Catholic Christian communities, Matthew’s Gospel and what is called “The Great Commission” is a main focal point.

[1] Fr. Goffine’s, The Church’s Year, pg. 259-260
[2] Fr. Goffine’s, The Church’s Year, pg. 260
[3] Fr. Goffine’s, The Church’s Year, pg. 260
[4] Luke 28:28
[5] The Conclusion of the Mass; Roman Catholic Daily Missal [1962]
[6] The Order of the Mass I