Third Sunday of Easter; 23 April 2023; Easter 3A (RCL); Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; Luke 24:13-35.
The story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is one of the most familiar in all of the Gospels, lending itself as it does to easy depiction. One of the charming aspects of the story is the Cleopas’ unnamed companion. I believe Luke’s leaving him unnamed serves as an invitation to the reader to see her or himself in the story, walking with Cleopas and Jesus to Emmaus.
In the reading from John 20 on Easter Day, we learned that the disciples did not yet understand the scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead. That, and this story, give us a profound insight into the creative, intellectual, and interpretive work the early Christian community had to do to make sense of their continuing experience of Jesus’ presence after his death. An understanding of resurrection did not take place in a flash, but developed over time as they pored over the scriptures.
Paul’s corpus gives us an insight into the intellectual effort involved. Paul, steeped in the scriptures, at first is vehemently opposed to this new sect, and then has a profound insight that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are (as he understands it) in fact the fulfillment (or better, completion) of the story of Israel (which is what he means by “the law”).
Luke gives us a charming summary of that work. And he places that summary in a eucharistic frame. On the road, we have the liturgy of the word, with Jesus interpreting the scriptures. In the house, we have the liturgy of the table, with Jesus breaking the bread. The resurrection grew out of the profound experience of burning hearts in the communities’ eucharistic gatherings.
Many agree that at least the first part of the the First Epistle of Peter looks like a baptismal homily, preached to a predominantly Gentile congregation. Even in such a congregation, the reading of scripture (and the only scriptures available were what Christians came to call the Old Testament) framed the intellectual work. This Gentile congregation was ransomed from the futile ways of their ancestors (pagan worship) with the precious blood of Christ, like a sacrificed lamb. They were reborn in baptism, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable seed, a clear reference to Israel as the seed of Abraham (compare to Paul’s use of the Abraham typology in Romans and Galatians). The preacher of the homily could count on his audience’s familiarity with scripture, needing only the simplest allusion to adduce the whole story of Israel.
Our liturgical reading of Scripture, which now includes the New Testament, and the intellectual and imaginative work of interpreting it, creates a community in which Jesus continues to speak. The flash of insight we gain into God’s purposes for the world as we gather to read scripture and break bread is what the resurrection looks like. Jesus joins us as we make our way along the road.