Did Not Our Hearts Burn While He Opened to Us the Scriptures
Introduction: May your hearts continue to be inflamed by reflecting on God’s word and may that lead to your remembering, celebrating, and believing in the rising of the Lord Jesus!
We are a sacramental people. That means that we perform ceremonies that remind us of an even more profound reality than what is happening in the here and now. When we come together as a community of faith, we ponder the saving events that we read in the Word of God. These are not just stories of what happened thousands of years ago. These are accounts of how God is touching our lives at this point in history. We re-enact those events and make them present. We remember our saving Lord as we do what He did: take bread, lift a prayer of blessing to God, break, and share in the Bread of Life. It is in doing so that we experience the Risen Lord Who is with us in this moment, teaching us, feedings us His very self, and relating to us as God’s “Chosen People.”
Our celebration of Easter continues. We reflect on the new hope and new life that comes from the Risen Lord Jesus. We see how Jesus’ resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit transform life. We are able to be in touch with same Risen Lord through the continuing work of the Holy Spirit, especially as we come together as a community of believers who give thanks to God as we remember, celebrate, and believe all that Jesus said and did.
First Reading: Acts 2:14, 22-33: ‘It was not possible for him to be held by death.’
Commentary: The Bible must be read according to the sort of literature it is. In Hellenistic histories speeches by a prominent or authoritative personality (such as a general before or after a battle) are used to explain the sense or importance of events. So Peter’s speech here is not a shorthand account, but is an explanation of the phenomenon of Pentecost. When this passage begins Peter has already explained that the speaking on tongues is not the result of drinking fresh wine but is the intoxication of the Spirit, of which the prophet Joel spoke. Now he goes on to explain events in the light of two other passages from scripture. So he is explaining that the events which have happened in Jerusalem are the fulfilment of scripture. This is not surprising from the hand of Luke, the author of Acts, for on the journey to Emmaus the Risen Christ had done just this, ‘he explained to them the passages about himself throughout the scriptures (Luke 24.27).
Peter first explains that the resurrection of Christ from the tomb is the fulfilment of Psalm 16 (Greek 15). David, presumed to be the author of the Psalm, cannot have been speaking about himself, when he said, ‘you will not abandon your holy one to see corruption’, since his body must have corrupted. So he must have been speaking about the Messiah. Furthermore, the full sense of the Resurrection and exaltation of Christ is explained as the fulfilment of Psalm 110 (Greek 109), originally composed to celebrate the coronation of the sacred Priest-King of Jerusalem. This psalm is used frequently in the New Testament to illustrate the glory of the Risen Christ.
Responsorial Psalm 16:1-2a, 5. 7-8. 9-10. 11: O Lord, you will show me the path of life.
The psalm today is the psalm that Peter refers to in his sermon in the First Reading. It tells of the promise that the faithful followers of God will not experience corruption, but they will be shown the path to life and fullness of joy in the presence of God. This is true not only for Jesus after His death, but for all who are faithful to the Risen Lord Jesus – those who have been willing to die and rise with Jesus. And at the end of time, we, too, will have glorified bodies, just as Jesus has.
Second Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-21: You were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish.’
Commentary: In the Middle Ages, when ransoming was a current practice for setting captives free, theologians debated to whom the ransom of Christ’s blood was paid: was it to God or to the devil? However, the real context of this passage is Old Testament sacrifice, and particularly sacrifice for sin. In these rites the blood is valuable not for the pain it represents but for life. There can be no reconciliation without blood, according to Leviticus 17.11, for blood represents life. The blood of a living creature belongs to God because it represents the God-given life. Once the blood is shed there is no more life. So in Hebrew thought the blood is a cleansing and enlivening agent, renewing life. It takes away and overrides the deadness of sin. The blood of Christ cleanses us, since it represents the divine life which is given to us. So in the Book of Revelation the garments of the martyrs are washed white (the colour of victory) in the blood of the Lamb, that is, they receive new life. This also explains the importance of the Eucharistic blood of Christ, which gives us Christ’s own divine life and enables us to live with his life.
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35: He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Commentary: This attractive and delicate story is the story of the journey to faith in the Risen Christ: it occurs in any Christian instruction, and especially in the Eucharist, formed from instruction based on the scriptures, and then brought to its fulfilment in the sacrament. The two disciples (are they man and woman, as so often in Luke, perhaps Cleopas and his wife?) start off deep in depression and disappointment. But they are open-minded and willing to learn as the Stranger explains to them from scripture the meaning of events. Their hearts burn within them at the Stranger’s words, but their eyes remain closed. It is only in the sacramental meal that they recognise the Risen Christ.
The Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation, bringing us to the intimate, personal encounter with Christ. Once they have been enlightened and have learnt the profound meaning of the events, the truth of the scriptures and the resurrection, then the disciples return to the Holy City and carry on their own Christian apostolate by spreading the news of the resurrection. This is the shape of the Christian vocation which we all receive, to assimilate and pass on the meaning of Christ’s resurrection.
Reflection: Why was it difficult for the disciples to recognize the risen Lord? Jesus' death scattered his disciples and shattered their hopes and dreams. They had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. They saw the cross as defeat and could not comprehend the empty tomb until the Lord Jesus appeared to them and gave them understanding.
Do you recognize the Risen Lord in his word and in the breaking of the bread? Jesus chided the disciples on the road to Emmaus for their slowness of heart to believe what the Scriptures had said concerning the Messiah. They did not recognize the risen Jesus until he had broken bread with them. Do you recognize the Lord in his word and in the breaking of the bread?
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) reflects on the dimness of their perception: "They were so disturbed when they saw him hanging on the cross that they forgot his teaching, did not look for his resurrection, and failed to keep his promises in mind" (Sermon 235.1).
"Their eyes were obstructed, that they should not recognize him until the breaking of the bread. And thus, in accordance with the state of their minds, which was still ignorant of the truth - that the Christ would die and rise again, their eyes were similarly hindered. It was not that the truth himself was misleading them, but rather that they were themselves unable to perceive the truth." (From The Harmony of the Gospels, 3.25.72)
How often do we fail to recognize the Lord when he speaks to our hearts and opens his mind to us? The Risen Lord is ever ready to speak his word to us and to give us understanding of his ways. Do you listen attentively to the Word of God and allow his word to change and transform you?
"Lord Jesus Christ, open the eyes of my heart to recognize your presence with me and to understand the truth of your saving word. Nourish me with your life-giving word and with the bread of life."
how can i know jesus?
“They had come to know Him in the breaking of bread.” —Luke 24:35
During the upcoming week, the Church in daily Mass reads to us from the Bread of Life discourse (Jn 6:25-59). Today’s Gospel, recounting the disciples’ encounter with Jesus on the road to the village of Emmaus, leads directly to the Eucharist. Prepared by an in-depth journey through the Old Testament Scriptures foretelling the Messiah, the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread (Lk 24:30-31).
This week, the Church will once again prepare us to recognize Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist. It will do this by an in-depth reading of that Bread of Life discourse. It is critical to dwell deeply in the Word of God in order to recognize Jesus. Less than half of registered Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus, Body, Blood, soul, and divinity, in the Eucharist. This unbelief is symptomatic of a famine for the Word of God and thus a famine for the Bread of Life (Am 8:11).
Therefore, ask the Lord for an insatiable hunger for the food of the Kingdom — the bread of God’s Word (Mt 4:4) and the Holy Eucharist (Jn 6:35). Read the Bible daily. Learn to recognize Jesus. “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 133). If we aren’t living in the Word, we risk missing the time of our visitation (Lk 19:44).
Prayer: Father, may I prefer to spend a day without eating rather than spend a day without reading Your Word. “You were delivered from the futile way of life your fathers handed on to you…by Christ’s blood beyond all price.” —1 Peter 1:18-19. Praise You, Jesus, Word-made-Flesh and Lamb of God (Jn 1:14, 29).
The personal action for today: How do I sense the presence of the Risen Lord in my daily life? Does my heart burn when I hear the Word of God proclaimed to me, especially the Word about Jesus’ death and resurrection? What helps me remember, celebrate, and believe that Jesus is alive and with me? How do I “eucharistize” (give thanks) for all that Jesus has done and continues to do for me?