AFTER his resurrection, Jesus could no longer be “seen” with the eyes of the body. He had gone from this world to the Father, and this new world evades our senses. It is only with new vision, the light of faith that we “recognize” him present and active in us and around us. If the history of the Church records a number of exceptional apparitions of the risen Jesus, the faithful are invited to “recognize” him through faith.
Those two disciples of Emmaus were merely going home to return to their work, after their hopes had been crushed. We are accustomed to call them the pilgrims of Emmaus. The Jewish people, the people of Israel, were pilgrim people because they never had the possibility of lingering on the way. The departure from Egypt, the conquest of the Land, the fight against invaders, the development of religious culture were many stages along the way. Each time they thought that in reaching their goal, their problems would be solved, and each time they had to realize that the road was taking them still further.
Cleophas and his companions were pilgrims since they followed Jesus, thinking that he would redeem Israel. In the end, there was only the death of Jesus. This is the moment when Jesus becomes present and teaches them that one does not enter the kingdom without passing through death.
They recognized him. Perhaps Jesus looked different as Luke wants us to understand but the same people, whose eyes could not recognize Jesus, will see him when they came to believe.
Remember that “Moses and the prophets” is a way of designating Scriptures. Jesus invites them to pass from Israel’s faith or hope in a happy future for the whole nation, to faith in his very person, accepting the mystery of his rejection and of his Passion.
In his first biblical lesson, Jesus taught them that the Messiah had to suffer. Jesus not only found all the texts which foretold his Passion and Resurrection, but also those texts showing that God’s plan filters human history.
Something similar happens to believers now when we often complain and show our impatience. Yet Jesus did not leave us alone. He has not risen in order to sit in heaven; he is ahead of humanity on pilgrimage and draws us toward that final day when he will come to meet us.
At the same time he walks with us, and when our hopes are dashed, it is the moment when we discover the meaning of the Resurrection.
Thus the Church does for us what Jesus did for the two disciples. First, it gives us the interpretation of the Scripture: what matters in our efforts to understand the Bible is not to know many passages by heart, but to discover the thread connecting various events and to understand God’s plan concerning people.
This is the story of the Resurrection of our Lord.
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