THEY RECOGNISED HIM AT THE BREAKING OF BREAD



EASTER WEDNESDAY

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Acts 3:1-10; Ps 105:1-4,6-9; Lk 24:13-35

They Recognised Him at the Breaking of Bread

The story of the two disciples of our Lord on their way to Emmaus going away from Jerusalem is another example of the central place of faith for the new community of the Risen Lord. Similar to the women in the narratives of resurrection appearances of both John and Matthew, the two disciples were going away downcast and failed to recognise the Risen Christ when he joined them on the road to Emmaus. Our Lord knew their state of mind, the loss of hope in the salvation of Israel, and their feeling of disappointment arising from the faith they had in the Messiah before his death. The Lord took his time to explain the scriptural passages concerning the events and subsequently remonstrated them for their lack of faith in the word of God. Breaking the word of God for them along the road regenerated faith in their downcast hearts and fostered hope. The experience prepared them for the communion or Eucharistic banquet, designed by the Lord to be the centre and fount of the Church’s life and spirituality. With renewed faith and hope, they invited the supposed stranger to be their guest at the table. His demonstration of deep knowledge of the scriptures must have convinced them that he was a Rabbi of a sort. “So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with them at the table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them, and their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight.” He gave himself to their sense to gently guide them back to the path of faith, that leads every believer to the New Jerusalem. Hence, they headed back immediately to the community in Jerusalem.

The Risen Lord remains always visible to faith in the New Jerusalem, for he, the Lamb, and God illuminate the whole City. God and the Lamb constitute the commonwealth of the New Jerusalem. This eternal and spiritual wealth is not given to the senses but brings about physical effects for the praise of the Risen Lord and God. Peter and John, understanding the nature of the commonwealth of believers, explored it for the healing of the cripple and the conversion of many souls to new Christian faith. “I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!” They understood the great wealth of the real presence of God and Lamb in the new City of God constituted of both the spirits of the just made perfect by their union with the Risen Lord, and the living justified by their faith in the Risen Lord and now being sanctified. Our ability to draw from the commonwealth of the Church of the living God may not be as dramatic as that of Peter and John in healing the cripple at the Beautiful Gate, but the spiritual life of a Christian who understands the real Presence is no less miraculous. The Risen Lord gradually regenerated the faith of the two despondent disciples going away from the community, and afterward ceased to be present to their physical eyes. He also manifests his presence in our midst to keep our faith from dying. One exercise that facilitates this manifestation is a constant and spiritual reading of the word of God. This nurtures faith and opens our hearts to the real presence of the Risen Lord in the Eucharist.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to be faithful to your word, that we may daily encounter the Risen Lord at the Eucharistic banquet.

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