Year A/ Eastertide / Week 3 / Sunday
Readings: Acts 2.14, 22-23 / Psalm 15.1-2a, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11 (R/v 11a) / 1 Peter 1.17-21 / Luke 24.13-35
Dear sisters and brothers, have you considered the journey you might be making through this present pandemic? Where are you moving away from and where are you headed to?
Are you making a journey from what we know as our normal everyday life to the ‘new’ normal that everyone is predicting to come, familiar in some ways, different in others? Or is it a move you have to make from disruption, anxiety, and pain that the coronavirus also inflicts to the assurance of a better, safer place? Maybe, you do not see the need for any journey; you will just wait it out.
The motif of the journey is very much at the heart of today’s Gospel passage. Two disciples are on a journey; they are making their way to Emmaus.
They have left Jerusalem because Jesus is dead. Everything about that space is scared by his pain, suffering, and death. They are fearful, anxious, and lost. They have to move away. To Emmaus. History and geography have no records of such a place. Perhaps, Emmaus is where the disciples need to go to because there they will be able to forget Jesus’ death and the failure of his mission. Maybe there is where they can begin anew. And so they make this journey.
The disciples, however, do not make it in silence or as individuals. The risen Jesus comes to them; their eyes, however, were prevented from recognizing him. He walks in company with them. He talks with them in dialogue.
They share about Jesus and how they saw God working in him. They believe he was the Messiah. They had hopes he would liberate Israel. His death dashed their hopes. Everything they shared was from their point of view.
Jesus shares about himself and the same events but from God’s point of view. He helps them to interpret the Scriptures once again; they understand anew who Jesus really is and how his mission had to be accomplished through suffering and death: only then does his resurrection proclaim God’s saving glory. When Jesus breaks the bread before them, they recognize him as he really is – risen, alive, God-with-us. This encounter transforms them. They return to the very space of unutterable dismay, pain, and uncertainty. No longer afraid but embolden, they herald clearly and joyfully that Jesus is risen.
Can the disciples' journey offer us a lesson for a journey I believe we are all making, whether we are conscious of it or not, through this pandemic?
We have gone through this past week with rollercoaster emotions as the spikes of infections rise, the Circuit Breaker is extended, and restrictions are tightened in Singapore. It echoes other parts of the world. We struggle with the shame that we have not cared enough for the thousands of afflicted migrant workers. We grapple as daily life has to change again and again to safeguard us. We wrestle with the uncertainty of what more is to come.
Like the disciples, we might find ourselves needing to make a journey elsewhere – not physically but to another space where we can mentally find respite and comfort. A place where we can feel better, calmer, more in control, assured. We are all looking for that place where we can experience and know hope is real.
Christian faith teaches us that the risen Jesus comes to make this journey with us. He walks with us and talks with us. He does this through many. Like the front-liners who keep us safe, loved ones who check-in and encourage, all who assist us to carry on with daily life, like bus drivers, supermarket staff, hawkers, food delivery teams, even teachers. and every pray-er who intercedes for all in need. He is present in all life-giving actions of human bravery, mercy and compassion we read about online or watch on our handphones. Every one of these embody the spirit of the risen Jesus. His goodness gives life. It shines through these dark and difficult times.
All of these, moreover, move us to come here today. Our different journeys this past week lead each of us to Mass. Whether online, through prayer, or by faith, we gather around the Lord’s Table now. We believe we recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread. We believe we receive Jesus through spiritual communion. We believe that the Eucharist transforms us. We say “Amen” to this grace of God labouring in us, and to the call Jesus makes that we go forth from this time, this space into the real world again. We go as he has transformed us to be for others: bread broken for all. To all who suffer and are anxious, in pain or lost, the risen Jesus gives us his Spirit to give them life in what we say and do, like he does. This is how we can herald the good news that gives everyone hope – that the risen Jesus is with us and will save us.
Maybe we can now understand the joy of the disciples when they said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” It is not the joy of reaching the destination, as it is the joy of who it is that accompanies us on the journey. This is what really matters on this journey of life and faith you and I are making through this pandemic. We have such a companion at this time when we must make this journey. He is God’s gift to us. He will walk at our pace, and with us. He will talk to us to console and guide us to that day when “All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well” (Julian of Norwich).
Who else walks with us in this pandemic, even suffers like us, if not the risen Jesus?
photo: www.independent.co.uk (reuters)
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