Christ the Cornerstone
We encounter Jesus in the Holy Eucharist
The Gospel for the Third Sunday of Easter (Lk 24:13-35) tells the powerful story of the two disciples who encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus. The two disillusioned disciples are on their way home, convinced that Israel’s high hopes for the coming of the Messiah had once again been shattered by the powers of sin and death.
The two travelers meet a stranger along the way. In response to his questions, the disciples (one is called Cleopas, the other is unnamed) recount “the things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him” (Lk 24:19-20). They let it be known that they had placed their hopes in him only to be bitterly disappointed:
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his Body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see. (Lk 24:21-24)
The stranger rebukes his newfound companions saying: “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Lk 24:25-26) Then he proceeds to interpret the Hebrew scriptures— beginning with Moses and the prophets—that referred to the way the Cristos (the Anointed One) would have to suffer and die for the redemption of his people.
When the three travelers stop for the evening at an inn near the two disciples’ destination, the stranger is persuaded to stay with them and share the evening meal.
The miracle that occurred that evening (“the first day of the week”) can be described as the first Sunday Eucharist, the first time that the Risen Jesus gave himself to his followers in sacramental form. The fact that the disciples did not recognize him until he broke the bread and shared himself with them—Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity—is significant because it affirms the importance of this great sacrament as the source and summit of the Christian life.
It is in and through the Eucharist (the breaking of the bread) that we encounter the Risen Lord. And it is in the context of this profound sacramental encounter that we are able to understand the truths that are revealed to us in Sacred Scripture, the Word of God that is made flesh in him.
Something wonderful happens to the two disciples. From disillusioned followers who have lost all hope, they become convinced that Jesus is their hearts’ desire:
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us? So, they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. (Lk 24:31-35)
After rejoining the disciples in Jerusalem, the two who recognized Jesus in the Eucharistic miracle that he worked for them must wait with the rest of Jesus’ followers for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Yes, their eyes have been opened, and their hearts were set ablaze by the fire of Christ’s love, but they are not yet ready to proclaim to the world what they have seen with their own eyes.
In time, after the Lord has ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of his Father, all of Jesus’s disciples will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then, nourished by Jesus’s gift-of-self in the Holy Eucharist, and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, they will proclaim Christ crucified and risen from the dead to all nations and peoples until the end of time.
We are invited to join the two disciples in receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist so that we, too, can be empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the mystery of our salvation: The Lord has truly been raised. Alleluia! †