4/26/20: 3rd Sunday of Easter: With Downcast Eyes We Cannot Recognize God

Today we hear the magnificent Gospel passage about the encounter between Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The passage begins by telling us that the disciples are leaving Jerusalem for Emmaus. This should get our attention because throughout most of Luke's gospel Jesus is going towards Jerusalem. That these disciples are going away from Jerusalem tell us what their spiritual and psychological reality is: Discouraged by what has happened to Jesus, they are moving away from the place where there is communion with God. But in his compassion Jesus does not allow them to by themselves but chooses to walk with them on their road of discouragement. But because their eyes are "downcast", they are unable to recognize that it is Jesus -- God in person -- who has come to walk with them. Only when he breaks the bread for them do they finally recognize him. May we lift our downcast eyes to see not only earthly things but also the heavenly reality: Jesus who comes to walk with his disciples in their sin and suffering and to lead us back to Jerusalem, back to communion with God!