Introduction: Humming in the Darkness
This is one of the great passages of the New Testament, only reported by Luke, for it encapsulates in a little over 20 verses the whole Christian life! It is Easter Sunday, as the passage opens. Two otherwise unknown disciples, Cleopas and his companion (perhaps his wife) are leaving Jerusalem and traveling toward Emmaus – approximately seven miles away (a day’s walk). You can imagine their feelings. Their friend, Jesus, has been horribly crucified. All hope dashed. Wasn’t he the One who would save them? The promised Messiah? The One who was to come? They are struggling to make sense of what has occurred, so that they can put the experience behind them – and continue to go on as best they could.
Identify a time when you felt that all hope was lost.
Then Jesus himself approaches them, but “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.”
What do you think was that “something” that prevented them from recognizing him?
Seeing their obvious despondency and disillusionment, Jesus asks them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” He invites them to share their experiences and interpretations of the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Apparently spice-bearing women had spread the hard-to-believe news of the empty tomb throughout the town that morning. For them, it was simply too much to really believe – and puzzling.
When Jesus remarks on their foolishness and “how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke,” he begins to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures in light of his life, death, and resurrection. “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
What is meant by the phrase: “the foolishness of the Gospel? Anything “foolish” in your own journey?
As they reach their destination, they urge Jesus “to stay with them for it is nearly evening.”
Only the words from Scripture can beautifully describe the dramatic event of that evening: “And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him; but he vanished.”
This remarkable scene is a model of the Eucharist: “It is a meal that emphasizes both hospitality and revelation. The passage as a whole follows the contours of the Mass: the disciples come to the celebration with concerns and doubts; they recite Scripture and hear a sermon; and finally they gather together in fellowship over a meal as a sign of revelation, hope, and renewal. The disciples are then set free from their ‘downcast” state and return at once to bear witness.” –Mahri Leonard-Fleckman
I would invite you to read and ponder the words from the Gospel of Luke 24:13-35.
What word or words caught your attention?
What in this passage comforted/challenged you?
Further Questions and Reflections:
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way.” Is your faith “on fire?”
How would you honestly “rate” your faith?
In what ways is Jesus still an “unknown” to you?
AN EMMAUS PRAYER
HUMMING IN THE DARKNESS
Hope means to keep living
amid desperation
and to keep humming
in the darkness.
Hoping is knowing that there is love.
It is trust in tomorrow
It is falling asleep and waking again
when the sun rises.
In the midst of a gale at sea,
it is to discover land.
In the eyes of another,
it is to see that you are understood.
As long as there is still hope
There will also be prayer.
And you will be held
in God’s hands.
- With Open Hands, Henri Nouwen
Perhaps the two disciples were quickly returning to Jerusalem that very night – humming in the darkness all the way home!
May we also hum along the way with Jesus.
Deacon David
Deacon David Suley
St. Andrew Apostle Catholic Church
Silver Spring, Maryland
Published with Permission
