St. Luke’s story of the Resurrected Christ appearing to two disciples while walking along the way to Emmaus (“Warm Spring”) communicates the reality and truth of Christ. It is a priceless account, evidently composed by St. Luke and used as a part of his climax to his Gospel, which is the first half of his story of God in Christ (the Gospel) and Christ present through the Holy Spirit in his faithful (the Acts of the Apostles). The Emmaus-road account is so complete that it contains the essence of what has been called “the Christ Event.” If we knew only this one story of Jesus, it should be enough to elicit a living and saving faith in us. The essence of faith is the opening of the soul to divine Presence.
Note at least the following elements of the Emmaus Way story: the Risen Christ appears to his disciples, as he wills; he enters into a dialogue with disciples, asking questions and answering them in turn; Christ challenges their thinking and especially their lack of faith; he abides with his disciples, or remains with us, at our request; his simple action of breaking bread with his disciples is sufficient for us to recognize that he is present with us. And once made known to us, he no longer needs to appear bodily, as we recognize him alive in us. And note especially that the Risen Christ speaks his word to his disciples, and that his words have a powerful affect in our minds: “Did not our hearts burn within us, as he talked with us on the way, while he opened to us the scriptures” (Luke 24:32)? Without the presence of Christ through faith, reading the scriptures is not spiritually nourishing, but merely eyes glancing over dead letters on an antique page.
It is my long-standing opinion that Luke, “the beloved physician,” and disciple of the Apostle Paul, has shared with us his own experience of Christ in the Emmaus Road account. I do not mean that Luke was walking along the road, nor that the details bespeak his experience. But trusting faith in the Risen Christ, who reveals himself to his disciples, who is known to them in the Eucharist, in the “breaking of the bread,” and especially the encounter with Christ’s Word burning in his heart was St. Luke’s experience. Why would this man take the effort to write his Gospel and the Acts unless he himself had experienced Christ, and wanted to communicate that experience in writing for the benefit of others? He was being “a good steward of the mysteries of God.” St. Luke surely knew intensely what it means to have his heart set on fire by the Word of Christ dwelling in his soul, and he had to share this life-giving experience. No one who encounters Christ Jesus, the fully deified man of God, crucified for us, risen and alive in God forever, can keep the experience of Christ to himself or herself. “Did not our hearts burn within us, as He talked with us on the way, and open to us the Scriptures?” That is surely my experience, too. Is it yours? The pneumatic presence of Christ in our souls makes our sharing in the sacraments—and especially the Eucharist—a living experience, and not a lifeless routine.
Alleluia!
