The Road We Did Not Expect
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
Luke 24:13-15
Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “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. 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.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 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 from their sight.
Grace Prayed For
Lord, grant us the grace to recognize your presence in the unexpected encounters of this day.
Reflection
There is something achingly human about the walk to Emmaus. Two disciples, burdened with grief and confusion, set out on a road away from Jerusalem — away from the place of loss, away from the empty tomb they didn’t quite know how to believe. They are doing what we all do in the aftermath of something shattering: moving, talking, trying to make sense of it.
And then a stranger joins them.
What strikes us most, perhaps, is the ordinariness of it. Jesus does not appear in glory, does not announce himself with trumpets. He simply draws near and walks with them. He enters the conversation already in progress. He asks what they are talking about, as if he doesn’t know, as if their confusion and their grief matter — because they do.
For our small group gathered in these Easter days, this scene is an invitation. The fifty days between Easter and Pentecost are not a long, triumphant celebration of something already finished. They are a pilgrimage — a walking together — in which the Risen Lord desires to accompany us, to hear what we are carrying, to open the Scriptures to our hearts.
What road are you on today? What conversations are you replaying in your mind? What remains unresolved, confusing, heavy? Bring it to this walk. The One who joined the Emmaus disciples without announcement is walking with your group right now.
The disciples didn’t recognize him at first. That’s alright. Recognition comes. It almost always comes in the breaking — of bread, of assumptions, of the walls we’ve built around what we thought was possible.
For now, it is enough to walk. To notice who has drawn near.
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Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post