3rd Sunday of Easter
Readings
Acts 2:14,22-33
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35
Reflection:
The hopes and dreams of the disciples on the road to Emmaus were shattered when Jesus was crucified. Their belief that Jesus was the promised Messiah and would free them from Roman occupation was brutally crushed. They were sceptical of reports that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Clearly, an empty tomb was not enough to dispel their fears and rekindle faith in Jesus. What was left but to go home and try to pick up the broken pieces? In that moment, Jesus walked beside them unrecognised and engaged with them in conversation. They had all the pieces of the story, but they needed him to help fit them together and make sense of how his life, death and resurrection were always part of God’s saving plan. Our faith journey can be like that, too, as we try to fit the pieces of our lives together with their joys and sorrows. Other disciples had declared their belief that Jesus had been raised, but it was not enough. It can be like that for us as well. Most of us were born into believing families and were instructed and guided in our faith at primary and secondary school, and by the worshipping community. All that takes only so far. We need to experience for ourselves that Jesus walks beside us, lifting our burdens and showing us the way forward. Let’s pray that we can make our own the words of Psalm 16:8-11 Peter used to describe Jesus’ faithfulness on the cross: “I saw the Lord before me always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.”
Fr. Chris Monaghan CP, lectures in the New Testament and is President of Yarra Theological Union. He is a member of the Passionist community of Holy Cross in Templestowe.