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Morning Devotion for Wednesday in Easter Week
April 3, 2024
The Invitatory
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Reading: Luke 24: 28-35
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
I imagine many of us have had occurrences in our lives that were altogether unexpected and shocking. They so affected us that we became disoriented and almost unable to cope with our very altered circumstances. We don’t know what to make of our condition. There is no handy roadmap for us to guide us step by step. Yet onward, we plod unaware of what may be ahead and unprepared for what may present itself to us. Rarely, do we seize upon this opportunity of mystery to be surprised in a good way. So we are very slow to proceed and resistant to enjoying life as it might unfold to us and reveal more of the mystery in which we find ourselves. We are captured by how unsettled we feel.
So it has been for these disciples now on the road to Emmaus. They have been shattered by the arrest, and crucifixion of Jesus. Perhaps they were not present at the cross and perhaps they did not follow his body to its burial place. They are grief stricken, and yet, because they have not participated in any of these events, their grieving process has been interrupted and stunted. They have been thrown off kilter, perhaps so much so that their eyes were kept from recognizing Jesus. Yet he engages them in conversation about the recent events. While they at first regard him as a stranger, as they walk and talk, Jesus prompts them to wrestle with the new reality of resurrection. It is altogether a mystery. Nothing like this has occurred before. And for us today, it remains a unique occurrence and experience.
Jesus, as stranger, becomes Jesus as companion. In retrospect the promise of new life in Christ, is realized in the burning in their hearts. Jesus reveals to them the full truth of himself as the resurrected Jesus. He moves them from grieving a loss to considering their gain. Towards the end of the journey, their grief subsiding, the two enter more fully into the new relationship. They invite him to be their guest and after accepting, Jesus becomes the host at the table. Here, during the meal, in the breaking of the bread, Jesus reaffirms that through this meal they can and will always find themselves in the new relationship with him that he has established.
The beauty of this story is in its pace and the patience Jesus employs to turn the disciples from their anxiety and grief toward their relationship to and with him; how he interrupts their grief to reorient them, to bring them to himself. Jesus encourages them to cast off their sorrow and seize the joy of eternal life. The relationship of the disciples to Christ is sealed in the breaking of the bread. May we see in each step of our worship how together we, too, will share that intimate relationship with Jesus in the breaking of the bread especially when we celebrate and sing, “Here O my Lord, I see thee face to face."
Prayer for Wednesday in Easter Week
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
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