The Emmaus Story! How\nmany times have we heard it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you know, I\u2019ll bet that most of us tend to judge the\ndisciples along the road a little too harshly because our perspective is so\nmuch different than theirs was. We are\ncalmly reading the Gospel with knowledge of everything that has happened But these disciples walking along the road\nonly knew what they saw and heard in real time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, let\u2019s try to put ourselves in their position for just a\nminute. I am certain that many of you\nhave watched Mel Gibson\u2019s \u201cPassion of the Christ\u201d, if not this year, then in\nthe last couple of years. It was hard to\nwatch because it was so graphic. We\nreally don\u2019t want to think that anyone could be as cruel to another human being\nas the authorities were when they beat and and tortured Jesus the way it was\ndepicted in that movie. But you know\nwhat? It was probably even worse than\nthat! The experts that have examined the\nshroud of Turin, and those historical experts who were familiar with how\nCrucifixions were actually performed, have said as much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those disciples walking along the road had seen all that\nhappen. The last they saw of Jesus he\nwas, as we here in the Isaiah prophecy, \u201cmarred beyond recognition\u201d. The idea that he rose from the dead and was\nwalking around in a dazzling purified state, well, that was just too much to\nbelieve. And even though Jesus had told\nthem exactly what was going to happen before it happened, they just didn\u2019t get\nit; even when the women came back from the tomb and told them that it happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The root of their problem is Faith, when you come right down\nto it. The Faith of these disciples had\nbeen shaken by the reality of the horror that Jesus endured. Most probably, all of us would have reacted\nthe same way. That\u2019s why the Emmaus\nStory is so valuable to us. First\nJesus teaches these two people yet again the essence of his teaching in his three-year\nministry. He interprets the scriptures\nthat predicted his coming and fulfillment of the promise to redeem them first. And in a flash, they recognize him, because\nhe reminded them and just put everything in the right perspective. It all happened just as was predicted. And so, their faith was given a giant shot in\nthe arm. They had seen, and so they\nbelieved. Indeed, the Lord is risen! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in the process, Jesus does something truly profound for\nus. Jesus reenacts the Last Supper. He repeats the words of consecration of the\nbread and wine as his Body and Blood, thereby demonstrating for all that he\nmeant what he said on Holy Thursday. That\nbread and wine that the priest offers and blesses does become the real body and\nblood of Christ. This is a tremendous\nstumbling block for so many Christians; and yet, it is the bread of life, a\nresource of incredible power for all of us who really believe because we have continuing\naccess to almighty God- He has not left us. \nBut we have to believe, really believe, even though it just doesn\u2019t seem\npossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It didn\u2019t seem possible that a man who was \u201cmarred beyond\nrecognition\u201d; beaten and tortured to death; a man who shed virtually all of his\nblood in the process- it just didn\u2019t seem believable that such a person could\nrise from the dead. But it happened, and\nhundreds of people were witnesses to it. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Likewise, it just doesn\u2019t seem possible that the bread and\nwine are really the body and blood of Christ. \nBut that\u2019s what Emmaus is about- Jesus showed us again that he really\nmeant what he said. He said the words\nand he was there in the resurrected body; and in a flash, the Eucharist was\nstill there, but the visible Christ was gone. \nWe are called to believe that- we are not called to look for a rational\nproof of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, the thing is that once we get beyond the lingering\ndoubt; the need for understanding how it\u2019s possible; and just really accept on\nFaith the important truths of Christianity- the Incarnation; the Resurrection;\nand the Eucharist; then something really amazing happens to us. It happened to Peter and John in our first\nreading. Their faith was so strong that\nthey could work mighty miracles in Jesus name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of us have the potential to do the same when we really\nbelieve! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Easter Wednesday Acts 3: 1-10; Luke 24: 13-35 Deacon Larry Brockman The Emmaus Story! How many times have we heard it? And you know, I\u2019ll bet that most of us tend to judge the disciples along the road a little too harshly because our perspective is so much different than theirs was. We are calmly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[200],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1148,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/1148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}