Homily for April 19

 

Below you'll find the audio of my homily for this weekend, based on the gospel story of Jesus surprising two of his friends by appearing to them on Easter afternoon, as they're making their way home from Jerusalem back to Emmaus.  Below the widget you'll find the text of my homily. (If a widget doesn't appear below, click here!) Finally, following the text of my homily, you'll find a prayer attributed to Saint Patrick which pairs well with today's gospel and which I offered the assembly for reflection after Communion.

 

 

Jesus drew near to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus but their eyes were PREVENTED from recognizing him…

 

But the scripture doesn’t tell us exactly what prevented these two disciples from recognizing the Risen Jesus at their side. Was it something about him?   Or was it something in them?

 

Certainly their minds and hearts, their thoughts and emotions, were consumed with all that happened in the last few days, all that had been reported to them: the arrest of Jesus by the Roman guards, his appearance before Pontius Pilate, the governor, the suffering he endured, his death on a Cross and his burial and then the amazing report from the women who had visited the tomb that morning - that Jesus had risen from the dead!

 

And now, the risen Jesus is walking with these two disciples - but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

 

Were they so preoccupied, so overwhelmed by grief and confusion that they didn’t recognize their old friend?

 

Did God - of his own design and purpose - choose to let them walk in the mystery, in the darkness - just a little longer?

 

Or was it simply that they never expected to see Jesus again - even though they’d heard the report that he had risen?

 

Here’s a fun fact: you and I have heard that same report. Haven’t we? The report that Jesus who was crucified and buried - rose from the dead. We’ve been told exactly what these two disciples on the road to Emmaus had been told - and yet we, too, often fail to recognize him even when he’s walking right by our side.

 

What prevents you and me from seeing Jesus? What prevents OUR eyes from recognizing him?

 

Certainly there are times when my problems and my worries and fears consume so that I might miss Jesus at my side -even as I pray for him to be there!

 

Or perhaps it’s anger or hurt or disappointment that blur my vision or even blind me such that I fail to recognize Jesus as he draws close to me with peace and healing and hope.

Or it could be that I just don’t pay much attention to the Lord, that I don’t look for him every day in prayer, that I don’t try to keep my heart - and eyes and ears open for his presence? open to him walking at my side?

 

There are so many things in my life that might prevent my eyes from recognizing Jesus, things like:

 

• my prejudices - the ones I don’t admit to others, and especially, the ones I find difficult to admit to myself;

 

• or my stubbornness might prevent me from listening to Jesus: my resistance to looking at things in a new way; my refusal to change my mind  – in spite of what I see, what I hear, in spite of what’s reported to me by reliable witnesses;

 

• or my politics might prevent me from seeing Jesus insofar as that stance trains my vision to see some things - but not others;

       

• or perhaps it might be my unwillingness to even desire to face the reality of Jesus in my life AND the change of heart it would take for me to see him in people I don’t like or don’t love; and welcome him – even at the expense to my own comfort.

 

• or I might blind myself to Jesus at my side because to acknowledge his presence,

would require me to change my thoughts and my ways - so significantly - that others may think me impractical, foolish or crazy, on account of what I claim to see, to believe and hold as truth.

 

• To truly recognize Jesus at my side and choose to walk with him will change and shape my politics and my preferences, the decisions and choices I make, the stands I take, and whom I recognize and name as brother, sister, family and neighbor - and how I welcome them into my life and share with them what I have. 

 

There are so many things, so many situations, so many reasons that prevent our eyes from recognizing, from seeing Jesus - right at our side. But the truth is: the Risen Christ never leaves my side - or yours. There’s not a step we take that the Lord doesn’t walk that step with us.

There’s not a moment of any day or night when he’s not right beside us -  behind us -  and just ahead of us.

But still, we fail to see him.

 

The risen Jesus asked the disciples on the road to Emmaus: “What are you discussing? What’s on your mind? What’s in your heart this morning?”

           
He asks us the same question. He wants to know our story - and often enough our story, like that of the two disciples - is a story of faith, disappointment, confusion and hope.

Jesus wants to be part of our story - on our good days and bad days, through all our ups and downs, in all our joys and sorrows.

• Is there anything this morning in my story, in your story, that prevents our eyes from recognizing Jesus - walking by our side?

 

• How long has it been since I’ve prayed? since I’ve told the Lord my story - and asked him to be part of it? How long has it been since I’ve asked the Lord, as did the two disciples in the story, how long has it been since I’ve asked Jesus,  “Please don’t leave -  stay with me - and be the Lord of my life!”

 

It’s only when the two disciples break bread with Jesus that their eyes are opened and they recognize Jesus.

 

Well – guess what! We’re here this morning to do just that! We are here to share in the breaking of bread as Jesus told us to do at his last supper on the night before he died.

 

Being here on the Lord’s Day is like walking the road to Emmaus. Even if, in the past week, our eyes have been prevented our hearts have failed to recognize Jesus by our side here at the Lord’s Table, at the end of one week and the beginning of another, the Lord draws near and reveals and shares himself with us in the breaking of the Bread.

 

Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we break and share the Bread of Life
and in receiving Communion we’re invited to recognize Jesus who gives himself to us this morning, as once he did on the Cross, so now in the sacrifice and sacrament of this altar.

 

He gives himself to us in this way – precisely – to open the eyes of our hearts to the wisdom and challenge of his word, that his truth might change our lives that we might begin to break ourselves open, like loaves of bread, to welcome and feed our neighbor, our brothers and sisters in Christ: whomever we might meet and wherever we might meet them on the road to Emmaus.

 

While preparing this homily I thought of a prayer attributed to St. Patrick. It’s sometimes called the LORICA, which means armor, and more specifically a hard-shelled casing protecting the chest - in contemporary terms - a kind of spiritual, bullet-proof vest.

 

I share this prayer hoping that its wisdom will open our eyes and help us recognize Jesus – walking by our side…

 

Prayer after Communion 

(from the Lorica of Saint Patrick) 

 

I arise today,

   through God’s strength to pilot me:

   God’s eye to look before me,

   God’s wisdom to guide me,

   God’s way to lie before me,

   God’s shield to protect  me,

      from all who shall wish me ill

         afar and anear, alone and in a multitude,

   God’s shield to protect me ,

      against every cruel merciless power,

         that may oppose my body and soul.

 

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down

Christ when I arise,

Christ to shield me,

  

Christ in the heart

   of everyone who thinks of me

Christ in the mouth

   of everyone who speaks of me.

 

Amen.

 

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