Eastertide #8:  Sunday 2 of 7.

Then they recognized Him.

(Luke 24:31)

It takes a while to “recognize Him”. He doesn’t force himself on you like a Houdini act: “Walla!”  Christ gives us space—space to wonder, to sort things out, and to trust it really is Him.

That’s how the journey home to Emmaus ended; but, along the way our resurrected Lord didn’t let on. He pretends like he didn’t know about the events of Passover that shattered hope: “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem,” ask Cleopas of Jesus, “who does not know the things that have taken place in these days?” To which our resurrected Lord replied, “What things?” So, the Emmaus couple continued telling Jesus about Jesus and about how he was crucified and how they “had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

They went on to tell how some of the women “went to the tomb and did not find his body there” and about “a vision of angels.” Jesus listened to their story about himself; and then, while still on the road—still incognito, Jesus leads a bible study that stirred their hearts: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”  From scripture, Jesus taught them “how it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer”—for their parochial hopes to be shattered.

When they took a turn for home, our resurrected Lord pretended to walk on. But they couldn’t let him go, saying, “Stay with us… so he went in to stay with them.” That’s when it happened: “When he was at table with them… their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.”