Scripture Reflections for the Third Sunday of Easter

“The meal at Emmaus heralds the re-creation of God’s fallen world. Or we could say that it heralds the bringing of present creation into line with the original design of God, a design that up until now has been thwarted by human sin.”

“our concern today should not be why and how the first followers of Jesus Christ were unable to recognize him after his resurrection. Our response today should be about us Christians. Our concern should be how present-day Christians fail to recognize Jesus.”

“I sometimes wonder what would have happened if they hadn't been so hospitable. It's a good reminder that when we welcome the stranger we can encounter the Lord himself.”

“the Holy Spirit stirs up in us things that we never thought we could do. Gifts that we never thought we could use. Resentments that we never thought we could release. The Spirit stirs these things in us that you and I can dance these things out in discipleship and in following him.”

“please recognize in every human being that God is blessing us and that their wisdom, that their very presence and that our collective united presence as a body, the body of Christ and the body of humanity speaks volumes to any and every heart that is open to any and every mind that is willing to hear the Lord is walking with us.”

“if you want to allow Jesus to do his work through you, you have to...bring hope and encouragement to the other people of the world, you have to pray to God the Father, and you have to share, you have to share with others”

“Cleopas is singled out here and he says to Jesus 'are you the only person who doesn't know what has happened in Jerusalem in these days?'...there's a great irony, I mean, Jesus is the only person in Jerusalem who knows exactly what has happened, that he has in fact redeemed the world through his passion and his death and his resurrection”

“he does answer their prayer. When they ask him to stay with them he does stay with them. But now he's going to remain with them in a different way...he's going to come to them under the appearance of the bread, under the appearance of the bread and wine, under the appearance of the Eucharist”

“when you and I go deeper into that word, disciple and discipline, what do we find? It means to be teachable, to be trainable. If we can't be teachable and trainable we can't be followers.”

“And those disciples, they turned around in the darkness of night and went back home to tell the story: 'Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.' May that be our story this week and every week.”

“So what does Jesus do when he joins them? He focuses on their harm. He enters into their pain in a way that invites them to share deeply on this long 7 mile trek. This is so important because what is not named cannot be healed.”

“take the role of Jesus yourself, walk with disillusioned disciples and let them truly know that Christ is risen, indeed he is risen”

“you may think the disciples had a problem intellectually, that their problem was theological or intellectual but Jesus says that's not the problem. The problem is that 'you're slow of heart.' It must mean that they are lacking the faith that the Apostles lacked in the boat.”

“The question before the debate and maybe the question of the debate, whose witness do we believe? And whose proclamation of the Good News do we dismiss because of the identity of the witness?”

“Even if resurrection is right in our face we still cannot get it because we're refusing to let go of what we ourselves are trying to define things”

“you can count on Jesus to be on the road because the road you are on he's already on that road. He's on it. He's with you, he's not going to desert you”

“We must be free to seek God if we are to ever find the God inside of us”