bread has been broken with his priestly hands, he is with them, and they no longer need
his bodily presence.
Who are these two
disciples, so privileged with Jesus’ presence on the very evening of
the resurrection? Luke tells us the name of only one of the two disciples, Cleopas; so who
is with Cleopas? The answer is simple but easily missed. Who would Cleopas go home
with, other than his wife? According to John’s gospel, we know that “Mary the wife of
Clopas” followed Jesus and was in Jerusalem for the Passover. Indeed, she
was with Mary
the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25). John’s
spelling of Clopas follows the Semitic spelling, whereas Luke, naturally, uses the Greek
spelling. Since Clopas/Cleopas was a rare name, and Cleopas is a disciple of Jesus, it is
hard to imagine that there is a wife of Cleopas who also is in Jerusalem for Passover, and
is a disciple, and is not related to the very Cleopas Luke names. Translators have often
assumed both disciples are men, thus translating Jesus’ admonishment in Luke 24:25 as
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“O foolish men,” when in the Greek it does not mention men at all, but should be
read “O foolish ones!”
At the first creation, God walked in the
garden amidst a man, Adam, and his wife,
Eve. Now, on the first day of the new creation, Jesus walks with a married couple. This
couple has lost all hope, and yet by walking with Jesus, their hearts come back alive. When
the first couple in Genesis ate the first meal (from the forbidden fruit), “then the eyes of
both were opened” (Gn 3:7); as Jesus breaks open the bread at table with the couple from
Emmaus, “their eyes were opened” (Lk 24:31). The eyes of the original couple are opened
to shame and guilt, whereas the new couple that Jesus walks with to Emmaus have their
eyes opened to the resurrected Lord in the Eucharist. The
old creation begins with a
married couple falling from grace, whereas the new creation begins with Jesus blessing a
married couple by breaking open the Scriptures and the bread, where they recognize him
in both.
At Emmaus, Jesus opens the Scripture, which is followed by the Eucharistic meal.
Word and Sacrament are thus entwined, and every Mass follows the Emmaus model,
beginning with the Liturgy of the Word, in which the Church parallels the Old
Testament reading with the Gospel reading (showing Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s
story), followed by the
liturgy of the Eucharist, in which Jesus is made present in the
breaking of the bread.
This twofold pattern is described by the Emmaus disciples, who recall how on the
road “did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened
to us the Scriptures” (Lk 24:32). And they recall how he “was known to them in the
breaking of the bread,” (Lk 24:35), which is Luke’s descriptive phrase for the Eucharist.
By the Word made text in Scripture and by the Word made flesh in the Eucharist, we are
spiritually fed.
“You Are Witnesses of These Things”
Forty days after his resurrection and just
before he ascends into heaven, Jesus leads
his disciples out as far as Bethany, where he blesses them (Lk 24:50–51). Luke opened his
gospel with the story of Zechariah, a priest of the Old Covenant who is left mute, unable
to speak the priestly blessing as he exits the Temple. Now at
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the close of Luke’s
gospel, the new high priest of the New Covenant lifts his hands and blesses his disciples.
God himself bestows the worldwide blessing that will be passed on to all men and women
who call upon Jesus’ name. Jesus ascends before their eyes, and the disciples return to
Jerusalem with great joy.
The goal of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is not a mere intellectual appreciation
that Christ is the fulfillment of the story of salvation but that we might believe and have
life in Jesus’ name (Jn 20:31). Jesus desires that we participate in this new life that he won
for us on the cross. Thus, Jesus tells the disciples, including those he walked with at
Emmaus—now that they have recognized him and understand how Scripture’s story
comes to its full meaning in his death and resurrection—that “you are witnesses of these
things” (Lk 24:48). We, too, who are traveling on our own road to Emmaus in studying
the Scriptures, are addressed by these words of our Lord—we, too, are witnesses of the
work of God in Christ.
Jesus tells his disciples that they are to wait in Jerusalem “until you are clothed with
power from on high” (Lk 24:49). This is precisely how Acts of the Apostles begins, with
the coming of Pentecost and the mission of the Church. To
this mission and its
beginnings we now turn.