NOTES for Luk 24:12-35
Several points closely connected with our lives stand out in today’s account by the evangelist Luke of the risen Christ’s appearance to Luke and Cleopas on the road to Emmaus. First, there is the central meaning of the Lord’s words that it was thus “necessary for the Christ to suffer and enter into His glory.” He tells Luke and Cleopas that the Crucifixion and Resurrection were not merely a tragic accident in which Christ died as a result of human malice. As the authors of liturgical texts insistently emphasize, they were a voluntary manifestation of God’s love, a sacrifice offered by Him for our salvation.
Second, there are the disciples’ remarkable words: “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road...?” We often wonder why we hear God so poorly and why we fail to recognize His presence. This burning of the human heart when it comes into contact with truth is the Creator’s greatest gift to us, the gift of recognizing the time of visitation. Luke and Cleopas were the first and gave us a most important example. Now, after their testimony, we know that this is what happens when we experience an encounter with the Risen One.
And finally, third, there is the fact that definitive, clear, and complete recognition occurs in the breaking of bread. Interpreters differ in their explanations of these Gospel words. Some say that perhaps the Lord broke the bread with a characteristic gesture that Luke and Cleopas might have seen before. Others suppose that at the moment of breaking the bread the disciples saw the nail wounds on the risen Christ’s hands. Still others think that, as the Lord gave them the bread, He said, “This is My Body.” A fourth group regards it as a mystery that cannot be explained rationally. One thing cannot be reinterpreted: the sure and complete encounter with the risen Christ takes place in the Breaking of Bread—that is, in the Eucharist. This is true not only for Luke and Cleopas, but for everyone who loves Jesus from that day until the end of the age.