NOTES for Luk 24:1-35
Today's reading gives a detailed account of the disciples' encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus (vv. 13–35). This story is preceded by mention of the empty tomb discovered by the women, as well as of their encounter with the angels, which they reported to the apostles (vv. 1–12). It would seem that the women's account should have prepared the disciples for the possibility of seeing the Teacher risen from the dead, especially since Peter, after visiting the tomb, had made certain that it was empty, thus confirming the story which the apostles had at first disbelieved (vv. 11–12). Yet the disciples walking to Emmaus do not recognize Jesus as He walks beside them (vv. 15–16). Only at the meal, when He broke the bread and recited the corresponding Jewish prayer said at the breaking of bread, did the apostles recognize Him (vv. 30–31).
At first glance, the situation seems rather strange: the disciples initially see Jesus quite clearly but cannot understand that it is He; then, once they recognize Him, for some reason they suddenly lose sight of the Teacher. Yet what we may have before us here is a description of the reality of the Kingdom as it is revealed to someone standing at the boundary between it and the world not yet transformed. Since the coming of Christ, the Kingdom is no longer separated from us by a barrier as it was before, and now anyone who lives a spiritual life can at times see those who dwell in the Kingdom, just as the apostles saw the risen Jesus.
But seeing and recognizing are not the same thing. Recognition requires more than seeing the Kingdom from outside: one must enter it. For the apostles, this happens at the breaking of bread. Just as once at the Last Supper, they find themselves in the Kingdom and then recognize Jesus breaking and blessing the bread. Had they been able to retain the fullness of the Kingdom that had opened before them, perhaps they would not have lost sight of the Teacher. But even before the Resurrection, they often saw Him not with spiritual sight but with physical sight alone. So it is now: the spiritual sight so essential for life in the Kingdom opened in them only for a moment and then went dark again. Although they continued to remain physically in the Kingdom, they became as though blind within it: only that in which untransformed nature still remained was left accessible to their perception.
If the former, untransformed humanity had still remained in Jesus, perhaps they would not have lost sight of Him. But after the Resurrection it was no longer present in Him, and therefore the disciples could no longer see Him. It would seem that after Jesus' Resurrection everything in the apostles' lives should have changed. But encounters with the Risen One alone were not enough for such changes to take place. The apostles themselves still had to be transformed, and this required time and a special action of the Spirit of God, which still lay ahead.