Sermon by Father David Beresford
In 2013 I visited the Holy Land for the first time. It was an amazing experience. Having read the Bible stories for so long, it was a revelation to see the country itself, to smell the air, to notice the dust under my feet, to feel the sun on my face, to experience the strangeness of it all, and at the same time have the feeling that it was all somehow familiar.
I say familiar, but on the surface, many of the places we visited were unlike the vistas I had created in my imagination. There was one place in particular which turned out to be the complete opposite of how I had imagined it to be. That was the road to Emmaus. In my mind, before I visited the Holy Land, I saw a long, straight road in the desert. On this flat plain, the two disciples in our gospel story are walking when they are joined by the resurrected Jesus. In reality, the road to Emmaus, which is about seven miles from Jerusalem, is in a small valley, with lush vegetation on either side. The road itself is uneven and sloping.
It is an abiding mystery of the resurrection appearances of Jesus that he is so often, at first anyway, not recognized by those who were once closest to him. This is a question for us to ponder. Another question is, who were the two disciples? One of them, we know, is Cleopas. Who was the other? And how and why did Jesus vanish from their sight?
Let’s stop and think about what happened. We know that the Jesus who appears before the disciples is the same Jesus they knew before. Why, then, does he seem a stranger to them? In the gospel it says that “their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” That raises another question: why were their eyes kept from recognizing him? Happily, they eventually do recognize him, when he sits at table and breaks bread with them.
Let’s go back to the road to Emmaus. The paving stones are uneven, and you have to look down when you walk. Whenever you stop and look around, all you see are the sides of the valley. There is no horizon in view, but that is not important because of what happens next: Jesus is walking alongside you.
In their grief, Jesus’ words are strangely warming. Jesus lights a fire within the disciples’ hearts. He explains to them how the Messiah had to undergo suffering and enter into his glory. How all of this was foretold and pre-figured in the story of Moses and the Prophets. At one point Jesus berates them for being “foolish” and “slow of heart”. That’s an intriguing phrase for us to ponder - what does it mean to be “slow of heart”? I think it explains their failure to recognize Jesus - in their heart they had lost confidence in God, because the one whom they thought had come to redeem Israel was now dead. Reports of his sighting after death have left them confused.
It’s easy to lose confidence in God, especially when things are going wrong, or when you are called to bear heavy burdens or afflictions, or when you feel that God has forsaken you. The good news is that, even when you lose sight of Jesus, he never loses sight of you.
Along the road to Emmaus, Jesus gives the disciples a kind of divine history lesson. The events and actions and people which Jesus interprets are not random events in history, but chapters in God’s story, which also happens to be our story. You cannot see or recognize Jesus without first knowing where he came from. And the Old Testament is our best guide to understanding Jesus, and why he was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
As the three of them stop at a fork in the road, Jesus “walked ahead as if he were going on.” By the way, what about the question, who was the other disciple? We know that Cleopas was one. Tradition has it that the other disciple was St. James and, in the painting by Caravaggio in the National Gallery in London, it is St James who is at table. However, it is also possible to surmise that the other disciple is not male but female, since the two of them invite Jesus to a meal, which would suggest they were married. If Cleopas is the same as Clopas in John’s gospel, then his wife Mary had been one of the women at the cross.
In any case, the important thing is that they are not dumb when the stranger begins to go a different way. They call out to him, “stay with us.” Thank God they did! I wonder how many people, by saying or doing nothing, have let an opportunity to welcome Jesus pass by. The disciples make a direct and personal appeal: “stay with us”. The turning in the road has become a kind of turning point for the disciples. Soon the identity of the stranger will be revealed.
The gospel continues: “When he was at table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then were their eyes opened, and they recognized him.” Jesus is revealed in the breaking of the bread. This returns us to the Upper Room, to the Last Supper, where Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist. Jesus is finally recognized in the taking, and blessing, and breaking, and offering of the bread. It is, for the disciples, the final teaching in their divine history lesson.
We are learning too. Jesus is present today sacramentally in the elements of bread and wine. In this sacrament he is recognized as one who shares himself with all, who feeds and nourishes his faithful people, and unites them in the one act of worship.
One theologian described the Eucharist as the living process through which, time and again, the Church becomes the Church. I wonder if the two disciples realized that? Their reaction serves as a model for churchgoers everywhere. The gospel records “That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem.” Note this well: the disciples don’t wait until morning, but at that hour get up to tell their friends in Jerusalem all that has happened. It is the urgency of their evangelism which is impressive. Like Mary Magdalen before them, they hasten to spread the good news. How exciting it must have been for them to return along that same road where, only hours before, the risen Lord had walked alongside them.
Each of you will have walked your own Emmaus Road, and will have had your own experience of sadness, of feeling bereft and without direction. At such times, remember the words of the disciples: “stay with us.” Imagine Jesus drawing near to you, so that your heart is warmed and the knowledge of God is kindled inside you. You may still be walking; today the road leads to the altar where we, like the disciples, will soon share in the bread of heaven.
This is our health and our hope, to be united to Christ, in one body. This is our life, to proclaim, with all urgency, that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. This is our joy, to share in his resurrection life, as we walk together in faith and love as his holy Church.
The Third Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2026