At Home in Our Faith - Third Sunday of Easter, Luke 24:13-35

After the trauma of losing Jesus, witnessing his death, and then hearing that he is alive, his disciples were full of confusion and anxiety. What now? Can they believe the testimony of the women who claimed to see him? We relive those troubling emotions again this weekend when we hear the story of two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. They are so cast down that when Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, they don’t recognize him: “but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” The disciples had simply stopped looking for him. Being able to observe reality seems to require some measure of expectant faith. We need to see with the eyes of our hearts.

Jesus is the one who opens our eyes. “And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him….” Jesus is asking all of us to expect to see him alive in everyday events, such as the simple meal he shared with his disciples. He is speaking to our hearts in the voices of our family members and in the hurting families we see in the media and in our neighborhoods.
Once we recognize the Lord at work, let us say to each other, “"Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?" CFM has trained us to Observe, Judge, and Act, so let us “set out at once” to act effectively to bring the Good News to our waiting world.