Hearts Burning

by Janet Brooks Gerloff

It must have been a difficult walk. It was a seven-mile trek that Cleopas and a companion made together on that first day of the week. It was "that" day. It was the day of the resurrection of Jesus. Cleopas (not one of the headliner disciples) had decided to leave Jerusalem. He and his traveling partner were debriefing the events of the weekend.

"While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him."  [Luke 24:15-16]

Jesus wasn't invisible. The two simply didn't know that it was Jesus. He must have looked like anyone else you might run into while on a walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Jesus was traveling incognito.

How much like Cleopas and his companion are we? Do we recognize Jesus in our midst? Can we see Jesus in our fellow travelers? Do we notice Jesus in our neighbor? Is Jesus recognizable in the other, the different, the unfamiliar, the outsider, the immigrant, the lonely, the least?

Maybe our expectations are setting us up for disappointment. What do you think? Where do you recognize Jesus these days? Where do you think he shows up to encounter us?

The gospel reading for this coming Sunday, the third Sunday of Easter, is Luke 24:36b-48. Take some time to read over the passage in the days ahead. Pretend you are the travel companion of Cleopas.  What do you see? What do you hear? What do you say? What do you confess?

Rembrandt, Supper at Emmaus (1628)

+            +            +

Third Sunday of Easter

May 4, 2014

Prayer of the Day

O God, your Son makes himself known 

to all his disciples 

in the breaking of bread. 

Open the eyes of our faith, 

that we may see him in his redeeming work, 

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, now and forever.

Readings
Acts 2:14a, 36–41

Psalm 116:1–4, 12–19

1 Peter 1:17–23

Luke 24:13–35