Scripture Reflection – Third Sunday of Easter (29th and 30th of April)

How many times have you been challenged, impressed or stirred by a story you have been told, or a film that you have seen or a play? How many times have you had the opposite response – unimpressed, indifferent or unenthusiastic by what you have been told, or a film you have seen or a play? The difference is, that in the latter, it has not evoked a sense of identification or participation. The former has evoked from within us the opposite – identification and personalization.

The same reality applies to the Gospel for this Sunday – the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The disciples are despondent because the man in whom they had invested all their dreams and hopes “appears” to have betrayed them. Their hopes for a liberated Israel have come to nothing because the leaders of their people have had him crucified.

So much for their story. We too have travelled our own ‘road to Emmaus.’ We travel it quite a lot. We have our own moments of despondency and betrayal. The bitterest moments are when we feel that God has either abandoned us or is indifferent to our needs. The problem is not with ‘the God who is’ but with the god we have created. Just like the two on the road to Emmaus, the Jesus who they followed was not the messiah they created. The reality is the two disciples let themselves down. And we too can do the same.

Let us listen to the Word of God – let us listen as if this is the most important message that I will receive this week – let us absorb this message for what it can speak to us – and not ‘recreate’ it to fulfil a need. Let the love of God speak deep within us.