The Joy Of Walking With Jesus

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜 𝟑:𝟏-𝟏𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟎𝟓:𝟏-𝟗 “𝐑𝐞𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐎 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟐𝟒:𝟏𝟑-𝟑𝟓

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬…?” (𝐯.𝟑𝟐)

How far would you go to share with others a beautiful experience you just had? Passing a board exam, getting wed to your childhood sweetheart, birth of a first-born child, moving into a new home and, job promotion perhaps?

Let’s go straight to the point since this is the message of the Gospel today. What if you had an encounter with Jesus Christ? Let’s say you were seated in a park pondering your future and Jesus sat beside you. You didn’t recognize him at first, but it seemed odd that he was dressed in that seamless flowing robe not to mention that he was bearded with his hair reaching to his shoulders. And what you couldn’t forget that will remain etched in your memory were those piercing eyes and the love that you could feel from the way he looked at you.

Sensing your frustration and despondency at the way your life had turned out Jesus spoke calmly and said to you: “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆.” (𝑱𝒆𝒓 29:11) And after he had said this he vanished from your sight. Then and only then did you realize that it was Jesus who sat beside you and spoke to you and gave you hope at a time when you couldn’t make anything out of your life.

Won’t your heart burn from the excitement that your first reaction was to jump and run to share the news with your family and peers? Such is natural because every piece of good news that we have received or joyous events we have experienced in our life are not to be kept to ourselves but must be shared with others.

This was what the two disciples experienced who on their way home to Emmaus were joined by Jesus along the way and although they didn’t recognize him at first, they probably had this eerie feeling there was something different with this person who was walking with them because he seemed to know the reason why Christ suffered and died (𝐯𝐯.𝟐𝟓-𝟐𝟕).

Jesus came at the right time because these two disciples – one was identified as Cleopas – have lost hope “𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍” (𝒗.21) and their dreams of being liberated was shattered when Jesus was crucified and died on the cross.

These two disciples must have felt a double whammy had hit them because not only was Jesus put to death by crucifixion but even his body was nowhere to be found. Jesus could have changed the mindsets of these two disciples right there but this was typical of Jesus who does not force himself on anyone. As they neared their destination, Jesus acted as if he were going farther (𝐯.𝟐𝟖) but they insisted that he stays with them for the night (𝐯.𝟐𝟗).

Cleopas and the other disciple actually could have recognized Jesus early on especially when he chided them on the road to Emmaus for their slowness of heart to believe what the scriptures had said concerning the Messiah (𝐯.𝟐𝟓).

Surely, they must have recognized his voice but couldn’t because they felt defeated and downcast. Some of us may have experienced the same thing when we can’t think straight when things don’t turn out right and frustration and depression sets in.

St. Augustine of Hippo explained why these two disciples acted this way: "𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥" (𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯 235.1). And from the 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 3.25.72 it says: “𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩."

As they sat down at the table, Jesus explained the Scriptures to them and as he took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight (𝐯𝐯.𝟑𝟏-𝟑𝟐). It was only then that they recognized who he was since they may have also been present at the feeding of the 5,000 and or at the last Passover meal of Jesus at the Upper Room.

There are at least two points that make this narrative remarkable: (1) Emmaus is to the West of Jerusalem. Hence, the two disciples were walking towards the sunset as it was already dusk. This is the exact opposite of what a Christian should be. It has been said that a Christian must set his sights towards the sunrise and not towards the sunset which means that we as Christians must not allow whatever frustrations or problems that come our way to hinder us from seeking that which is good.

They were also walking in the wrong direction because they headed for Emmaus when the rest of the disciples remained in Jerusalem. In other words, these two disciples were walking away from the fellowship of other believers in Jerusalem. We too will probably fail to recognize Jesus as with these two disciples if we separate ourselves from the Church and or Community. The beauty of this Gospel was that Jesus will not leave us wandering in our dashed hopes and frustrations as he will bring us back to the fold if we are willing.

(2) The other point was that the joy that the two disciples experienced moved them to rise and head back to Jerusalem. This was a seven-mile journey on foot and it we go by what this Gospel passage says the two disciples did not have time to rest as they stood up the moment Jesus vanished.

All that they could think about was to share their experience with the other disciples and this is what the question at the beginning meant – how far would you go to share a beautiful experience you had or to be more straightforward about it, how far would you go to bring Christ to others?

When they reached Jerusalem, they found their fellow disciples sharing their own experiences of their encounters with Jesus. They told of Jesus appearing to Peter (𝟏 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟓:𝟓) and the two disciples shared their own experiences with Jesus who broke bread with them (𝐯.𝟑𝟓).

This should be the same with us. As with the two disciples who trekked back to Jerusalem because they could not contain the joy of encountering Jesus, we too should not keep the Gospel to ourselves because the gift we have received we must give as a gift to others. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 23, 2025)