SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
(Misericordias Domini)
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Acts 10:40-41: Peter said, “God raised [Jesus] up the third day, and gave him to be revealed, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
Luke 24:30-31: “When [Jesus] had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.”
Reflection
I think most people, at one time or another, have experienced déjà vu, the odd, eerie feeling that you’ve done something before, but you just can’t remember when, or even if. What makes the experience even more unsettling is that it comes as suddenly as it disappears. When it’s over, we’re left wondering whether we indeed were recalling a past event, or just living out a figment of our own imagination.
Today’s Gospel reading reads to me as a kind of two-millennia-old déjà vu experience. We rewind to the evening after the Resurrection. Two hitherto unknown disciples directly encounter the risen Jesus—except they don’t recognize him. We’re not told why. Was it was divine intervention (as my NIV Study Bible says)? Were they just unable to get a good look at Jesus because of the crowds? Or was it their own grief? “We were hoping,” they say, “that it was he who would redeem Israel.” Losing hope is certainly one of the most disorienting things that can happen to any person.
Jesus, still unrecognizable, doesn’t exactly offer them the most comforting words at first, but he does offer the comfort of the Scriptures, claiming that these things had to happen. In other words, the horror of Good Friday, and the joy of Easter, are equal parts of God’s bigger purpose, God’s benevolent plan. Then, at the disciples’ house, the stranger took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples. And if you’ve heard that from somewhere before, that’s the point. It’s the Eucharist. It’s Jesus. And he vanishes out of their sight. Déjà vu.
There’s a striking contrast between this story and last week’s featuring “Doubting Thomas”. If last week’s “soundbyte” was something like, “I have to see and know before I act”, then this week’s is more like, “I act before seeing and knowing”, maybe even “without seeing and knowing”. Thomas is paralyzed by doubt and mistrust. And while we agreed that Thomas’ story shouldn’t be read as a reprimand for questioning, yet the possibility remains that, had it not been for Jesus, Thomas might’ve likely remained in spiritual paralysis.
Not so with today’s disciples. As they walked with this stranger, it grew dark, and so they urged him: “Stay with us, for evening is at hand, and the day is past.” Without even knowing it, they just said a prayer. No wonder those words lend themselves so easily to Evening Prayer (you knew you’d heard them somewhere before, didn’t you?). In their grief and shock, they didn’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, and ended up entertaining the Lord without knowing it (cf. Heb. 13:2). Without seeing this stranger for who he was, they still broke bread with them, and that’s what opened their eyes.
The post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus are some of the most mysterious and elusive accounts we have in our Scripture. But they teach us that the risen Christ is present in the broad and complete spectrum of human experience. He appeared to those who never lost faith in him. He appeared to those who questioned and even challenged him. He appeared to those who couldn’t see him in the person standing before them. And he even appeared to those who persecuted him. Two thousand years later, we can't even be sure what Jesus actually looked like. But we know where we will always find him: in Scripture, in companionship, hospitality, and the breaking of bread.
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, stay with us,
for evening is at hand
and the day is past.
Be our companion in the way,
kindle our hearts, and awaken hope,
that we may know you
as you are revealed in Scripture
and the breaking of bread.
Grant this for the sake of your love.
Amen.
—“A Collect for the Presence of Christ”, from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, p. 124
O Lord our God,
you let your Son stoop down to earth
in order to lift up the broken world with him.
Grant to your people perpetual joy,
and cause them whom you have pulled
out of the fall of everlasting death
to be able to live and breathe in eternal joy;
through your Son Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect for the Second Sunday after Easter; translated by Joseph A. Soltero from Den Danske Salmebog (The Danish Hymnal, 2003), adapted from the “Lund Missal” (1514)
(Words: Cyril A. Alington, 1872-1955; stanza 5 altered by Norman Mealy, 20th century; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015
Tune: ‘Gelobt sei Gott’ by Melchior Vulpius, 1560?-1616)
Good Christians all, rejoice and sing!
Now is the triumph of our King!
To all the world glad news we bring:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord of life is ris’n today!
Sing songs of praise along his way;
Let all the earth rejoice and say:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Praise we in songs of victory
That love, that life which cannot die,
And sing with hearts uplifted high:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Your Name we bless, O risen Lord,
And sing today with one accord
The life laid down, the life restored:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
To God the Father, God the Son,
To God the Spirit, Three-in-One,
We sing for life in us begun:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
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