The story of the meeting of the disciples with Jesus on the road to Emmaus is familiar. The question remains after two thousand years, why did they not recognize him? I think that the unnamed companion of Cleophas must have been Mary his wife, the sister of the Blessed Virgin, who is mentioned by John. In that case, it was not any old disciple, but his aunt that Jesus chose to appear to. She ought to have recognized him; but she was convinced that he was dead. She was particularly betrayed by her political aspirations. Her idea that Jesus was going to overthrow the Romans was unrealistic but it was at the forefront of her mind. Her disappointment clouded her judgement. The idea that he was, in conversation with her, expounding a new understanding of the will of God, was more than she could cope with. Until he blessed the bread and wine. Then they knew who he was, and left us an example of reverence for the Eucharist that echoes down the ages.
Tonight we are meeting for prayer and praise; there have been enough opportunities earlier in the day for Communion. But it is still easy to live in ignorance or lack of recognition of the Risen Lord. We can be so preoccupied by our own desires and prejudices that we fail to notice, much less look for God. We may blame ourselves for not seeing the presence of God in everyday circumstances. If we were to try, we could surprise God hiding in the simplest details of our lives; we could hear the Word of God in the voice of a friend; we could see his face in the smile of a stranger. The problem is too often that we want to use God for our own purposes, and so we fail to see him as he really is. God is walking beside us and we are ignorant of his presence.
All we need is the consciousness that Christ is risen, that Jesus is here, that he is with us, not dead in Jerusalem, not locked in a tomb, not stiffly preserved in the pages of a Bible, but actually living and walking among us, really alive and concerned for our welfare. It is not simply the resurrection of Christ from the dead that we celebrate today, as if it were just a story about the Godhead. It is a story about human existence too. It is the occasion when a human being broke through the barrier between death and life. Now we can all assert with confidence that through him we can expect to live again after our death, that death is not the end, and that the love of God will accompany us not only throughout our lives as far as the grave but through the grave into eternal life. Amen