The risen Lord said he would never leave us or forsake us. At the Last Supper, he instituted the New Covenant out of the Passover meal of the Old Covenant. This mystery, or sacramentum, would assure His presence among us until His return. "Take and eat, This is my body....do this in remembrance of me" The words he spoke "in remembrance" were the same words used elsewhere in scripture for actively offering sacrifice. He was and is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Israel was told at the passover, to eat the lamb, to eat all of it with bitter herbs with their shoes on their feet, ready to travel from death to life.
His presence is among us today. Not in just a spiritual way, though that is certainly true, but really and substantially in the bread and wine consecrated by His Church. Consecrated by men who had hands laid on them by men who had had hands laid on them in turn, all the way back to the apostles, an unbroken line of succession. He keeps His promises. He promised a Church whom the gates of Hell could not stand against. He promised His presence in the sacrament of the altar.
The disciples going to Emmaus did not know Who was with them, even when he opened the scriptures and showed them over and over how they pointed to Him. They didn't recognize him until He broke the bread, the Bread of Heaven, and only then were their eyes opened to His presence among them.
Luke 24:13-35
Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What matters are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces downcast.
Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth’ they answered ‘who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.’
Then he said to them, ‘You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?’ Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.
When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but they pressed him to stay with them. ‘It is nearly evening’ they said ‘and the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’
They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, ‘Yes, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.
No comments:
Post a Comment