HW: We are all disciples — companions! — on the road to Emmaus!!

A reflection on the Emmaus story, Luke 24:13-35, written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
19 April 2026
Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)

Welcome
Often, as you know from putting up with me, I use a poem towards the end of a reflection. Today, I would like to use one at the start. It is by a UK journalist, Piers Plowright, who lived a long life and battled with cancer. In the last fews day of his life, he had a poem published in The Tablet entitled “Signs.” It begins as follows (the “Big Black Book” is the Bible):

Some sentences leap out
of the Big Black Book
like friends:
‘Supposing him to be the gardener’
‘Did not our hearts burn within us’
‘Come and have breakfast’

Divine ends
dressed in the everyday

Topic
One of the sentences which leap out is in today’s Gospel: ‘Did not our hearts burn within us.’ It is part of the Emmaus story, surely the most beautiful scene painted in words by Luke. It is rightly loved and rightly remembered.

Steps
Luke is remembered in the tradition as an artist and he certainly is an artist with words, writing very pictorially. The Emmaus story is at one level very ordinary: two people on a journey, a meal, a return journey. But it is also a story of deep mystery: the self-presentation of the Risen Lord, who is not recognised until the breaking of the bread and at that very moment vanishes.

Luke is trying to help us to see what are typical features of coming to resurrection faith, believing in Jesus risen from the dead. Making a list of these features is a bit anaemic, paling in comparison to the story, but such a list might include the following:

Recognising the hungers of the heart: “We had hoped”
Knowing and telling the story of Jesus, including his death and resurrection.
Using the scriptures to understand what happened.
Paying attention to the witness of the women
Being open to the unexpected self-presentation of the Lord.
Celebrating the the Lord’s supper and recognising him in the breaking of bread.
Sharing faith with others and finding your convictions confirmed

Expressing the content in this way is flat, even platitudinous, in comparison to the drama we have heard, but may help to give us a clue why this story really is so powerful and so loved. There are layers and layers. 

For me, there are two outstanding moments, when the story kind of stops and then three sentences which stand out. The two moments of stopping resemble each other. Early in the story, Jesus stops the pair walking, They stopped short, their faces downcast or in another translation: they stood still, looking sad.  The other moment is towards the end of the story when the mysterious figure seems to be going on, walking out of their lives and, this time, the pair stop him, with the words, ‘It is nearly evening and the day is almost over.’

The three sentences which stand out begin with that last one: ‘It is nearly evening and the day is almost over,’ ‘they recognised him’ and ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’

In many ways, the first sentence is the key to the whole story. Until then, all the elements of Easter faith are there with one exception. Until they desire to have this Jesus in their lives and express it, nothing really happens, certainly not Easter faith. Luke is telling us that there are many dimensions to coming to Easter faith but the key one is the inner movement of the heart, the express desire to have this Jesus in your life, the deep yes from within each individual. It is a powerful teaching, even today.

Conclusion
Let me conclude by reading the whole poem I began with.

Some sentences leap out
of the Big Black Book
like friends: 
‘Supposing him to be the gardener’
‘Did not our hearts burn within us’
‘Come and have breakfast’

Divine ends
dressed in the everyday
gardener, lover, cook,
standing in for God,
the truth not far way
but near as breath:
fruit, fire, charcoaled fish
holding the Word.

These signs seem right
to me:
no cloud, no lightning flash, no mystery,
no ‘Unknown God’ to puzzle out.
But something real, solid,
near-at-hand
and free.

In other words, the eternal God still comes to us in the everyday, thanks be to God!