SPEAKER_00: Two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we hear in today's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And they say, We were hoping.
SPEAKER_00: That's the line.
SPEAKER_00: Not we are hoping.
SPEAKER_00: Not we are still believing.
SPEAKER_00: No, we were hoping.
SPEAKER_00: Past tense.
SPEAKER_00: You see how hope has died?
SPEAKER_00: If we're honest, that's a very real place, something that we've all encountered.
SPEAKER_00: Not atheism, not rebellion, just disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: You believed, you trusted, you thought God was going to act, and it didn't happen the way you expected.
SPEAKER_00: So you don't make a big dramatic break.
SPEAKER_00: You just walk away.
SPEAKER_00: That's Emmaus.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the incredible part.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't wait for them to come back.
SPEAKER_00: He goes after them.
SPEAKER_00: He meets them on the road.
SPEAKER_00: And at first they don't recognize him.
SPEAKER_00: Which tells us something very important.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus can be present in your life right now, at this very moment, and you still don't see him.
SPEAKER_00: Not because he's absent, but because your expectations are way off.
SPEAKER_00: They were looking for a victorious Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: They got a crucified one.
SPEAKER_00: So they missed him.
SPEAKER_00: Now hold that and go to the first reading.
SPEAKER_00: A crippled man from birth is sitting at the gate every day, same place, same routine.
SPEAKER_00: And when Peter and John walk by, he asks for money.
SPEAKER_00: That's something probably to be expected.
SPEAKER_00: You've probably seen this in different places.
SPEAKER_00: A small improvement, a little help to survive.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter says something powerful.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have, I give you.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, In the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the connection.
SPEAKER_00: Both the crippled man and the disciples had settled for less than what God wanted to give.
SPEAKER_00: One expected coins, the others expected a political victory.
SPEAKER_00: Neither expected resurrection power.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where it it all hits, where it all comes together.
SPEAKER_00: Because how often do we do the same?
SPEAKER_00: We come to God asking for small things or just fix a situation.
SPEAKER_00: Just if you can make this a little easier, just help me get to through this.
SPEAKER_00: If you can just make this happen.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, I don't just want to help you cope.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to just help you get through this.
SPEAKER_00: I want to raise you up.
SPEAKER_00: The man at the gate asked for money.
SPEAKER_00: He got his life back.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples were walking away in disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: They encountered the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And notice how both stories change.
SPEAKER_00: The man doesn't just stand, he leaps up.
SPEAKER_00: He goes into the temple praising God.
SPEAKER_00: That's not survival, that's transformation.
SPEAKER_00: And the Emmaus disciples, well, the moment they recognize Jesus, what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They get up immediately and they go back.
SPEAKER_00: Seven miles at night.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because once you see him, once you have an encounter with him, you can't stay where you were.
SPEAKER_00: That's the pattern of resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we've been seeing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus meets you where you are, but he refuses to leave you there.
SPEAKER_00: Here's how it happens in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes are open in the breaking of the bread.
SPEAKER_00: That's not random.
SPEAKER_00: That's the Eucharist.
SPEAKER_00: They walk with him, they listen to him, but then they recognized him where?
SPEAKER_00: At the table, at the altar.
SPEAKER_00: That's all of us.
SPEAKER_00: At every single mass.
SPEAKER_00: You might come distracted, you may come tired, carrying a lot of weight, baggage, but here in the word and in the breaking of the bread, God reveals himself.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the question for today.
SPEAKER_00: Where have you settled?
SPEAKER_00: Where have you said, oh, this is just how it is?
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to get any better.
SPEAKER_00: Where have you lowered your expectations of God?
SPEAKER_00: Where have you quietly walked away without even realizing it?
SPEAKER_00: Because Easter says this: you're asking for coins just to get by, and God is offering you resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And you're walking away.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is already walking towards you.
SPEAKER_00: So what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Same as both readings, you respond, you let him raise you up, you let him open your eyes, and maybe today, very simply, your prayer is this Lord, I was hoping.
SPEAKER_00: Help my hope again.
SPEAKER_00: Because the risen Christ is not waiting at a distance, he's already on the road towards you.
SPEAKER_00: And he gets there beside you, already speaking, already ready to take you by the hand and say, Rise, I call you to more.
SPEAKER_00: I call you to greatness.
SPEAKER_00: And once you do that, you just start to walk differently.
SPEAKER_00: You won't just start walking, you will run, you will leap with a fire in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.