24:1-8 The Angels’ Announcement to the Women
SUNDAY, THE DAY OF RESURRECTION, FIRST AND EIGHTH DAY.
The Lord’s day is called the first of the sabbath. But the first day itself falls away when the second follows it. That day, which both the eighth and the first, represents eternity. It is that day which we abandoned at the beginning by sinning in our first parents and so came down into this mortal state, and also the last and, as it were, the eighth day, to which we again look ahead after the resurrection, once our last enemy death has been destroyed. Only then will this perishable thing put on imperishability and this mortal thing put on immortality.’ The returning son [prodigal) will receive the first robe, which is to be given back to him on the last and, so to say, eighth day, after the labors of his distant exile and his feeding of pigs, and the other miseries of mortal life, and the sevenfold circulation of the wheel of time.
So it was perfectly reasonable that it should have been on the first, which is also the eighth day – Sunday – that our Lord chose to give us an example in his own flesh of bodily resurrection. “Christ being raised from the dead will never die again: death no longer has dominion over him.” To this exalted state of his we must go with humility. (Sermon 260c.5)
24:9-11 The Women’s Report to the Apostles
HUMANITY’S FALL THROUGH A WOMAN NOW RESTORED THROUGH WOMEN.
The women came to the tomb, but they didn’t find the body in the tomb. Instead, they were told by angels that Christ had risen. The women reported this to men. And what’s written? What did you hear? These things seemed in their eyes like an idle tale. How very unhappy is the human condition! When Eve related what the serpent had said, she was listened to straightaway. A lying woman was believed, and so we all died. But (the disciples] didn’t believe women telling the truth so that we might live. If women are not to be trusted, why did Adam trust Eve? If women are to be trusted, why did the disciples not trust the holy women?
So in this fact we have to reflect on the goodness of the Lord’s arrangements, because this, of course, was the doing of the Lord Jesus Christ that it should be the female sex which would be the first to report that he had risen again. Humanity fell through the female sex; humankind was restored through the female sex. A virgin gave birth to Christ; a woman proclaimed that he had risen again. Through a woman death, through a woman life. But the disciples didn’t believe what the women had said. They thought they were raving, when in fact they were reporting the truth. (Sermon 232.2).
RESURRECTION NEWS SEEMS LIKE NON SENSE.
This hope, this gift, this promise, this tremendous grace-when Christ died his disciples lost it from their spirits, and on his death they fell away from hope. Here we see them receiving the news of his resurrection, and the words of the messengers seemed to them like an idle tale. Truth became like an idle tale. If ever the resurrection is proclaimed nowadays, and someone thinks it’s an idle tale, doesn’t everybody say he’s all twisted up? Doesn’t everybody loathe and detest what he says, turn away, close their ears and refuse to listen? That’s what the disciples were when Christ died. What we abhor is what they were. The leading rams had the disease which the lambs shudder at. (Sermon 236.2).
24:13-16
RECOGNITION IS DEFERRED UNTIL THEY RECEIVE MORE CATECHESIS.
Here we are with two others, walking along the road and talking to each other about the things that had been happening in Jerusalem- about the iniquity of the Jews, about the death of Christ. They were walking along, talking the matter over, grieving for him as if he were dead not knowing he had risen again. He appeared and joined them as a third traveler, and entered into friendly conversation with them. Their eyes were held from recognizing him; their hearts, you see, needed more thorough instruction. Recognition is deferred. (Sermon 232.3).
JESUS IS TO BE RECOGNIZED IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD.
We they said, “had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” O my dear disciples, you had hoped! So now you no longer hope? Look, Christ is alive! Is hope dead in you? Certainly, certainly, Christ is alive! Christ, being alive, found the hearts of his disciples dead, as he appeared and did not appear to their eyes. He was at one and the same time and concealed. I mean, if he wasn’t seen and seen, how could they have heard him questioning them and answered his questions? He was walking with them along the road like a companion and was himself the leader. Of course he was seen. but he wasn’t recognized. For their eyes were re strained, as we heard, so that they wouldn’t recognize him. They weren’t restrained so that they wouldn’t see him, but they were held so that they wouldn’t recognize him. Ah yes, brothers and sisters, but where did the Lord wish to be recognized? In the breaking of bread. We’re all right, nothing to worry about we break bread, and we recognize the Lord. It was for our sake that he didn’t want to be recognized anywhere but there, because we weren’t going to see him in the flesh, and yet we were going to eat his flesh. So if you’re a believer, any of you if you’re not called a Christian for nothing, if you don’t come to church pointlessly, if you listen to the Word of God in fear and hope, you may take comfort in the breaking of bread. The Lord’s absence is not an absence. Have faith, and the one You cannot see is with you. Those two, even when the Lord was talking to them, did not have faith, because they didn’t believe he had risen. Nor did they have any hope that he could rise again. They had lost faith, lost hope. They were walking along, dead, with Christ alive. They were walking along, dead, with life itself. Life was walking along with them, but in their hearts life had not yet been restored. (Sermon 235.2-3).
24:17-18 The Setting for the Catechesis on the Road
THE EMMAUS DISCIPLES SCANDALIZED THE CROSS.
You heard just now that the Lord Jesus, after rising from the dead, found two of his disciples on the road, talking to each other about all that had happened, and said to them, “What is this conversation you are having with each other, and why are you so sad?” So what is the benefit of this reading for us? A very considerable one, if we understand it rightly Jesus appeared. They saw him with their eyes and did not recognize him. The Master was walking with them along the way, and he himself was the way. But they weren’t yet walking along the way. He found, you see, that they had wandered off the way. After all, when he had been with them before the passion, he had foretold everything: that he was going to suffer, to die and to rise again on the third day. He had foretold it all, but his death had erased it from their memories. They were so shattered when they saw him hanging on the tree that they forgot about his teaching. They did not expect him to rise, nor did they hold on to what he had promised. (Sermon 235.1-2).
24:19-24 The Christology of the Emmaus Disciples
THE DOUBTS OF MOSES AND THE DOUBTS OF THE EMMAUS DISCIPLES.
So then, what kind of consideration does the doubting of Moses demand of us?… Moses doubted when the wood came into contact with the rock….The disciples doubted when they saw the Lord crucified. He came to them after his resurrection, as they were talking to each other about this mat in a sad conversation. He kept their eyes from recognizing him, not in order to remove himself from believers but to put them off while they were still doubters. He joined in their conversation as a third party and asked them what they were talking about. They were astonished that he should be the only person not to know what had happened-to the very man, in fact, who was asking about it. “Are you,” they said, “the only stranger in Jerusalem?” And they went over all that had happened to Jesus. Straightaway they proceeded to open up all the depth of their despair and, although unwittingly, they showed the doctor their wounds: “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” The doubt arose because wood had come into contact with the rock. What Moses figuratively stood for was fulfilled. (Sermon 352.4).
EMMAUS DISCIPLES NEED TO BECOME LIKE THE PENITENT THIEF.
Recognition, though, happened only when Jesus opened up the Scriptures for them, because they had given up hope and said, “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” O my dear disciples, you had hoped, now you don’t hope? Come here, robber, give the disciples a lesson. Why have you given up hope, just because you have seen him crucified, because you’ve looked at him hanging there, because you have thought him weak? He was like that for the robber too, hanging on the cross beside him. The robber was sharing in his punishment but he believed straightaway and acknowledged him, while you on the other hand have forgotten he is the author of life.” Cry out, robber, from the cross! You, a criminal, win over the saints! What did they say?” We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” What did this man say?” Jesus, remember me, when you come in your kingdom. So you had hoped, had you, that it was he who would redeem Israel? O my dear disciples, if he was the one that was going to redeem Israel, it means you have defected. But he has reinstated you; he didn’t abandon you. By becoming your companion on the way, he himself became for you the way. (Sermon 236A.4).
24:25-27 The Kerygma of the Catechetical Lectures
CHRIST OPENS SCRIPTURE TO SHOW THEM THE CHRIST MUST DIE.
So he began to expound the Scriptures to them to help them recognize Christ precisely in the point on which they had forsaken Christ. The reason, you see, that they had despaired of Christ was that they had seen him dead. He, however, opened the Scriptures to them, so that they would realize that if he hadn’t died, he couldn’t be the Christ. He taught them from Moses, he taught them from the following Scriptures, he taught them from the prophets what he himself had told them: that it was necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory. They listened, they were filled with joy, they breathed again, and, as they said themselves, their hearts burned within them. And still they didn’t recognize the presence of the light. (Sermon 236.2).
EVERYTHING IN SCRIPTURE SPEAKS OF CHRIST. Augustine: All that we read in holy Scripture for our instruction and salvation demands an attentive ear. You have just heard how the eyes of those two disciples whom the Lord joined on their way were kept from recognizing him. He found them in despair of the redemption that was in Christ, supposing him now have suffered and died as a man, not imagining him to live forever as the Son of God. So he opened to him the Scriptures and showed them that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and for all things to be fulfilled that were written concerning him in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms-in short, the whole of the Old Testament. Everything in those Scriptures speaks of Christ, but only to him who has ears. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And so let us pray that he will open our own. (HOMILY 2.1 on 1 John).
24:28-30 The Breaking of Bread at Emmaus
THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD IS THE SACRAMENT.
And no one should doubt that his being recognized in the breaking of bread is the sacrament, which brings us together in recognizing him. (Letter 140).
JESUS REVEALS HIMSELF IN THE BREAKING THE BREAD.
Remember, though, dearly beloved, how the Lord Jesus de sired to be recognized in the breaking of bread, by those whose eyes had been kept till then from recognizing him. The faithful know what I’m talking about. They know Christ in the breaking of bread. It isn’t every loaf of bread, you see, but the one that receives Christ’s blessing and becomes the body of Christ. That’s where they recognized him. They were overjoyed and went straight to the others. They found whom they already knew. By telling what they had seen, they added to the gospel. It was all said, all done, all written down. And it has reached us. (Sermon 234.2).
24:31-34 The Recognition and Return to Jerusalem
JESUS DISAPPEARED.
The Lord Jesus was made known, and after being made known he appeared no more. He withdrew from them in the body, since he was held by them in faith. That indeed is why the Lord absented himself in the body from the whole church, and ascended into heaven, for the building up of faith (Sermons 325.4).
CHRIST CONTINUES TO BE RECOGNIZED IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD.
He blessed the bread, broke it, and they recognized him. That’s how you recognize Christ those of you who believe he is the Christ. But your graces should consider what all the disciples were like before the Lord’s resurrection. I beg their pardon for saying so, but they weren’t yet believers. They became great believers later on, but before that they were even inferior to us. We, I mean to say, believe that Christ has risen again, which they didn’t yet believe. But afterward they saw, they touched, they went over him with eyes and hands, and in that way they believed, and their hearts were given strength from the holy Scriptures. So they drank, they burst forth, and they filled us up too. (Sermon 236A.2).
BURNING HEARTS FROM THE FIRE OF CHARITY.
Just as we are distinguished om others by faith, so let us also be distinguished by morals and by works. Let us be on fire with charity, which the demons never had. It is the fire those two also were burning with on the road. When Christ, you see, had been recognized and had left them, they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scripture?” Burn then, in order not to burn with the fire the demons are going to burn with. Be on fire with the fervor of charity, in order to differentiate yourselves from demons. This fervor whirls you upward, takes you upward, lifts you up to heaven. Whatever vexations you suffer on earth, however much the enemy may humiliate Christian hearts and press them downward, the fervor of love seeks the heights. (Sermon 234.3).
24:36-43 Table Fellowship
THE GRILLED FISH REPRESENTS THE FAITH MARTYRS.
While they were still flustered for joy, they were rejoicing and doubting at the same time. They were seeing and touching, and scarcely believing. What a tremendous favor grace has done us! We have neither seen nor touched, and we have believed. While they were still flustered for joy, he said, Have you got here anything to eat? Certainly you can believe that I am alive and well if I join you in meal.” They offered him what they had: a portion of grilled fish. Grilled fish means martyrdom, faith proved by fire. Why is it only a portion? Paul says, “If I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing, Imagine a complete body of martyrs. Some suffer because of love, while others suffer out of pride. Remove the pride portion, offer the love portion. That is the food for Christ. Give Christ his portion. Christ loves the martyrs who suffered out of love. (Sermon 229J.3)
24:44-49 Preaching Christ’s Death and Resurrection
CHRIST TALKS ABOUT THE CHURCH.
What did he tell them from the Scriptures? He said, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” The disciples could not see this. They could see Christ talking about the church that would be. When Christ said something they could not see, they believed him. They could see the head, but they could not yet see the body. We can see the body, but we believe about the head. They are two: husband and wife, head and body, Christ and the church. He showed himself to the disciples and promised them the church. He showed us thee church and ordered us to believe about himself. The apostles saw one thing, but they did not see the other. We also see one thing and do not see the other. Having the head there with them, they believed about the body. Having the body here with us, we should believe about the head. (Sermon 229J.1)
PROCLAMATION BEGINS AT PENTECOST.
The Lord did not only shed his blood, but he also applied his death to the preparation of the cure. He rose again to present us with a sample of resurrection. He suffered with patience all his own to teach us the patience we should have. In his resurrection, he showed us the reward of patience. As you know and we all confess, he ascended into heaven, and then he sent the Holy Spirit as he had previously promised. You remember that he said to his disciples, “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” His promise came true. The Holy Spirit came, he filled the disciples, and they started speaking with the tongues of all nations. A sign of unity was enacted in them. One person spoke then in all languages, because the unity of the church was going to speak in all languages. (Sermon 175.3).
24:50-53 The Ascension
JESUS ASCENDS TO HEAVEN IN HIS BODY, DIVINE AND HUMAN NATURE.
You heard what came to our ears just now from the Gospel: “ Lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And it happened, while he was blessing chem he withdrew from them, and was carried unto heaven.” Who was carried up to heaven? The Lord Christ was. Who is the Lord Christ He is the Lord Jesus. What is this? Are you going to separate the human from the divine and make person of God, another of the man, so that there is no longer a trinity of three but a quarter nary of four? Just as you, a human being, are soul and body, so the Lord Christ is Word, soul and body. The Word did not depart from the Father. He both came to us and did not forsake the Father. He both took flesh in the womb and continued to govern the universe. What was lifted up into heaven, if not what had been taken from earth? That is to say, the very flesh, the very body, about which he was speaking when he said to the disciples, “Feel, and see that a spirit does not have bones and flesh, as you can see that I have.”4 Let us believe this, brothers and sisters, and if we have difficulty in meeting the arguments of the philosophers, let us hold on to what was demonstrated in the Lord’s case without any difficulty of faith. Let them charter, but let us believe. (Sermon 242.6).
Source
Oden, T.C. & Just Jr., A. (2003). Luke (The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament part III). Illinois (U.S.A): InterVarsity Press. Pages 374, 376, 378-381, 382, 383, 386, 388, 389, 392