That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb
and found things just as the women had described,
but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.
Then they said to each other,”Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”
So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem
where they found gathered together
the eleven and those with them who were saying,
“The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way
and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.

Why was Jesus preventing them from recognizing Him? Aren’t these men some of His closest disciples and friends? The most basic answer is that Jesus is now ressurected and is in His glorified body. If Jesus were to appear in his full glory it would be so magnificent, that He would look more glorious than an angel to them and He would not be able to talk to them and educate them.

But I think there is also another important lesson that God is trying to teach us in this reading, and that is about how God wants to bring us into full communion with him. In today’s gospel, it reads “And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.” This, I believe, is the only other place in the bible where the line “their eyes were opened” is used. The first being in Genesis, when Adam and eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, it says there that“their eyes were opened.”

It might not be immediately apparent but this connection reveals a deep theological truth about God’s plan for us and our ultimate reconciliation with Him. In the garden of eden there was a tree that had a fruit that God forbade Adam and Eve from taking. Why? Well scholars have contemplated this question for centuries, but I believe that the fruit represented entering into “full communion” with God. Full communion means that God loves you completely and totally, and you recieve that love completely and totally and then you return your love completely and totally back to the father. This means no reservation, it means no attachment to sin, no preference in your life for anything other than that perfectly intimate relationship with Him.

This is the perfect trinitarian love that God will’s for every one of us, but because of our free will, it is not something that God can just give us, or force us to take. Also, from our perspective, it is not something that can be entered into easily, because full communion means that you give your will over competely to the Father, and you trust Him fully and completely and you let Him guide every aspect of your life. But free will brings with it, the question of whether my will is better than God’s will, and that question leads to choice, and choice leads to sin, and sin leads to pride, and pride leads to the fall. This is why God forbade  Adam and Eve from taking the fruit because they were not ready to make that choice of full communion. God wanted to lead them and guide them to that choice, show them the consequences of the fall, and allow them to choose of their own free will that which God had desired for them from the moment of their creation. But alas they were not ready psychologically or emotionally. And their immaturity lead to their fall.

So after they are expelled from the Garden, God begins His quest to bring us back into full communion. This journey is called the Story of salvation, and it is culminated in the life, death, and ressurection of our Lord Jesus. And in today’s gospel Jesus reveals God’s plan for our restoration… The eucharist! This entire gospel is a metaphor for the Holy Mass. It starts with a reading of the scriptures, then we have the homilist explain what those scritures mean and then we enter into the eucharistic prayers, and ultimately Jesus becomes present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharistic host. He is really and truly present. Jesus himself is present bodily in the church and He years to commune with us.

This is what the disciples saw in the moment when Jesus broke the bread, He disappears as an apparition before them and becomes physically present in the bread of Eucharist host. And with this their eyes were opened. Jesus had explained to them the scriptures, probably covering the fall of man, the covenants and the story of salvation and he showed them that it is all fulfilled in this moment, the ressurected Jesus present in the bread of the Eucharist. He is asking them to choose. They can choose their will, and their sin and the consequences of those choices, or you can choose God, and the promise of eternal happiness with Him in Heaven. And it is in that moment that “their eyes were opened” and the offer of full communion was made apparent to them. But unlike Adam and Eve that had no idea of the consequences of choosing themselves and their will over God’s, these disciples were given the ability to make an informed decision, and were ultimately ready to do so.

This choice lies before you as well. When you go to communion, it is not simply a tradition that we participate in because we are catholics, it is Jesus Christ Himself setting before you the same choice that He gave his disciples in this reading, a choice to choose God and an eternity in Heaven with him, or choose the hell of your choices and sin. God yearns to be with you like the father in the prodigal son story yearns to be with his lost son. He yearns to teach you about his will, and he yearns to guide you into full communion with him, but the choice is yours, choose wisely.

Oh lord, I thank you for loving us so much. For giving yourself to us in the holy eucharist, and for allowing us to be with you, body, blood, soul, and divinity, while we are still here in this world, stuck in our sin, and iniquity.