How do we recognize
Christ?
In Luke's Gospel, the disciples on the road
to Emmaus don’t recognize Jesus right away, but they have an inkling that the
man who joins them on their journey is significant: Stay
with us, they urge him, for it is
nearly evening and the day is almost over. They will recognize him, eventually, in the
breaking of the bread at table – With that
their eyes were opened and they recognized him – and will realize that their
inkling had been prescient: Were not our hearts burning within us while
he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us? They recognize Jesus, that is, in Word and
Eucharist, in the grace of the sacramental moment he shares with them.
When the apostles journey
out to give witness to their life with Christ, in Acts, Peter also offers a way to
recognize Jesus, first by citing the words of David in Psalm 16, which point to
a heart open in love: I saw the Lord ever before me, he says. Yet notice that Peter’s vision is not
restricted to the past, but opens to the future, as he continues to quote the
psalm: You have made known to me the
paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. Peter is calling his fellow Israelites to
conversion, inviting them to see things differently, signaling to them that
something extraordinary is happening in their very midst. In 1 Peter, the message is similar: Jesus Christ has been revealed in the final time for you; you have access through Jesus
to God now, today, day or night, if your heart is open to recognize him,
recognize his presence, recognize his love:
even in the night my heart exhorts
me, said the psalmist. Once again, being mindful is the key.
We are all on the road to
Emmaus; Emmaus is a part of the life of every Christian who sojourns on this
earth, waiting for perfect union with God. We all seek to recognize Jesus in our daily
lives. How do we recognize Christ? Perhaps by being ever mindful, precisely, of those
opportunities that present themselves daily -- in God’s Word, in Eucharist, in our fellow pilgrims on this journey of life -- and by opening our hearts to his
presence, allowing his love to burn within us, at our very core, and to inspire
us to give witness in turn.
This post is based on Fr.
Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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