Week 26 of the Church year
പുതുഞായറിനു ശേഷം മൂന്നാം ഞായർ
Two disciples walk home from Jerusalem, sad and confused. A stranger joins them and explains the Scriptures. They only recognise him when he breaks the bread.
On Easter afternoon two disciples walk to Emmaus. The risen Jesus joins them, but they do not recognise him. He explains how the Scriptures speak of the Christ. At supper he breaks the bread, they recognise him, and he vanishes. They run back to Jerusalem.
Another appearance of the risen Lord. The morning Gospel is about Jesus the bread of life, and this one ends with the breaking of bread.
They recognised him at the table. Every Qurbana is a supper at Emmaus.
ഈ ഞായറാഴ്ചയുടെ വായനകൾ
Jesus calls Levi the tax collector and eats with sinners.
I am the living bread; whoever eats this bread will live for ever.
The Lord passes before Moses: merciful and gracious, slow to anger.
Many nations will come to the mountain of the Lord.
Old men and women will sit in Jerusalem’s streets, and children will play there.
Hezekiah spreads the enemy’s letter before the Lord and prays.
I write so that you may know you have eternal life.
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
On the road to Emmaus, the risen Lord is known in the breaking of bread. This is the Gospel of the day.
Open in five scenesMoses goes up the mountain a second time and God passes by, and Micah sees nations streaming to the Lord’s house. Zechariah pictures old people and children in Jerusalem’s streets again. John writes so that we may know we have eternal life.
References follow the official lectionary of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Your parish may read them in a different order.
Pick a scene to see what happens in it and what is easy to miss.
Two disciples are walking to Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, talking about everything that has happened. Jesus comes and walks with them, but their eyes are kept from recognising him.
Only one of the two is named, Cleopas. The other could be any of us.
He asks what they are discussing. They stop, sad. Cleopas tells him about Jesus, the crucifixion, and the women’s report of an empty tomb. “We had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel.”
They have heard the Easter news already and still walk away sad. Information is not the same as meeting him.
He says: how slow you are to believe. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer and enter his glory? Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explains what the Scriptures say about himself.
The first thing the risen Jesus does for them is teach the Old Testament. That is why the Church reads it at every Qurbana.
As they arrive, he acts as if he will go on. They urge him to stay. At table he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them. Their eyes are opened, and he vanishes. Did not our hearts burn within us?
Took, blessed, broke, gave: the same four actions as the Last Supper (Luke 22:19).
They get up at once and go back to Jerusalem, where the eleven tell them: the Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. They tell how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
They walked seven miles out in sorrow and seven miles back in the dark. Joy gives strength.
The verse to keep
“അവൻ വഴിയിൽ നമ്മോടു സംസാരിച്ചു തിരുവെഴുത്തുകളെ തെളിയിക്കുമ്പോൾ നമ്മുടെ ഹൃദയം നമ്മുടെ ഉള്ളിൽ കത്തിക്കൊണ്ടിരുന്നില്ലയോ എന്നു അവർ തമ്മിൽ പറഞ്ഞു.”They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
Cleopasക്ലെയൊപ്പാവ്
One of the two disciples walking to Emmaus.
Probably short for Cleopatros, “glory of the father”
The other discipleമറ്റേ ശിഷ്യൻ
Unnamed. Some early writers suggest Cleopas’ wife.
“—”
അപ്പം നുറുക്കുമ്പോൾ തിരിച്ചറിഞ്ഞു
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus had all the facts. They knew about the cross and the empty tomb. They had heard the women’s story about angels. They were still walking away from Jerusalem, sad, saying “we had hoped”. Facts had not turned into faith.
What changed things was time with Jesus. He walked with them, listened to their disappointment, explained the Scriptures, and sat at their table. Their hearts burned while he talked, but they only recognised him when he broke the bread.
This is the shape of every Qurbana. We come with our own disappointments. We hear the Scriptures read and explained. Then bread is taken, blessed, broken and given. The risen Lord is made known to us at the table, as he was at Emmaus, and we are sent back out, however late it is, to tell others.
കുടുംബമായി സംസാരിക്കാം
When have you felt your heart “burning” in church or while reading the Bible?
Two minutes after the audio. Everyone gets a turn, and nobody is interrupted.Invite someone to share a meal at your home this week, and say grace together before you eat.
Stay with us, Lord, for it is evening. Walk with us when we are sad, open the Scriptures to us, and make yourself known to us in the breaking of the bread. Amen.
The whole year
Every Sunday of the Church year, season by season: readings, the Gospel and a question for the family.
Sunday 5 of 7 in Kyomtho