Our Encounters with the Risen Christ

Luke's gospel contains a post resurrection story that is not found in any of the other three canonical gospels, which describes two disciples who encounter Jesus on the road.

What most sermons on this text focus on is the fact that the disciples do not recognize Jesus as they walk along the road with him.  It is only at the end of the story, when they invite Jesus to break bread with them, that they recognize him for an instant, after which he disappears.

What I find most remarkable about the story is not that the disciples do not recognize Jesus, but that Jesus does not announce Himself or tell the disciples who he is.  It is the disciples who are given the task of recognizing Jesus.

I think this story was remembered and past down in the early community and included in Luke's gospel because it is paradigmatic of the experience of the early Church.  The earliest Christians expected Jesus to return within their lifetime with great demonstrations of power and glory and inaugurate a new age.  The fact that this did not happen perplexed the early Church.  The early Church was also perplexed that they did not encounter Jesus in a way that was obvious and self evident.  Like the disciples in the story in Luke's gospel, the early Church learned that Christ did not appear to the community in a way that was easily recognizable.  Despite this, the Church also knew that the risen Christ was truly present with them. 

It is the task of the Church to be able to discern the presence of the risen Christ.  Christ is truly present in our lives, but does not announce His presence.  Instead, we must learn to see him.  This is a spiritual discipline that must be practiced and nurtured.