Stay with us Lord

 

Article by Father Jonathan E Moore - LINK HERE

3rd Sunday of Easter 2026.             Stay with us, Lord!

 

You won’t find the village of Emmaus on any present day map of the Holy Land. Some rather fancifully show where the compiler thinks it might have been, but no one really knows. The village has long since ceased to exist. The name probably derived from the Semitic word “Hammat” meaning “Warm Spring”, and the place name crops up all over the ancient Middle East. Of the Emmaus near to Jerusalem, however, only the name remains, preserved down the centuries in the Gospel story of the Risen Jesus and the disciples who recognised Him at the breaking of bread.

 

Saint Luke gives us a picture of Clophas and his companion trying to distance themselves from Jerusalem. The Master is dead and buried, Peter and the Apostles are in hiding, Jerusalem is not a safe place for anyone who was associated with Jesus. Yet, for all that they are frightened and demoralised men, they still discuss recent events, they still talk about Jesus. As they speak of Him, Jesus Himself draws near, and yet they do not recognise Him. He is with them, even though they don't know it. Jesus said “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I shall be with them” (Mt. 18:20), He promised to be present, but did not promise that we would always be aware of His nearness. I wonder how aware we are of that constant companionship? Perhaps we do not speak about Jesus as often as we should, even with fellow believers. When you come to think of it, a friend of Jesus should not be shy of speaking about Him to anyone. I don't mean, of course, that we all need to turn ourselves into “doorstep evangelists”, ramming our beliefs down other people’s throats - far from it! What I do mean, however, is that I have very seldom met anyone who responded badly to an assurance of prayer or a word of blessing. Maybe the word “bless” has become rather devalued by thoughtless use these days, and we should seek to express it in a different way. The origin of our English word “Goodbye” was the old English “God bye”, meaning “God be with you”. As a boy, I was quite accustomed to hearing older, mostly Methodist folk who would always say on parting: “God be with you till we meet again”. We might think of doing the same.

 

Jesus encourages Clophas and his companion to tell Him what things they have been discussing. They are amazed! Where has this guy been? At once, they begin to tell Him everything. It is as though a cork has been taken from a bottle, everything pours out - their fearful desolation, disappointed and shattered hope, their unwillingness to believe the women who have already said that Jesus is risen. They speak their minds to the Lord. In response, He then guides them to the true meaning of the Old Testament, the Law and all the Prophets. This should encourage us to be very honest when talking to Jesus in prayer; it is a mistake to think that God only responds to special words, or that we must be careful to say only the things we think He wants to hear. We too have much to learn from the Old Testament Prophets and the way they prayed: they spoke their mind to God, at times they grumbled at God, sometimes even raged at Him - they told God what was truly in their hearts and minds. When the disciples on the Emmaus Road told Jesus the unvarnished truth, they not only opened their hearts, but also their minds to receive what Jesus wanted to teach them. A wise person once said that when God breaks our hearts, it is only so that He can pour His love into them. Psalm 51 tells us that God never rejects a contrite (i.e. broken, crushed) heart. So their desolate hearts, once opened, were soon burning once again within them, but they still hadn't recognised Jesus.

 

One of the most important lessons in the spiritual life is not to allow our past failures, disappointments or broken dreams to blind us the the presence of God in the present moment. When we think of “mortification”, we shouldn’t assume that it goes no further than turning down a second slice of cake - of far greater importance is the “Mortification of Memory” - giving the past a dignified burial and turning our attention to the here and now. Grievances, they say, are like babies - the longer you nurse them, the bigger they grow!

 

As they neared their night’s lodging, Jesus “made as if to go on”. They begged Him to stay, saying it was late in the day and would soon be dark, He would be welcome to join them at table. Their real fear, of course, was not that the daylight was fading, but that without their new friend faith might fade again, and their renewed hope be overwhelmed by the darkness. At table, in the Breaking of Bread, their eyes were opened and they recognised the Risen Lord Jesus. In that instant He vanished from their sight. He had given them that faith which recognises the unfailing presence of Jesus everywhere and at all times, a faith which does not depend on what we see or don't. There's an old Latin inscription you often see over the door of a monastery or convent: “Hospes venit, Christus venit” - “When a guest comes, Christ comes.” Imagine how different our world would be if all could see the face of Jesus Christ in every stranger, every refugee, every asylum-seeker. Well, maybe we can't do much about the big picture, but we can ask for the grace to open our own hearts more fully and welcome Christ in others. That would at least be a start.

 

One last important thought about welcoming Jesus - the disciples had first spoken about Jesus, then conversed with Jesus, before they welcomed and recognised Him. We arrive at true Christian Love only through spending time with Jesus in prayer.

 

Can we perhaps let the Emmaus Road story help us this week to speak of Jesus more readily, to converse with Jesus more honestly, and to welcome Jesus in others more willingly? Let's try to do that this Easter Season.