Meeting Jesus in the Stranger
Two depressed disciples leave the company of the apostles and
believers in Jerusalem and head for Emmaus to get away from it all. That same
day, late in the evening, they come right back to rejoin the company of
apostles and believers that they had abandoned earlier in the day, full of joy
and zeal. What happened to them to give rise to this dramatic turnaround? They
met a stranger on the way – a stranger who did not quite look like Jesus but
who turned out to be Jesus after all.
”Never speak to strangers!” is one of the earliest words of wisdom
that parents pass on to their children. And yet when you come to think of it,
had Cleopas and his companion followed this advice, Jesus would have passed
them by and they would never have had the transforming encounter with the risen
Lord. Who knows how many times the risen Lord has passed you and me by and we
did not recognize him or experience his transforming grace all because of our
fear or strangers?
Cleopas and his friend were trying to distance themselves from the
scandalous disaster that befell the apostles and followers of Jesus with the
shameful death of their Master at the hands of the very Roman soldiers that
they thought he had come to vanquish. But even as they tried to get away from
it, they could not get their minds off it. They were talking about it all along
the way. Could you imagine the sort of mood they were in as they headed for an
unknown future in Emmaus? It was disappointment, sadness and deep depression
all at once.
Suddenly a stranger catches up with them along the way and says to
them “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?”
(Luke 24:17). The most natural answer you would expect from them would be, “Hey
man, would you please mind your business?” That is the typical response you get
from people who operate on the principle of fear of strangers. But Cleopas and
his friend were different. All they said was, “Are you the only stranger in
Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these
days?” (verse 18). “What things? “asked the stranger. And this led
to a frank and profound dialogue that set their cold hearts aflame with insight
and inspiration. All because they trusted a stranger and were disposed to
inform and be informed by him!
Cleopas and his companion shared with the stranger all the way
through. Not only were they ready to share their confidences with him, but they
went all the way and shared their meal and shelter with him. It was in the
process of this sharing that the moment of disclosure occurred and they
suddenly realized that the one whom they had accepted all along as a helpless
stranger was indeed Jesus, the answer to all their heart’s questions. This
discovery that the one in whom they had trusted, Jesus Christ, was indeed alive
and not dead, gave new meaning to their lives, their faith and their vocation.
Banishing all fear and fatigue they got up and went back that same night to
rejoin the company of apostles and followers of Jesus and share the good news
with them that they had met the risen Lord and that they met him in the person
of a stranger.
The resurrection was for Jesus the dividing line between earthly
life when he was limited to the form of a male, Jewish body and risen life when
he is no longer limited in this way. The risen Lord now appears in all types of
bodies: male and female, White and Black, young and old, rich and poor, handicapped
and non-handicapped, native and immigrant, Catholic and Protestant, Christian
and Moslem, liberal and conservative, and so on and so forth. Though we may see
those who are different from us as strangers, today’s gospel challenges us to
start seeing them simply as companions on the way. When we reach out to them in
hospitality we reach out to God and attract a blessing to ourselves.
Let us pray today for the grace to overcome the crippling fear of
strangers, for the courage to reach out with open hearts and open hands to
those who are different from us, knowing that even though the strangers on our
way may not look like Jesus, they may indeed turn out to be Jesus just like the
lonely stranger on the way to Emmaus. Amen
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