HOMILY FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR A. (5)

HOMILY FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR A.

THEME: Lord, Show Us the Path of Life.

BY: Fr. Luke Ijezie.

Acts 2:14,22-33
Resp.Psalm 16:1-2,5,7-11
1Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35

To live coherently and happily, we need to have a direction, a goal. We need to realise the fact that life follows a pathway. The Bible reminds us of this in diverse ways. The readings of this 3rd Sunday of Easter remind us that we must follow the true path to life, and the only guide to that path is God Himself. The Psalmist of Psalm 16 prays that God may show us this path to life. The whole Christian life is called a path, a way. Jesus himself tells us that he is the way, and no one who follows him gets lost. So, the only way to remain on the path of life is to follow Jesus and his teaching.

1. The Gospel reading from Luke 24:13-35 dramatizes this idea of following the true path in the famous and cryptic narrative of the Emmaus journey. The two disciples decide to return to their village in Emmaus after what seemed as a disastrous waste of years with Jesus whose story has now apparently ended in shame and disillusionment. So their earlier journey to Jerusalem has ended in fiasco. They are now on a sorrowful journey back to the village. On the pathway of this journey from Jerusalem, the holy city, to the unknown village of Emmaus, the Risen Jesus comes to meet them. His intervention into their story helps to change their orientation. As their eyes become open, which is a metaphor for better understanding, they change course. They now move back from Emmaus to Jerusalem. The road from Emmaus to Jerusalem is the real path to life. It is a movement from the unknown to the known. The encounter with Jesus helps them to rediscover this path. The encounter changes their mode of thinking. It changes their mood from sadness to joy. It makes them completely new, real disciples and witnesses to the Risen Jesus. Jesus needed to break into their confused lives and despondent minds to bring them back on the path of true life. He does same with us in our confused moments, when we find ourselves on the Emmaus roads of life, with loads of worries and lamentations of a destroyed destiny. Through the words of Scripture, he gradually restores us on the true path.

2. The first reading from Acts 2:14,22-33 presents Peter’s post Pentecost speech as functioning to redirect the Jewish audience on the path to true life. The speech links the new Easter event to God’s promises in the Jewish Scriptures. The word of God has a powerful way of bringing people back to their senses.

3. In the second reading from 1Pet 1:17-21, the Apostle admonishes Christians to renew their mindsets by adapting their lives to the holiness appropriate to their new dignity as people ransomed by the blood of Christ. They must live for God alone. This sums it all. If we live for God alone we find the path to true life.

4. Our problem is that our lives are disorganised and distracted by many attractions and deceptive forces. We easily lose orientation, and worries and hopelessness often make us abandon the true way. We are often like the people of Israel about whom the oracle in Jeremiah 2:13 laments: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.” Our present society is full of idolatry and Godlessness, even though many pretend to be champions of religion. In the mad search for wealth, power, fame, breakthrough and self-fulfilment, many have abandoned the true path to life which only God shows. Everything is now measured by wealth, power and fame. The consequence is the spate of evil and violence that increases every day.

We keep praying with the Psalmist that God will quickly show us the path of true life!

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