HOMILY OF 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTERTIDE — YEAR A

HOMILY OF 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTERTIDE — YEAR A

HOMILY THEME: THOSE WHO KNOW SHOULD TELL WHO DO NOT KNOW!

BY: Fr. Isaac Awe

Acts 2:14, 22-33; Ps 15(16); 1 Pet 1:17-21; Lk 24:13-35

A story was told, the dean asked a first year student to preach one day in the chapel. This novice worked all night on a sermon, but still came up empty. At the appropriate time, he stood in the pulpit, looked over his brothers and said “Do you know what I’m going to say?” They all shook their heads “ no” and he said “neither do I, the service has ended, go in peace.” The Dean was very furious and threatened him with expulsion. The second time he was asked to preach, he asked same question in which the students answered yes and the preacher said there is no need for me to preach to l you since you know, go in peace. However, he was given a last chance but when he got to the pulpit, he asked same question, some answered yes and some said no. He now said, Those who know ,tell those who don’t know. The sermon is over, go in peace.

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Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you says the psalmist! To have taken refuge in God is to have known him and always identifying with him and there is no way we identify with the Lord that the world will not recognize his glory in and on us. Taking refuge in God is tantamount to acknowledging him as our father who has no favorite and judges everyone according to their deeds (1 PETER 1:17)

Dear friends in Christ, that is the tradition that began on the road to Emmaus on that first Easter night. That those who knew about the resurrected Lord felt compelled to tell those who did not know. The problem now is that tradition has fallen on rather hard times in the 21st century because we are reluctant to speak out our faith claiming that religion is such a private and personal thing.. we are unwilling to share our story with others for fear that we might offend them. Let us therefore keep in mind that evangelism is both privilege and responsibility for every Christians (Matthew 28:19).

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Easter is the season of hope, of encouragement and of consolation for every true Christian. It recalls to our minds the fact of Christ’s victory over death, a victory which in God’s eternal plan was not for Him alone, but for all men who believe in Him and try to follow Him. The true Christian knows that His bodily death is but a prelude to the new and unending life for Jesus and for us as well.

Akii ri iya eni ti pe, ka fi owo to lomu (it can’t be so long we have seen our mother and yet unknown to us) but not like Jesus’ disciples.
There is a question we need to ask ourselves in today’s liturgy. Why was it difficult for the disciples to recognize the risen Lord? Jesus’ death scattered his disciples and shattered their hopes and dreams. They had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. They saw the cross as defeat and could not comprehend the empty tomb until the Lord appeared to them and gave them understanding. Jesus chided the disciples on the road to Emmaus for their slowness of heart to believe what the scriptures had said concerning the Messiah. They did not recognize the risen Jesus until he had broken bread with them. Do we recognize the Lord in his word and in the breaking of the bread?

Augustine, the great 5th century church father, reflects on the dimness of their perception: “They were so disturbed when they saw him hanging on the cross that they forgot his teaching, did not look for his resurrection, and failed to keep his promises in mind” (Sermon 235.1). “Their eyes were obstructed, that they should not recognize him until the breaking of the bread. And thus, in accordance with the state of their minds, which was still ignorant of the truth “that the Christ would die and rise again”, their eyes were similarly hindered. It was not that the truth himself was misleading them, but rather that they were themselves unable to perceive the truth.” (From The Harmony of the Gospels, 3.25.72) How often do we fail to recognize the Lord when he speaks to our hearts and opens his mind to us? The Risen Lord is ever ready to speak his word to us and to give us understanding of his ways. Do we listen attentively to the Word of God and allow his word to change and transform us?

Nevertheless, we should also know that Christ is present in four ways in the sacred liturgy. (1) He’s present in the minister as the one who truly acts. (2) Christ is present in His word (John 1:1). (3) He is present in the Victim. He’s the one being offered to God and received by all in the form of bread and wine (4) Christ is present in the people of God because we are created in the likeness and image of God. Also, He lives in those who receive Him as food. Meanwhile, we can only experience Christ in each other if and only if there is the existence of love and the love is not only in words but action.

Each one of us has come face to face with Jesus in our own unique way through the above four ways in which we encounter Jesus on daily basis just like the travelers on the road to Emmaus. Therefore, we don’t have to be seminary graduates; they weren’t! We don’t have to have the Bible memorized; clearly, they didn’t. But to know that Jesus is alive, that He chooses to forgive the sins of those who call upon Him, and that He promised to go with us into every corner of our lives (Matthew 28:20). That is the story that each of us has to tell. I can now say we have been called to be ‘STORY TELLERS’ to others, so that they might know God since we can’t love and serve God without knowing Him as the essences of our sojourn on Earth are to KNOW, LOVE AND SERVE. Those who know should tell those who don’t.

The story of the two brothers and their encounter with the stranger has striking resemblance to today’s gospel. During the breaking of bread both disciples and the two brothers discovered the Jesus they had lost. Let the breaking of the word and Bread help us to discover Christ in a deeper way today and beyond.

REFLECTION: So far you and I have been encountering Him in both breaking of the word and bread, what can we show for it? Do we have any positive story to tell like that of the EMMAUS?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, open the eyes of our hearts to recognize your presence with us and to understand the truth of your saving word. Nourish us with your life-giving word and with the bread of life. Amen

Happy Glorious Sunday!

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