Third Sunday of Easter
In the Breaking of the Bread, God Always Wins
Readings for the Third Sunday of Easter
Though the season of Easter lasts for 50 days, few of us can sustain the initial Easter joy of Easter Sunday or the octave of Easter for a full 50 days. Instead, we often settle down into life as usual, quickly forgetting the Lenten penances we lived and the Easter chocolate we consumed. Yes, the Lord is risen, but we already knew that anyway.
Our Mass readings for the Third Sunday of Easter draw us back into the mystery of the resurrection, however. The Easter season is unique for featuring two New Testament readings, along with the psalm and gospel passage. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles 2:32, Peter preaches: “God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.” And in 1 Peter 1:18-19, we hear that we were ransomed from futile conduct “with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.”
We may be accustomed to Jesus’s resurrection, but we should not be so, especially if it means we miss out on the remarkable turn of events where the agonizing death on a cross brought victory. Perhaps we are similar to these two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They are clearly still thoughtful and intrigued about Jesus’s death and the reports of the women seeing angels who announced Jesus was alive. Yet, somehow, they are just going about their daily life, not really understanding or believing the women’s accounts, and thus they are not able to recognize Jesus walking alongside them.
It is commonplace to see a type of the Mass within this account. Jesus opens the Scriptures to them, like the Liturgy of the Word that features Bible readings and a homily. Then Jesus blesses and breaks bread with them, like the Liturgy of the Eucharist that features the consecration and reception of the Eucharist. It is not until Jesus vanishes that they understand what has happened and can share their story with the remaining eleven apostles. The risen Jesus walked with them and was made known to them in the breaking of the bread!!!
As the Easter season continues, we should make this joy our own! Though we may not have shared the women’s experience at the empty tomb except vicariously, we actually do share in this Emmaus experience. Each time we go to Mass, we have the opportunity to feel our hearts burning within us and to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
In a world constantly in the midst of conflicts and wars, political spats and disagreements over every little thing, nothing could be more countercultural than the unity offered by the risen Jesus in the Mass. We will have to go about our daily work, living amongst division and unrest, but the joy of the resurrection can transform our lives when we know he is still here with us in the Eucharist, a lasting gift and presence, and a reminder that God has won and that God always wins.
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