Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

 Lectionary: 263

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus...

A major motif of Saint Luke's two books, the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles, is journey. To name a few: 

• "the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth;" 
• "Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,"
• "And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem... to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child."
• When the days were completed for their purification... they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord"
• Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,"
• Filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.
• (and finally, most importantly,) "When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him

In today's gospel, when the narrative is about to segue into Acts, we hear of two disciples leaving Jerusalem for nearby Emmaus. Unlike other journeys in Luke's accounts, this one doesn't seem to have a purpose. Why are they going there? Perhaps, after the trauma of Friday, they have lost faith and are returning to their homes, families, and trades -- despite the wild rumors they heard that morning. Has their disappointment made them cynical and they refused to believe the women's stories? 

I met a chaplain in the VA who was writing a doctoral thesis on "the loss of spirituality among Veterans." I wondered what they had lost. In my experience few of them had ever had a spirituality to lose. I met Catholic patients who had lost their faith, especially in the traumas of Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They told me about their boyhood service at the altar, and attending Catholic grade and high schools. Some had briefly enjoyed the purposeful life of military service, especially because the military reinforces its principles with solemn ceremonies and rituals. (Catholics love that sort of thing.) 

But only some found direction or meaning upon returning home to family and career. They often found the transition to civilian life very difficult. They had entered as boys and girls and come out as men and women, but the adult models they'd met in uniform disappeared in civilian life. Some who had engaged in combat wondered why they should care whether their spouses painted the rooms apple green or pistachio green. "Whatever!"

Pastor Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life found a niche and remains popular precisely because people need guidance and direction. Without an inspired religion they first turn to entertainment which soon becomes a pursuit of intense, exciting distraction; and then lapse into depression, drug abuse, and suicide. To make matters worse, many call their lack of purpose freedom; and refuse to commit themselves to any purpose. 

After their encounter with the Stranger the disciples immediately return to Jerusalem in haste as Mary had gone up to Jerusalem in haste after the Annunciation. They returned with a very clear purpose, to recount 

"what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

That evening the Lord appeared to the whole group and described their new purpose in life:

"...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus's resurrection appearances are, in fact, commissions. He didn't return from the dead to regale them with stories about his journey into hell, nor even to inform them there is an afterlife. 

Forty days later, when he was taken from their sight, they seemed to lose their purpose for a moment. They hesitated in confusion until two angels laughed at them: 

"Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?"

And so they returned (another journey!) to the true pole of the earth, Jerusalem, to reorient themselves. There in the Cenacle, where they'd celebrated the First Mass, where they had hidden, and where they first saw the Risen Lord, they received guidance from the Holy Spirit. 

Our lives are oriented by our faith; our journeys have direction and purpose by the commission to preach the Gospel by word and deed and presence.