The Season of Easter continues with this week’s gospel story of an appearance by the risen Christ. It begins with two disciples walking to Emmaus, justifiably overcome with sadness, loss, and disappointment. They had hoped Jesus, who was crucified, would be the one to redeem Israel! Yet the risen Christ walks with them and then opens their eyes in the breaking of the bread. The story of Emmaus becomes the pattern of our worship each Lord’s day. Each Sunday our hearts burn within us as Christ continues to meet us in worship – where two or three gather together, when the word is proclaimed, as the communion meal is shared, & as the Spirit sends us back on our own Emmaus roads.
Throughout the season of Lent we have reflected on God’s Costly Grace, guided by the work of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who coined the phrases “costly grace” and “cheap grace,” encouraging Christians to a life of costly discipleship in response to the great cost of Christ’s death on Good Friday. “Above all, this grace is costly because it cost God the life of his Son… and it is grace because it gives us the only true life.” (Bonhoeffer). We live in the fulness of this life of grace throughout the fifty days of the Easter Season.
image: Les disciples d’Emmaüs avec une femme (icon) by Sister Marie-Paul Farran. Copyright © Sister Marie-Paul Farran. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the artist.