Inviting Jesus in…
When someone dies, people gather around. They need to talk; to retrace the life of the person who has died. Nothing else seems important. Strangers don’t understand. How could they?
This was the experience of the two disciples, as they made their way to Emmaus. They were shattered. The stranger who joined them didn’t seem to understand. But at least he listened.
At the time of a funeral, religious ideas don’t always make sense. The presence of Jesus is not easily recognised. Perhaps we come closest to recognising him in those who come to sit with us, who listen, who bring sandwiches.
Jesus offers us his word, a word of consolation and hope, just as he offered it to his disciples on the road. He is with us too breaking the bread, as he was with them. We are never closer to those who have died than when we gather for the Eucharist.
Third Sunday of Easter
Jesus made as if to go on. He was not going to impose himself. The disciples pressed him to stay for supper. They invited him in, if they had not, they might never have found out who he was.
What is this saying to us today?