These three days, we as a parish focussing on “Journeys: Exploring our life together” as the theme of our camp. We picked this theme based on the gospel for today.

The gospel is the well-known story of the walk to Emmaus. Compared to all the journeys in the scripture, the walk to Emmaus is the most significant one. The two disciples, who are not of the twelve, walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus, looking sad. They thought they knew everything about Jesus. The Messiah they followed, is now dead and it is the third day.

However, the return home to Emmaus turns out to be a round trip back to Jerusalem. The journey has many layers. It is a journey from ‘no faith to faith,’ from ‘despair to hope,’ from ‘death to new life.’  Most challenging of all, it is a journey from ‘blindness to physical presence to eyes opened in absence.’ This is not just their journey; it is ours as well.

A journey from no faith to faith: Risen Jesus joins the two disciples walking to Emmaus, but they do not recognise him. He asks what they were discussing. They explain their sorrow over Jesus — a prophet they had hoped would redeem Israel — who was handed over and crucified. They add that it is now the third day since his death, and some women from their group have reported finding his tomb empty and seeing a vision of angels declaring that he is alive.

A journey from despair to hope: Hearing the disciples’ despair Jesus responded, “Oh, how foolish you are. How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” Jesus interprets the scripture to them. As their journey brings them to their ‘home,’ their destination with warmed hearts, they urge Jesus to stay with them.

A journey from death to life: As they sit at the table for the meal, Jesus took bread, broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes open, and they recognise Jesus. The next moment, Jesus vanishes from their sight. The journey that started with the death of Jesus turns to be a journey of life with the risen Jesus.

Then, the most important part of the journey; A journey from blindness in physical presence to eyes opened in absence. When Jesus walks beside them, they do not recognise him. When their eyes are opened in the breaking of bread, he is no longer physically present. This is the heart of our faith. We believe not because we see, but because Christ meets us in word, in conversation, and in the breaking of bread.

On this journey, when conversations begins, the risen Lord Jesus is not visible. The disciples know only what happened on Good Friday. They are stuck there. They journey with Jesus shifts them from Good Friday to Easter.

What we must remember is, Jesus is not recognised when present. Recognition comes at the breaking of bread. Faith now lives in absence, not sight.

The journey to Emmaus still transforms people to be Easter people. How does this happen? The transformation begins through conversation.

The reading from the book of Acts is a journey from “what does this mean?” to “what should we do?” when the people experienced Pentecost, they asked ‘what does this mean?’ With Peter’s message, the conversation continues. The response is ‘What must we do?’ Peter then calls them to repent, turn to God and be baptised.

Faith begins with a conversation yet there is a need to interpret scripture, to make us understand. Can we see the journey to Emmaus resonating with our journey?

When we begin the conversation about faith, we ask ‘what should we do?’ The disciples on the Emmaus journey did not ask, what should we do, instead, they responded ‘stay with us.’ That hospitality led them to recognise Jesus in the breaking of bread. Their eyes open to follow Jesus who is no longer physically present.

We begin our journey; when eyes open, we walk along enthusiastically. As time passes, the news, the encounter gets old, self-interests sets in, and our response to what we should do fades. In those times we need to revisit the eyes open moment to recognise Jesus who is not physically present.

When we reconnect, we too can realise what the disciples on their journey to Emmaus said: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

When we are weary, when our faith fades, when we feel distressed, our eyes open moments amidst the physical absence of Jesus will warm our hearts to journey from fading faith to renewed faith. That is a journey of no faith to better faith.