Weekly Reflection 4/26/2020

REFLECTION FOR 4-26-2020

Have you ever seen Jesus?

Most of us would probably respond “No” to this question. 

The Jews at the time of Jesus were eagerly looking for the Messiah.  They were fed up with the Roman occupation of their country and expected the Messiah to be a military or political leader who would drive the Romans out.  That’s why it was so difficult for many of them to see Jesus as the Messiah.  They were expecting someone else.

In today’s gospel, the disciples walking to Emmaus had seen Jesus before; yet, they did not recognize him when he started walking with them on the road.  Even, after he explained the deeper meaning of recent events and interpreted Scriptures for them, they still didn’t recognize Jesus.  It wasn’t until he broke the bread and gave it to them that they finally realized they were with Jesus.  Maybe it took them so long to “see” Jesus because they didn’t expect a man who had died and been buried to show up on the road with them.

I would venture to say that most of us don’t expect to see Jesus until we pass from this life to the next.  Yet, Jesus told us that he would be with us always, even to the end of the age.  Maybe we don’t see him because we are expecting someone else.  Maybe if we look more closely at the person who asks us for help or the person who offers to help us or the stranger who strikes up a conversation in the grocery store or the child who wants us to play a game with them, we’ll see Jesus in their eyes.  Maybe if we expect to see Jesus, we will; and our lives will never be the same!