Third Sunday after Easter – Year A
April 19, 2026
Gospel Lectionary Text
Luke 24:13-35
24:13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
24:14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
24:15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them,
24:16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
24:17 And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad.
24:18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?"
24:19 He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
24:20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.
24:21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.
24:22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning,
24:23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
24:24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him."
24:25 Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!
24:26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?"
24:27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
24:28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.
24:29 But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them.
24:30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
24:31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
24:32 They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?"
24:33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.
24:34 They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!"
24:35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Context
Welcome to the third week of Easter, where we join two of Jesus’ followers on the road to Emmaus. They are joined by a “stranger” who rehabilitates their faith. In his poem The Wreck of the Deutschland, Gerard Manley Hopkins famously turned Easter into a verb: “Let Him easter in us…”
Hopkins suggests that Easter is not just something that happened to Jesus 2,000 years ago. It’s something God is doing now. And the burden isn’t on us to muster belief in the Easter miracle, as if our belief makes it true. The burden is on God to easter in us — to call forth life where there is none, to make faith possible, as a gift, when all we carry is burden. God easters relentlessly and patiently so that we can receive the gift and join the fun. This week’s Gospel gives us a glimpse of how.
The risen Christ shows up as a stranger. He walks with the fearful, guilt-ridden disciples on their escape from Jerusalem. He listens to their confusion and grief. He slowly helps them re-narrate their story in light of a bigger story. Eventually, they recognize Jesus, but not until the breaking of bread. That’s when the penny drops. Their eyes are opened when the guest turns out to be the host. In the liturgical context, the word host (hostia) means victim.
So, how does God easter in us? As the victim. And not just any victim, but as what James Alison calls the Forgiving Victim. It is the Forgiving Victim who hosts the meal of reconciliation, who opens our eyes, who easters in us until our hearts burn from within and we receive the gift. Only then do the disciples reverse course and return to the scene of the crime — not as guilt-ridden culprits, but as liberated easterlings, filled with easter joy. What could be stranger than that?
Question
In liturgical traditions, the word “host” comes from the Latin hostia, which means “victim.” In this week’s text, the disciples don’t realize it is Jesus walking with them until he hosts their evening meal — taking, blessing, breaking, and giving the bread. He opens their eyes and warms their hearts with the “intelligence of the victim.” How is that intelligence opening your eyes?
Reflections
A Glimpse of Forgiveness
By Joel Aguilar |
A couple of years ago, I taught a class on contextual Bible reading to a group of pastors in Ixcan, in the northern jungle of Guatemala close to the border with Mexico. This region of the country experienced extreme brutality during the Guatemalan armed conflict. For one of our lunch breaks during the class, a...
The Courage to Disappear
By Scott Dewey |
This week’s gospel story depicts two people walking down a road with a stranger who joins them. So happens the stranger is famous, but they don’t recognize him. Like the airplane story, it’s a setup for comedy, but it’s no time for laughter. All three are in the aftermath of trauma, walking away from the...
The Verbness of Easter
By Kris Rocke |
In our Lenten journey we are nearing the cross, the place where Jesus will make visible that to which we are blind and change the way we see forever. We will see the excluded one give birth to a new kind of community that is scapegoat free.
Open Our Eyes to the Stranger
By Kris Rocke |
Here at Street Psalms, our most transformative experiences have happened while walking the streets with urban leaders ("on the road") and fellowship around a meal ("breaking of the bread"). This week's lectionary text highlights both the road and the table as gateways to Gospel sight.
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
Caminante, no hay camino / Traveler, There Is No Road
by Antonio Machado
Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.
--
Traveler, your footprints
are the only road, nothing else.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
As you walk, you make your own road,
and when you look back
you see the path
you will never travel again.
Traveler, there is no road;
only a ship’s wake on the sea.
Prayer
Come Lord Jesus, occupy our shame without judgement. We are desperate for your healing touch. May our wounds and the wounds of this world become wombs of new creation, bearing seeds of new life. Free us, O Lord, to be midwives to the holy in all things.
Where there is blindness, call forth the gift of sight. Where there is voicelessness, call forth the gift of voice. Where there is despair, call forth the gift of joy. Where there is isolation, call forth the gift of community. Where there is fear and violence of any kind, call forth the gift of peace born of your love, and make us a community of the Incarnation who create cities of peace for all people.
We pray this in the name of the Father who is for us, the Son who is with us, and the Spirit who unites us all in the never-ending dance of Love.
Amen.