What happens when you look at something

from a different angle?

 

What happens when you suddenly see something

in a completely different way?

 

Take the scene in today’s gospel

for instance.

 

I suspect that, for most of us,

when we hear this story

about two travelers

on the way to Emmaus

we picture two fellows

walking down a dirt road.

 

But guess what?

There’s good chance that

Cleopas’ companion on the road

was also his wife at home.

 

Why?

 

Well, today’s passage comes from the Gospel according to Luke.

But, in the Gospel according to John,

there is a reference to a woman named Mary

standing next to Mother Mary

at the foot of the cross.

This other Mary is identified as the wife of Clopas

Now, Clopas and Cleopas sound a lot alike!

Could they be different spellings

of the same name?                 

Could one a formal name

and the other one a nick-name?

(like the names, “Henry” and “Hank?

                    In other words,

                    different names, but the same person?

 

Well, if so,

that changes how we experience this story.

Because, if this episode centers 

on a husband and wife

heading for home in a town called Emmaus,

it makes it easier to imagine the Risen Lord

            seated at our own kitchen table,

            passing us a bowl of potatoes

            and asking, “What’s for desert?”

 

What a difference this “new angle”

brings to this familiar story!

Now, not only does it encourage us

to imagine Christ seated at our table

                    but seated next to us

                    on the drive to work…

                    or riding with us in the cab of a tractor

                    while we’re sowing wheat…

                    or cheering alongside us

                    at the football stadium on a Friday night.

 

So, ask yourself:

How does the Risen Christ

appearing to a guy named Cleopas

and his wife, Mary,

affect the way you hear this story?

 

What comes to your mind

when you picture the Risen Lord

walking down the road and falling in step

…with a married couple?

 

Does it make you think about

ordinary, yet sacred, moments in your own life, such as               

       —the first time you held your newborn daughter

                 in the delivery room at Wayne Hospital?

      —or that day last week when your teenager came home

                 proud and confident

                 after winning a scrimmage game against                                      Arcanum?      ?

Are not these times when

“our hearts burn within us?,”

          realizing that Christ does indeed

          walk at our side…every step we take…on the road of life?

                     in every meal grabbed on the run

                     in every birthday candle placed on a frosted cake

                           every room ever swept

                           every flat tire replaced;

                           every bill paid

                           every rosary prayed?

 

Do not our hearts burn within us

each time we stop and savor

the smell of chicken soup cooking on the stove,

the sound of a lawn mower in the back yard

or your husband walking through the back door saying,

“Honey, I’m home!...You glad to see me?”

 

Friends, the Risen Christ does, indeed, accompany us…

      each mile we make, each step we take

              to that one place,

              that special place

              that holy place

              that sacred place…called home.