That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.  And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus Himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.  He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?"  They stopped, looking downcast.  One of them, named Cleopas, said to Him in reply, "Are You the only visitor to Jerusalem Who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?"  And He replied to them, "What sort of things?"  They said to Him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazorean, Who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed Him over to a sentence of death and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that He would be the One to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place.  Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find His Body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that He was alive.  Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but Him they did not see."  And He said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are!  How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?"  Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the Scriptures.  As they approached the village to which they were going, He gave the impression that He was going on farther.  But they urged Him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over."  So He went in to stay with them.  And it happened that, while He was with them at table, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.  With that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, but He vanished from their sight.  Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"  So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"  Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how He was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

Commentary

It's not clear if these two men were prevented from recognizing Jesus because our Lord purposely made Himself appear different or if it is because His glorified Body has vastly different features.  But since our Lord is not recognized until the breaking of the bread, it would seem that our Redeemer has something to say to all of us.  "Jesus drew near and walked with them."  This is not all that different from our own experiences in life.  If Christ dwells within us, then He is close to us in every person we meet; but like these two men, we often fail to recognize Him in that person -- and in ourselves.  No one knows for certain who Cleopas is; Saint Jerome thought him to be a citizen of Emmaus who invited Jesus to stay with him at his house.  Saint Jerome also testified that during his day there was a church that existed which was originally thought to be the house of Cleopas.  Origen, one of the writers of the early Church, thought Cleopas to be Simon Peter.  Other speculations include: the brother of Saint Joseph, or Saint Luke the writer of this Gospel story, or the father of Saint James the Less.  Jesus interpreted to them all that was in the Scriptures concerning Him.  This must've taken a great deal of time but what a tremendous blessing for these two men to have been given a bible lesson by Jesus Christ Himself.  Jesus, however, does say to them beforehand: "Oh, how foolish you are!"  The lesson for us in that statement is to familiarize ourselves with Sacred Scripture and learn what the prophets say of Him and how those prophecies were fulfilled by Him in the New Testament.  Understanding the Old Testament really makes the New Testament come to life.  Through the comprehension of scripture we are able to welcome Jesus Christ into our lives based on what is preordained by divine decree and not by something our imaginations conjure up.  The "breaking of bread" was a popular term for the Eucharist during the apostolic times.  It cannot be ignored that our Lord is demonstrating something that is strikingly similar to the liturgy: First, there is the breaking open of the Scriptures – the Liturgy of the Word – an explanation of the Scriptures follows – the homily – and then the breaking of the bread – the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  This Gospel should be an eye opening experience for Catholic Christians who only acknowledge Jesus in their lives for one hour a week.  If there is no daily prayer life of any kind, i.e. meditation, reflection, spiritual reading or daily reading of scripture, then Jesus will pass by every day and probably will not be recognized.  It is only during the breaking of Bread at Sunday Mass that He will be recognized, albeit under the guise of bread and wine.  Jesus shows up in our lives every day and takes on many different forms: Sometimes He is the cause of our ability to be in the right place at the right time; sometimes He is the delay that takes us off our schedule because being on schedule would place us right in the middle of an unfortunate circumstance; other times He is found in others who lend a helping hand; and at other times He is even that person who plucks your last nerve especially when having a tendency to be overly impatient.  On Sundays we're all standing in line to receive the Eucharist because it is there at Mass that we most recognize our Lord, and it is at Mass that He feeds our souls with His Body and Blood.  But Jesus speaks to us daily and He calls us to reflect daily where He works and moves in our lives.  If we can identify our Lord under the veil of ordinary bread and wine, then through daily prayer, sacred reading and meditation certainly His Holy Spirit can be detected in other persons, places or things that are a part of our everyday experience, as well as seeing Him within ourselves.