Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35
We human beings become disappointed because we have anticipation. We create expectations of an event or a person, and when those expectations are not met, we walk away sad and disappointed. This is what is happening to these disciples on their way to Emmaus. They expected a political Messiah who would restore the kingdom of Israel and solve all their temporal problems. They saw what they wanted to see in Jesus' words and deeds, but they did not see Jesus himself.
Until this day. Unknown to them, the risen Jesus comes in their midst and opens the scriptures with them. Then, he breaks bread with them, and in that action they come to realize Jesus among them - and who Jesus the Messiah really is. He is not - and never was - a political savior. He is what had always been promised - God among us in our daily bread and ordinary events of our lives - in this bread and in the action of breaking it and sharing it with others.
And at the end of the day this is the God we need - the one who is with us and among us in all the events of our ordinary lives: the God who listens to us in our sickness and pain; the God who celebrates with us in the victories of life, great and small; the God who has lived among us, ate with us, felt pain with us, listened and talked with us; broke bread with us. Realizing this presence of God among us at all times is our salvation, our source of strength, our constant hope.
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