Blessed

“Christ came to do with our human nature what Adam failed to do. To receive the gift of God’s life and with it receive dominion over creation. That He might give the life He received from the Father to others. If Adam had been faithful, all of creation would have been filled up in his hands. the entire created order would have been sanctified and offered up to God as the first fruits of creation. The entire world would have been divinized.” (Reverend Hezekias Carnazzo, ICC)

Cleopas and another disciple were walking along the road leading to Emmaus, “conversing and debating” everything that had happened since Jesus’ arrest (Luke 24:14). Trying to make sense of it, to wrap their head around it, perhaps filling in gaps of understanding with “Do you remember when the Master said…?”. Downcast, they “were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel” (v. 21). At some point on this seven mile walk, Jesus drew near to them and entered the conversation. They thought, everyone in Jerusalem knew what had happened (v.18); how could he not? But during this three-hour walk, Cleopas’ and the other disciple’s minds were opened to Revelation. Despite the sun signaling it would soon be setting, once Jesus revealed Himself to them and then disappeared, they immediately went the three hour walk back to Jerusalem. Certainly, by then the evening would soon be upon them. But they placed no concern upon the dangers of traveling by dark, for their excitement was too much to contain. 

This is the nature of true love: it cannot be contained. It must be shared. 

Excited, they recount everything to Peter and the other apostles. Literally, as they were talking Jesus suddenly appears. How unnerving this would have been; understandably they were “shocked and terrified” (v.37).  He shows His wounds and eats fish, proving it is really Him and not an illusion. 

It is on this same day, in the space of an afternoon and evening, that all of this occurred including His ascension. Prior to His ascension into Heaven, however, Jesus prepared them. “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (v. 45). Cleopas and the other disciple already had their minds opened to this earlier that day; imagine the new depth of understanding God gave them. He then tells them to wait in the city until the power of the Holy Spirit clothes them (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8). Cleopas is now staying in Jerusalem with no cell phone to call his wife Mary in Emmaus and tell her he isn’t coming home!   

“Then he led them [out] as far as Bethany” (Luke 24:50) Bethany is only around two miles from Jerusalem (John 11:18). The apostles later returned from nearby Mount Olivet (Acts 1:12), only a “sabbath day’s journey” meaning 2/3 of a mile that people were permitted to travel on the Sabbath. They were close to Jerusalem. 

Before ascending, Jesus “raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven” (v. 51). God’s word is always efficacious; it effects what it says. When He calls us His children, we then are His children. When He blessed them, they were then blessed; they had received divine favor. We too are blessed, having been made holy and set aside for Him by our baptism. Our baptism matters. Jesus didn’t return to Heaven until He first gave His apostles this blessing. That blessing awakened something in the apostles who “returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God” (v. 52-53). 

Jesus continues to equip us today for our role in His mission, that is,  to bring all souls to salvation. He never leads us somewhere we aren’t first prepared for. He knows our faults and sins, and yet entrusts His mission to us to save souls. That mission begins with ourselves and our relationship with Him. When we trust in Him, we live hope. Our destiny in life is the embrace of God, and Jesus’ ascension brings us hope of eternal life. 

It has come to fruition that

A child born to die

Has arisen on up high

This child king is now

King of all Creation.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam 😊

(Image by Benvenuto Tisi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)