Christ Educates His Disciples in Missionary Service
Usually our trips are joyful and hopeful: sightseeing, relaxation, family companionship, honeymoons, learning, courses, cultural exchanges, etc.
This was a sad journey, more like an escape (Lk 24:13-35). The two disciples were talking about what had happened in Jerusalem: "Jesus was a prophet in deed and word, before God and before all the people." He awakened so much hope! Everything he did and said promised a new world! But what we did not expect happened:
"the chief priests and our authorities handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him." "We had hoped that he would liberate Israel, but despite all this, it has been three days since all these things happened."
In this sad journey, however, there was a surprise (LK 24:13-35): "Jesus himself came up to them and walked with them." He is present, more present and active than ever; closer than ever, but they do not recognize him. They think he is a pilgrim: "Are you the only pilgrim in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened there in the last days?" This impression is confirmed by that strange pilgrim's question, "What happened in Jerusalem?"
Jesus is risen in his full human reality. He is not a disembodied spirit, a ghost or a nostalgic hallucination. His corporeality is now a glorified corporeality: he does not belong to this world and enjoys a divine status. The disciples' blindness prevents them from recognizing the presence of the risen Lord. They regarded death as the final and definitive event. They were no longer expecting it, which is why they could not see Jesus. Jesus needs to break the blindness of the disciples of Emmaus to reveal himself to the evidence of their senses.
In spite of their blindness, the disciples on the road to Emmaus welcomed this strange pilgrim as their traveling companion. Jesus asked the disciples, "What happened?" There is irony here. The pilgrim does not seem to realize what has happened, but in fact it is the disciples who do not know what has really happened. Jesus is alive and talking to them, but they do not know what is happening.
Jesus' question brings out of their hearts all that torments them. Jesus asks us the same question: what is going on? He expects us to say what consumes us inside.
The disciples reveal all their disappointment: Jesus was a disappointment to them! He disappointed their hopes and expectations. They expected Jesus to be a conqueror who would impose national political independence. They expected from him an overwhelming imposition of divine power through miracles. They expected from him a security built on economic prosperity and wealth. Jesus frustrated all these expectations.
Meditate on the situation of disappointment and discouragement of "today's apostles"! Meditate on the stories of apostles experiencing weariness and discouragement. The waves of weariness seemed to reach us, who had heard the call to be liberators. We participated with excitement in ecclesial changes; we thought that, at last, the light of the Gospel was reflected in the Church. In the seminary we felt called as a new breed of prophets who should change the world and the Church with the grace of Jesus Christ.
There was excitement in our gestures and generosity in our giving. The Church was changing with the conciliar renewal, with the active presence of the Christian lay faithful and with its new social and liberation commitments. But then came the time of weariness and discouragement.
First came discouragement. Things had not changed as we thought. Now, not only does the hierarchy seem to be backsliding, but the younger generation is beginning to exhume behaviors and objects that seemed outdated: they are pulling old vestments and robes out of their closets, claiming the right to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. The tide of discouragement is followed by weariness.
"Why continue to strive and toil? Wouldn't it be better to abandon the nets that have been empty for so long? More so. It seems that the nets have been pierced and the few fish that were once caught escape through the holes. Why continue to work when we see fewer and fewer believers getting older and older?"
Discouragement and weariness led some to abandon the institution. Indeed, many abandoned the Church boat, disillusioned, bitter and skeptical. If they do not abandon out of disillusionment, they abandon out of weariness:
"it is better to leave it to others," "we are already defeated."
In this distressing situation, let us remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Let us reflect on their crisis and sadness in the face of life and mission. By reading our lives in the light of the Emmaus story, our lives can find their meaning again and the Texts become transparent and very relevant. The Gospels cease to be a theory and speak to our hearts because they are written for us.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus also had the illusion of glory. They were in the service of Jesus, devoted themselves valiantly to the radical transformation of the people. They had struggled against disease and against Satan. They were going to proclaim the Kingdom with the power and strength of Jesus. They had seen that even evil spirits were submitting to the power transmitted to them by Jesus. Well, the day came when they found themselves wounded, out of breath and without strength, like so many of us. Let us try to immerse ourselves in the crisis, weariness and discouragement of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
On the depth of contemplation may depend the authenticity of our personal encounter with Jesus. This is how the life of discipleship seemed to end for those two, fleeing to Emmaus, tired, disillusioned, defeated, on the road to nowhere.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus suffer from the terrible affliction of pastoral acidity. It is a surprise that what Pope Francis describes as pastoral acidity applies to the disciples of Emmaus and to us. Let's look at it together:
"The greatest threat is the gray pragmatism of daily life in the Church. The psychology of the tomb is developing, gradually turning Christians into museum mummies. Disillusioned with reality, the Church and themselves, they are constantly tempted to cling to a melancholy and hopeless sadness that takes hold of their hearts like the devil's most precious elixir. They are undoubtedly ardent souls in their zeal, but not endowed with a great sense of discretion and moderation. In the present times, they see nothing but prevarication and ruin. We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always announcing inauspicious events, as if the end of the world were imminent" (EG 83.84).
What are the consequences of pastoral acidity? The sufferer sinks into a deep and permanent dissatisfaction, feels bad about the place where he lives, dislikes everything, despises the brothers and sisters who live with him and sees only their faults, ignores those who are far away, loses his sense of humor, reacts with impatience, flees from socializing with peers, everything bores him, lacks courage for the work he has to do, fails to apply himself to manual labor, reading or prayer. In addition, he is ashamed of being this way, feels useless and incapable, and finds himself suffocating his environment instead of making a positive contribution to community life. If he is asked what is happening to him, he replies, "Nothing." If he is asked what he needs, he still says, "Nothing," but he doesn't know either. In acidity, the person has not lost the object of his faith.
He has not lost faith in God, but he has lost the vitality, enthusiasm and joy of commitment. And with this comes an inevitable sense of abandonment and loneliness. This description was made by St. John Cassian in his work Institutions and Cenobitic Remedies for the Eight Deadly Vices, X, (+430-33).
I must confess that I identify with those two disciples! I recognize myself in these descriptions: there are times when desire seems to fade and vitality diminishes. I have experienced moments of more or less intense prostration, experienced a lack of interest and spirit, a loss of zest for life, a desire not to get out of bed in the morning. I have learned from these experiences that pastoral acidity is not immediately paralyzing: it can settle silently in my life: life flows, commitments are fulfilled, but deep down I feel disconnected, I drag myself into the fulfillment of my obligations and agenda, without purpose, without goal, without deep animation. I recognize that sloth is a dangerous demon that always surrounds me. I see the helplessness and ineffectiveness of personal efforts. I feel the disillusionment of a life that seems futile. I feel dissatisfied, unhappy and unmotivated by what I live and do. I feel weary from pressures that are beyond my strength. I realize that I often shelter and defend myself behind the accomplishment of my work. It saddens me when I exercise my priesthood mechanically and without personal involvement. I feel that the first love is fading away. Indeed, the state of mind of the disciples on the road to Emmaus describes what I experience.
Pastoral acidity has been secularized and reduced to a syndrome: it has been renamed "burnout." The condition, even if treated with medical procedures, cannot be cured by pills alone. I believe it is impoverishing to treat and study burnout solely from a psychological or psychiatric point of view. Both burnout and acidity are matters of the soul and require treatment for the whole person, so they involve a spiritual journey to be taken with the help of grace.
The biblical text is delightfully witty and healing. It shows with clarity that we are as blind as those two who did not recognize that Jesus was speaking to them. We do not see, not because Jesus is not there; we simply do not see because we are reluctant to do his will.
Thanks be to God. The disciples' deep disappointment was not caused by Jesus' false promises. Jesus never promised what the disciples expected.
It was well for the disciples to express the disappointment that was consuming them. They were now able to recognize that the problem was not what Jesus promised, but what the disciples expected. It was their hopes that were wrong, not Jesus' promises.
Jesus rightly warns his disciples, "How dull of spirit you are and how slow you are to believe everything the prophets have said." They understood nothing of the prophets. Thus begins an Easter lesson in which Jesus explains the Scriptures. The disciples knew the Scripture but had misinterpreted it: they had selected from the Scriptures only the triumphant parts and imagined a messiah based on this selection. Jesus shows that the disciples must also read the Suffering Servant passages, Jeremiah's Passion, and the psalms of lament of the suffering. Even more important is to read all of Scripture from the life and work of Jesus. Only then will they have access to the authentic meaning of Scripture.
The explanation warms the hearts of the disciples, who insistently ask, "Stay with us, for it is late and night is coming." We also invite the living Lord: stay with us, Lord!
Jesus eats with his disciples and repeats the gestures made at the Last Supper: he "took bread, blessed it, broke it and distributed it to them." This opens the disciples' eyes and reveals the identity of that mysterious pilgrim: it is him, he is alive, the Scriptures have said all that was to come! Jesus has disappeared from their sight, for now his physical presence is no longer necessary. Jesus remains present and they experience him. The experience of the risen Lord is too great to remain with them. Immediately, despite their fatigue and distance, they return to Jerusalem to proclaim the Good News of the Resurrection.
Bishop Julio Endi Akamine, SAC
