Scripture Scribbles: April 23, 2023

the Gospel

Luke 24:13-35

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 Nazarene,
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.

the devotion

It is all true. It is all true!

I am a skeptic. For most of my life, I considered faith to be something like squeezing my eyes closed and pretending something I wanted to be true was true. I thought that under the scrutiny of reason, the church and faith would fall like a house of cards. So I didn’t scrutinize it.

But I have learned over the past few years that God invites us to come to know him. He created reason so that we might seek truth. All truth points to him because he is truth. He doesn’t want us to squeeze our eyes closed and pretend. He wants us to seek with our eyes open and with the full power of our intellects. The discoverable intricacies of the universe reveal their maker (the Wonder series from Word on Fire dives into these topics beautifully).

As science describes the how and what of the universe with more and more specificity, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition give us the gift of the who and why. And together they form a stunning revelation of God and humanity. How amazing it is that the quantifiable universe aligns perfectly with the love story we find in Scripture! I love how God moves. I love how he allows himself to be sought and found by us. I love how he hides himself in every detail of our lives and physical world so that he might surprise us with his goodness and truth. And like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he wants to break it all open for us so that we might know him and be drawn into the great joy of trust and intimacy with him. 

"Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Let our hearts burn today as we stand in Jesus’ true presence in the Word and receive him in the Holy Eucharist. Let the fire burning in Peter as he speaks in the reading from Acts alight your heart, too. It is all true. Jesus lived, died and was raised from the dead. He is hidden in the universe and in the words of Moses and the prophets, inviting us to seek and find him. He is revealed in the New Testament and present in every detail of our lives. It is all true. Alleluia.

He was known before the foundation of the world
but revealed in the final time for you,
who through him believe in God
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 1:20-21

Today’s devotion was written by Lucia Parker DeMarco