St. Joseph's, Helensburgh

Further Reflection

 

Psalm 15 (16)

The Book of Psalms, more than any other in the Bible, is an example of the continuity of prayer over many centuries. Psalms were first sung in the pre -Christian era in the Jewish Temple; through the problems and triumphs of the Monarchy; the Exile; and as the Jews returned to their homeland. They continued to be used in Jesus’s time, and indeed by Jesus himself, as we see so clearly from the number of phrases quoted from the psalms by the Gospel writers.

 

‘Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.’ This is an individual song of trust in God, and its main theme is delight in the Lord. It also expresses ‘the longing for eternal company with the Lord, and a belief that God will not abandon those who commit themselves to him’. (Henry Wansborough, The Psalms: 2014, p. 31.)

 

’it is you who are my portion and cup’ Psalms often give us an insight into the history of Israel, and this line recalls the sharing out of Palestine territory among the tribes of Israel by drawing lots (see Joshua 14: 1–4). The Levites were not given any land; rather, their ‘portion’ was God himself (Numbers 18: 20). This explains why they were the Jewish group looking after the Temple, and also gives us a clue as to the possible identity of the psalmist, who sings of his close intimacy with God, describing the Lord as my portion, my cup, my prize, my sight, my right hand etc. In the Christian application, the ’cup’ is also taken to refer to the sacramental cup of the Eucharist that indicates the presence of Christ himself.

 

​Gospel Luke 24: 13–35

This story of the disciples meeting the Lord on the road to Emmaus is only to be found in Luke’s gospel.

 

On the first day of the week This story happens on the same day as the discovery of the empty tomb. That same evening, Jesus appears to the disciples in Jerusalem and then a week later to Thomas. The disciples continued to meet and break bread together on that same day. By the first century it was called ‘the Lord’s day’, and was commonly kept among Christians in the mid second century instead of the traditional Jewish Sabbath (Saturday). In 321, Emperor Constantine decreed that workers should rest on that day.

 

Cleopas According to Eusebius, the first great Church historian (c. 300 AD), Cleopas might have been Jesus’s uncle, the brother of Joseph. If so, this would indicate that his close relatives had not rejected him. Yet it also shows that a belief in Jesus’s resurrection was not self-evident to his earliest followers. The other disciple is not named. It is sometimes suggested that it might have been a woman, Mary the wife of Cleopas, mentioned by John as one of the women present at the death of Jesus (John 19:26). It could be that Clopas and Cleopas are different spellings of the same name.

 

Moses and all the Prophets We have here a reference to the whole of the Jewish Bible, which is divided into three sections, the Torah, the Prophets and Writings.

 

They urged him to stay with them The custom of hospitality was much more developed than it is now. It involved welcoming strangers and travellers and giving them provisions and protection. Early Christians equated lack of hospitality with a lack of love of God and neighbour. It was common to refrain from asking a guest’s identity until they had been fed.

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He took, he blessed, he broke, he gave Although he was the guest, Jesus acts as the head of the household, using words almost identical to those at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19), and at the feeding of the 5000 (Luke 9:16). Eucharistic liturgies, to this day, retain the same sequence of actions after reading and explaining Scripture.

 

Their eyes were opened ‘To open’ is a key verb in this story. To enable us to experience the Resurrection, Jesus opens our minds to the Scriptures and our hearts and eyes to his presence.

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