O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter, (Book of Common Prayer, 224)
We Christians often refer to ourselves as Easter people. We are people of the Resurrection. We have died to our old selves—-our false selves—-and have been raised to new life in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been set free from sin and death. Renewal is among the defining characteristics of an Easter faith. We shouldn’t expect everything to stay the same as always if we’re serious about following Jesus. We’ve set out on a path that leads to transformation, reconciliation, and rebirth. Christ is making all things new including us.
In the Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter, we ask God to “[o]pen the eyes of our faith” so that we will be able to see Jesus “in all his redeeming work” (BCP, 224). We’re accustomed to looking for Christ in certain predetermined contexts such as worship, prayer, service, and study of scripture, but the resurrection touches everything—-absolutely everything—-in creation. It’s not just people who are being redeemed and reconciled. We ask God to open our eyes and teach us to see Christ at work in all things. Easter faith teaches us that God’s love for us and all the creation is unconditional and unlimited. Nothing in God’s holy creation is disposable, and when we are able to see with God’s eyes, we see Jesus everywhere in everything and in everyone.
It’s important to learn to see Jesus even in times and places that we don’t expect to find him. The best spiritual lesson we can learn is that we are never alone. Christ is with us always. Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke offers a good example. Two of Jesus’s disciples are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection. They are grieving and confused, and despite having heard from some of the women in the group about the empty tomb and the angels’ message that Jesus is alive, they believe that their hope for redemption died on a Roman cross.
And that’s when everything changes. Jesus shows up, but Cleopas and the other disciple don’t recognize him. Jesus asks the two disciples what they are discussing as they walk along. They tell him about the events of the day, and Jesus explains “to them the things about himself in all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27 NRSV). But the disciples still don’t recognize their Risen Lord. At the dinner table that night, Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to the disciples (that should sound familiar). Then their eyes are opened, “and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:31 NRSV). The Risen Christ “had been made know to them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:35 NRSV). Hope never dies. Faith never dies. Love never dies. That is the Easter faith that opens our eyes to our Lord’s resurrection and teaches us to see his redeeming presence in ourselves, in each other, and in the creation itself.
In Christ’s Peace,
Jeff+
The Reverend Jeffrey K. Evans 
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