In the narrative known as The Road to Emmaus, in the Gospel of Luke, we read that on the same day that the Myrrh-bearing Women found the tomb of Christ empty, two of his disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, few miles from Jerusalem. While they were talking and discussing the events that had occurred in Jerusalem, an unknown traveler appeared and began to walk with them.
In the conversation that they opened with him, they were gloomy. While they were waiting for their teacher to triumph and destroy his enemies, they saw him condemned and crucified. And now three days have passed since these things happened. This story seemed to be over. At this point came the reaction of the unknown companion: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?”
The reference to what the prophets said is essentially a reference to the hymns of the Suffering Servant, which are found in the text of the Prophet Isaiah (42:1–4, 49:1–6, 50:4–11, 52:13–53:12). These hymns are part of the Jewish messianic narratives, which were formed during the exile and post-exilic period. Within the context of the struggle between God and the Devil, the Servant of the Lord (Eved Jahwe) comes to bear the sins and offences of the people. He is tortured but endures it humbly. He is led like a sheep to the slaughter, without having committed any offence.
The travelers sat down to eat. The unknown traveler sat down to eat with them. He took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. This act of his was the same as the act of Christ during the last supper with his disciples, to which he initiated them by saying: “This is my body, which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). When they opened their eyes and recognized that he was their teacher, the stranger immediately disappeared.
The disciples started to discuss, and they wondered about their blindness. The conclusion they reached was that they could not recognize Christ because their hearts did not have the necessary flame: "Were our hearts not burning within us” (Luke 24:32).
The image of the risen Christ ceases to be an objective observation and becomes an experiential shift. This shift is described in a set of narratives, which were written during the Second Temple period (516 BC – 60 AD). These are the narratives of the Sophiological literature, in which the image of God and the feeling of His presence
from an external event becomes an experiential event, an ecstatic experience. For example, in the narrative of Job, initially he and his friends discuss his sufferings. Job denies that he is suffering justly and asks to speak with God himself to find justification. However, at the end of the narrative a person appears, Elihu, who helps Job to experience a transformation. Job is ashamed of what he has said. He confesses that before he knew nothing about God, while now he can see him with his own eyes as light even in his suffering.
In this narrative the meaning of the light differs from that of the narratives of Zoroastrian or Jewish messianism. In them it had the meaning of the external, cosmic element, whose conflict with darkness will lead to the final, cosmic triumph of light. In the narrative of Job, light does not have this meaning. Light here becomes the signifier of an experiential state, in which the self is shaken and thus recognizes the presence of God even in its suffering.
With this meaning, light is also encountered in the texts of the New Testament, mainly in the Gospel of John and in the letters of the Apostle Paul. In these texts light ceases to have the meaning of an external, cosmic element and takes on the meaning of the experiential state. Thus, the Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians, asks them to open the eyes of their hearts, so that they may know what is the Calling and what is the meaning of the power of those who will respond to this Calling (“the eyes of your heart being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling… and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe” (1:16-20).
The power of which the Apostle Paul speaks does not have the meaning of world power, which seeks its external exhibition and confirmation. This power has helped human civilization, but at the same time it has harmed it, as it is captive to deceptive and often destructive fantasies of omnipotence. When the heart begins to burn with another kind of strength, the strength that is "made perfect in weakness," then its eyes open and every moment can and is experienced as moment on the path to Emmaus.
Dr Stratis Psaltou
