Joke: A young man saw an elderly couple sitting down to lunch at McDonald's. He noticed that they had ordered one meal, and an extra drink cup. As he watched, the gentleman carefully divided the hamburger in half, and counted out the fries, one for him, one for her, until each had half of them. Then he poured half of the soft drink into the extra cup and set that in front of his wife. The elderly man then began to eat, and his wife sat watching, with her hands folded in her lap. The young man decided to ask if they would allow him to purchase another meal for them so that they didn't have to split theirs. The old man said, "Oh no. We've been married 50 years, and everything has always been and will always be shared 50/50." The young man then asked the wife if she was not going to eat, and she replied, "I’m waiting for my turn with the teeth."

Sharing everything they had including their meals, their drink, and their teeth. Three years ago, during the pandemic, there were many stories of sharing regardless of social distancing. People shared their stimulus checks to help those who were in need. Others bought materials and made masks to share with others. Still, others offered free meals to those who came. Schools gave out food for children, even though they couldn’t come to school. There were many other kind deeds that people shared during the pandemic.

In today’s Gospel, St. Luke reports the sharing of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, among Jesus’ disciples. A story of what happens to the two disciples on the road of Emmaus, and how they recognize the risen Lord. In sorrow and sadness of his suffering and death, Jesus came along and journeyed with these two disciples. They couldn’t recognize him, even though he talked and explained to them about scripture, Moses, and the prophets. They only recognized the risen Lord when they witnessed his breaking of the bread at the table. Who were these two disciples witnessed the risen Lord at the breaking of the bread? Why couldn’t they recognize him on the road of Emmaus? What is the difference between sharing bad news and good news? What is it to do with us?

One of these two disciples, Saint Luke tells us, was Cleopas. The other disciple, whose name was unknown, perhaps, might be each one of us. Saint Luke vividly describes what these two disciples said about Jesus, he was “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.” They knew so much about Jesus, but their story about Jesus only brought sorrow and sadness. They looked downcast on the way to Emmaus. How much have you and I know about Jesus? We might know that Jesus is a Nazarene who performs miracle after miracle that we’ve learned from the Scripture. He is mighty in deeds and words. He is the Lord of compassion and forgiveness. He always loves us and is faithful to us. There are also many things that we might know about him through reading the Scriptures, but just like his two disciples, we might have difficulty recognizing him as well. We might have difficulty recognizing the risen Lord in our spouse when we’ve learned that our spouse cheats on us when we are exhausted taking care of children and everything else in the house. Just as these two disciples witnessed the suffering and the death of the Lord Jesus that brought them downcast and blocked their vision to recognize the risen Lord, have we had difficulty recognizing the risen Lord in our lives when there is so much violent and moral degraded such as asking for legal abortion? What violates the right of human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death is what violates the right of Americans. Young brothers and sisters, have we been able to recognize the risen Lord in our difficult mother and father when we see them agonized and distressed because of being laid off at home? When did they get on our nerves because of being jobless at home? When they get mad at us because of our misbehaves, our disrespect, and our disobedience towards them who loves us and wants all the best for us?

Jesus’ disciples felt downcast after the death of Jesus, lost faith, and scattered that they couldn’t recognize the risen Lord. Young brothers and sisters, is it possible for us to encounter the risen Lord in our parents when we disobey them, disrespect them, or maybe, hate them because they spend too much time around us to check on us? Parents, have we seen our risen Lord in our children when they constantly get on our nerves and constantly misbehave in school? The two disciples only recognized the risen Lord at the breaking of the bread, the Eucharist, have we come together to attend Mass to allow each other to experience the risen Christ in each person of our family? The more we experience disunity and unpleasant time in the family, in our community, and in our society, the more we need to run to the Lord’s Table to experience the joy, happiness, and peace that the two disciples experienced reported in today’s Gospel. Each time we come together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper at the Lord’s Table, have we experienced the risen Lord present in each one of us? We celebrate Easter every year, have you and I ever experienced joy, happiness, and peace each year?

How would we experience the risen Lord every time we come to partake in the celebration of the Eucharist? Are we able to experience joy, happiness, and peace of the risen Lord when all we have in our mind is worry and worry, stress upon stress, and many other things actively running in our minds? The moment that we are so worried about so many things; the moment that we allow media to consume our lives; the moment that we allow all the distractions to distract our lives to be with one another, are we able to recognize the presence of the risen Lord? The risen Lord opened the eyes of his disciples to bring them gladness and joy at the breaking of the bread, we are reminded to share our kind words and good deeds, give hands and support each other, and be present to one another so to experience the risen Lord in those we share. May we have an unconditionally loving and sharing heart of Jesus, so that we may be able to experience joy, happiness, and peace in the risen Christ. The decision is yours.