St John the Baptist, Coln St Aldwyns

Luke 24: 13 – 35/1 Peter 1: 17-23

We can sympathise with the two disciples as they walked home to Emmaus that evening. They were joined by a stranger who spoke to them as a friend, strangely familiar yet unrecognised. Even a familiar face can seem strange when we are not expecting to meet someone we know. Our thoughts will be elsewhere and our lives may have changed dramatically since we last met!

The two disciples were taken up with their own pain and sorrow. They spoke together of the death of Jesus and their disappointed hopes. Luke gives us a similar account of the women at the tomb searching for the body of Jesus. They were met by angels who asked.

‘Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?’ Luke 24:5.

Clearly, all the disciples were overwhelmed by the death of Jesus and were not expecting to meet the risen Lord, so the rebuke of Jesus may come to us as a surprise

‘How foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken’ Luke 24: 25.

The words of Jesus come to us today as an important reminder of the way we are to understand the crucifixion of our Lord.

Not as an innocent victim: Today we easily fall for the story of the innocent victim, indeed a whole ‘Victim culture’ has developed and become a dangerous weapon in the hands of activist campaigners.

‘Nothing I inflict on you is comparable to what you have inflicted on me’ is their cry and sometimes ours, sometimes! Instead, the Lord says to the two disciples,

‘Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory’

The purpose of Christ's suffering is not to serve the needs of those who would see themselves as innocent victims but to confront us with our part in the sufferings of the world.

Carravagio Supper at Emmaus 1606

These thoughts may well have been in the mind of Carravagio when he painted this second version of the ‘Supper at Emmaus’. It is not the one that we know so well, painted in 1601, where Christ lifts his hand in blessing over the food. In that painting, Caravaggio portrays the moment of recognition in the faces of the astonished disciples as he blesses the bread. Here, in a version painted in 1606, his hand is lifted and his face is downcast as he points outwards to us the onlookers not in blessing but is it in accusation or in invitation.

For Caravaggio that pointed finger had a special significance for he was fleeing for his life after killing a fellow artist Ranuccio Tomassoni in a pub brawl possibly over a disputed commission. ‘Yes you are guilty’ the accusing finger seems to say, ‘You are responsible for Tomassoni’s death, and I carry the wounds of every innocent suffer’

But the painting carries another possible interpretation for there is a space at the table for another guest and Christ's hand is outstretched, maybe, in welcome . ‘Come to my table and share in this meal of forgiveness and reconciliation.’ Caravaggio was seeking forgiveness for his crime, forgiveness that the Pope ultimately gave. Sadly it was too late for Caravaggio for by then he had died, but maybe he knew already that in the wounds of the risen Christ, we find a forgiveness that no Pope can give, for it is given by the one who carries the wounds we inflict.

An invitation to supper

Jesus encounters the two disciples as the risen Lord as he stretches out his hands, and it is in that moment as Caravaggio depicts it, they see the wounds and realise who this is. The Inn Keeper and the disciples are looking at his pierced hands in astonishment, this then is the moment of recognition. For Caravaggio at least this moment had a special significance for, in imagining those wounds, he would have been remembering the wounds he inflicted on another innocent victim.

In the Eucharist we too are confronted with our victim, the one we have betrayed but he also invites us to share fellowship with him. We encounter him both as our Judge and Saviour who calls us to a new beginning. The risen Lord calls us not to look back to the wrongs we might have suffered or inflicted on others, but forward to a life grounded in the love of a God who opens a new way forward.

Luke tells us that the two disciples returned to Jerusalem with the news of the risen Lord. For them, the old life was over and a glorious future was opening up. In the same way as Caravaggio, we find acceptance and forgiveness from the crucified Jesus. We know little about the last days of the notorious rabble-rouser, Caravaggio, but let us hope that he was turned around and transformed by the risen Christ.

Rev. Simon Brignall.

St John the Baptist, Coln St Aldwyns

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