(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
Two people on a road, making a sorrowful journey, were joined by a stranger. They walked together and the stranger commented on their sadness. Then started a long conversation that ended when they came to a town. They ate together and things began to happen quickly.
Being on a journey and welcoming strangers are two of the themes from the Gospel according to Luke. How many people have welcomed strangers and discovered that they had entertained angels? Remember the story of the Good Samaritan, about people journeying and strangers helping save a life? Remember the journey of Jesus to the house of Elizabeth while he still in the womb of his mother? The journey to Emmaus is part of the journey narrative. The meeting with strangers is also part of the narrative.
We are on journeys. Part of our journey today has brought us here. Part of our journey today will take us elsewhere. Part of our journey today will take us to strangers. We will meet them in the halls here; we will meet them in parking lots, on the streets and roads, at traffic lights, even perhaps at our front doors. Some of these strangers are indigenous native peoples. Others are Hispanic or Asian. Some have darker or lighter skin than we have. Some speak strange foreign languages. Some have different religious beliefs. Some come from different cultures. These strangers can help us make sense out of our lives just as the stranger Jesus interpreted the lives of the two companions for them.
Strangers strengthen us. Families that inbreed among themselves, marrying close relatives, become weak. Countries that reject strangers become weak. Immigrants have helped strengthen our nation. Our siblings and children have brought now light into our families by marrying outsiders. The stranger Jesus transformed the lives of the two people on the road to Emmaus.
Journeys and strangers shape the Gospel as Luke presents Jesus to us. Journeys and strangers call us to follow Christ and to find Christ along the way in those whom we encounter. Our roads may be sorrowful or the roads of others may be sorrowful. When we meet Christ in the stranger or when we meet strangers as Christ did, we can share healing, comfort and joy together.
I see two challenges for today. How will Christ in strangers help us understand God and our lives better and how will we bring Christ to the strangers we meet? Remember that the journey and the stranger are two important themes in the Gospel according to Luke.