{"id":6641,"date":"2021-10-01T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6641"},"modified":"2021-09-30T06:23:33","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T22:23:33","slug":"281-emmaus-memory-and-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6641","title":{"rendered":"281. Emmaus: Memory and Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

28\u00a0<\/sup>As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>But they urged him strongly, saying, \u201cStay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.\u201d So he went in to stay with them.\u00a030\u00a0<\/sup>When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.\u00a031\u00a0<\/sup>Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.\u00a032\u00a0<\/sup>They said to each other, \u201cWere not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?\u201d\u00a033\u00a0<\/sup>That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.\u00a034\u00a0<\/sup>They were saying, \u201cThe Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!\u201d\u00a035\u00a0<\/sup>Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.<\/strong><\/span> [Luke 24:28-35<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Titian. The Supper at Emmaus.<\/em> c.1535.<\/span><\/p>\n

Religion is a chain of memory, a form of collective memory and imagination based on the sanctity of tradition. The Judeo-Christian tradition knows intimately the importance memory plays in keeping their faith alive. The covenantal theology espoused in the Book of Deuteronomy requires that Israel remember its history both in fulfillment of divine commandment and as a bulwark against apostasy. The Exodus is reenacted in every Passover meal to make sure memory of the greatest events in Judaism is preserved. For the Christians, Jesus\u2019 command at the Last Supper to \u201cdo this in memory of me\u201d is fundamental to the practice and the continuation of the faith. So Saint Paul insists on the importance of handing on the tradition, of passing on the baton of faith: \u201cFor I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received\u2026\u201d (1 Cor 15:3). And, of course, it is in remembering how good life was in the father\u2019s house that prompted the prodigal son to finally decide to head home (Luke 15:17-18). Memory is key to understanding the Emmaus story as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Memory of Scriptural Promises<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The root of the two Emmaus disciples being downcast over the death of Jesus was their idea of redemption, which was more politically than spiritually oriented. Jesus\u2019 interpretation of the Scriptures for them included a Messiah who would have to suffer and die. Those who subscribed to a narrative, as those two disciples did, in which the Messiah would be a national hero who drove the Romans out of Palestine, would have a difficult time finding this Jesus in the Scriptures. But as Jesus broke open the Scriptures to them, beginning with Moses and the prophets, they began to have a new, albeit tentative and troubled, sense of hope which caused their hearts to begin to burn within them even while they were still on the road. But it was at the breaking of the bread, where Jesus\u2019 words were accompanied by the familiar gestures of taking, blessing, breaking and giving bread that a flood of memories ensued. There, at table fellowship, Christ\u2019s breaking of bread turned an otherwise ordinary meal into a sacramental encounter<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The two disciples, their eyes now opened to recognise the Risen Jesus, are given a new vision of the future, and a renewed spirit in mission. Right here and henceforth, as S\u00f8<\/em>ren Kirkegaard once remarked, they would, as we all do, \u201clive life forward by understanding it backward<\/em>.\u201d This power of recollection, or memory, takes on a special relevance for the saints of the New Testament who constantly looked backwards to the Cross to understand the identity and work of their Lord and, in turn, their own identity and mission in life. They looked backwards to the Cross to remind themselves of the mission and the tasks ahead and to be fortified against the inevitable challenges before them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    1. Internalising through Memory<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Cultu<\/span>re<\/em>, Mary Carruthers explained what medieval scholars meant when they said they had read a book. To read a book was to absorb it, to make it one\u2019s own. That entailed full focus in reading, a concentration that demands \u201ceating\u201d, digesting, absorbing. In common metaphor, we say to \u201ceat it\u201d. This eating imagery is common in the Old Testament. Take, for example, three better known events:<\/span><\/p>\n