Our Sacred Stories ~ Discovering the Risen Jesus at the Breaking Bread: Sharing Good News

She was about 7 years old. Her new bike was colourful and her feet just barely touched the ground. As she coasted along the street, her Mom was holding onto the seat. The little girl’s face shone with delight. She rode with a tentative confidence and a happy smile. Then, her Mom let go of the seat and the bike continued on its way. The little girl’s face shone more brightly and after a moment of anxiousness, her delight could not have been greater. She was biking!!!!

We have probably all witnessed this scene. Gaining confidence is part of growing up or building up our experience. Similarly, trust is built up with time and with the growth of our relationship with another. Over time and with the experience of others we grow closer in relationship. What we say about this growth applies as well with our faith. Christian faith is a relationship, with God and with the person of Jesus the Christ. Becoming disciples is the growth of this two-fold bond with both God and with Jesus.

The disciples we see in the Gospels, built this faith relationship only gradually. A significant point in this growth came with the acceptance of Jesus’s resurrection. We can see something of this evolution of their faith in the Gospel of John 21:1-19. The Gospel writer portrays t he gradual development of the relationship between Jesus the Christ, the Risen One and those early disciples.

As John tells the story of the resurrected Jesus, the disciples are going about their regular tasks, as Peter says simply: “I’m going fishing.” With this he and his crew head out and catch nothing. While they are out on the lake, the risen Jesus appears on the shoreline. They however do not recognize him. Jesus, advises them to drop the net on the other side of the boat and they have a huge catch. At this point, the disciples gradually begin to recognize the Risen One.

This gradual development of their faith is descriptive of the faith of all disciples, both in the how the faith relationship begins – ordinary human experiences and in how the faith grows gradually into a firm committed relationship. John notes that when the disciples reached shore with their catch, Jesus fed them. As they shared this meal together, John tells us that the disciples shared some of the fish from their catch. As they ate together sharing something of their resources at the meal, their faith grew and matured.

As their faith relationship grew, Jesus asked, through Peter, about the bond of love that came with their faith in him. Then he called them to share what they had received in this relationship with all the others, the “lambs” and the “sheep”. The faith relationship he had give to his disciples was never just for them as a personal gift. It was always to be shared beyond their circle.

In Luke’s Gospel 24:13-35, we find the same dynamic in the impact of the Risen One on his disciples. As some of the disciples were on the road to Emmaus talking about the tragedy and loss of Jesus who meant so much to them, they met a person they did not know. After coming to their destination, they invited this “stranger” to stay with them. As they came to the table with the “stranger”, he took bread, blessed and broke it. It was as they shared at the table with him, “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him”. The two disciple immediately went back to the other disciples to tell what they had experienced. Again, faith had to be shared with others.

Faith is always a shared experience. The Table of the Eucharist is a family table, a communal event. We must share the experience with others. It is not solitary. And the Good News that is at the core of our faith relationship is never just for ourselves, personally. As disciples of Jesus the Christ we are bearers of the Good News to others, beyond our faith community to the world – in word and in action.