Brief synopsis of the readings: Continuing in Acts we see Peter speaking to the people. He accused them of handing Jesus over for crucifixion after disowning him in front of Pilate. But Peter also acknowledged that they didn’t have any idea what they were doing and he counseled them to repent. Luke’s Gospel recounts the “Road to Emmaus.” This is the end of a longer story as two of Jesus’ disciples recount the event. They explained that while walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus they encountered but did not recognize Jesus. As they approached Emmaus they invited Jesus to join them. At the meal Jesus broke bread and all those gathered recognized him. Finally Jesus reviewed with them all he had said before he rose from the dead.

When I hear readings like today’s, I often imagine what it would have been like to have been present and how I would have reacted. But in today’s first reading from Acts I’m pretty certain I know what I would have done. When Peter began to talk to those gathered about Jesus and how they denied him I would have thrown a penalty flag and reminded Peter that he, too, denied Jesus three times. I may have gone so far as to ask how he can accuse us of the same sin he committed.

Let’s face it: we live in a time and place where the past isn’t prologue, it’s ammunition. Public figures with promising futures are derailed because of something they said or posted years ago. It often appears that there is no redemption or forgiveness from our worst moments and social media ensures that those moments are recorded and will last forever.

But at the risk of sounding like a Christian, let’s look at that from a Christian perspective. Nobody should excuse the fact that Peter denied he knew Jesus (three times) after Jesus was arrested; the fact that so many of his followers abandoned him had to have deeply wounded Jesus. And yet, just like Jesus’ death wasn’t the end of his story, Peter’s sin wasn’t the end of his.

This isn’t recounted in Luke, but in the 21st Chapter of John’s Gospel Jesus makes a point of forgiving Peter. That’s important, but equally important is the fact that Peter forgave himself. I can’t tell you how many dying people I encountered who just couldn’t move beyond something they did wrong. One of my patients (I’ll call her Mary) bore a child out of wedlock when she was a young woman. She raised her son and eventually married a man who adopted him. But as she was dying she just couldn’t believe she was forgiven, and given that she couldn’t imagine forgiving herself. When she died I mourned for her but I also mourned for all the happiness and joy she missed and for all the wonderful things she could have done had she been able to move beyond that one incident. The day she died I spoke with her son (who was then in his 60s) who joked that he felt badly for Jesus: “It’s going to take him most of the day to convince my mother she is in Heaven.”

Because Peter could forgive himself he was then able to speak publicly about the risen Jesus. He wasn’t shaming those gathered, he was encouraging them to take his path. He asked them to repent knowing that repentance was the only path to true discipleship and to the growth of the Christian Church.

These days almost nobody denies the existence of Jesus of Nazareth but non Christians don’t believe he rose from the dead. But nobody can deny the prolific growth of a Church devoted to that very occurrence. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the year 313 CE and before that Christians were often persecuted and sometimes martyred. It’s hard to imagine that this began with a lie.

How did it happen? Countless PhD dissertations have been written on this but let’s look to today’s Gospel for an answer. When the disciples met Jesus on the road to Emmaus they didn’t recognize him even during a spirited conversation about Jesus. It was only when they invited him to join other disciples and he broke the bread that they knew who he was.

It’s easy to overlook this, but it was the combination of Eucharist and community that brought them all together. For many of us COVID 19 has been a painful experience, and one of the things we grieve is the inability to gather and share Eucharist. Many of us have been able to get by using modern technologies like live streaming, but it’s been hard and we all look forward to the day when we can gather and share Eucharist together.

One of the things we’ve learned is that community without Eucharist is nothing more than a social club. But Eucharist without community also limps. At mass the quiet moments after receiving Eucharist (at least for me) reminds me that those next to me, those near me, and those around the world share not only beliefs and values, but also a determination to continue to build and enhance the Kingdom of God. It’s just not the same if we are all in our living rooms watching the same thing on our computers.

Additionally as we look around at those who share Eucharist with us we may also recognize those people who experienced our sinfullness (as well as those who sinned against us). Let us not forget the words of consecration: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.”

These are the tools that Jesus left us, and today’s readings show us clearly the path forward, the path that brought us from the emptiness of the death of Jesus to the joy of his resurrection. Let us continue to live that.