CommunionFire Special The Chronicles Of Cleophas Chapter Six

St. Mary and St. Cleophas were passionate for Jesus. Mary was at the foot of the Cross with Jesus' Mother & Mary Magdalene

Chapter Six: Jesus Glory Turns Mourning into Gladness!
On the Emmaus Road when Jesus first 'manifested' Himself to them, their heads were downcast. 

“The same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. (They were remembering.). As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing Him (because His Body was upgraded to a higher, spiritual model and as yet they did not have the Holy Spirit so they could only see Jesus with their natural eyesight). He wanted to change what they remembered into a new story line.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast.” Luke 24:13-17 

So, apparently their conversation was very troubling. Jesus went on to let them know who He was when He blessed their bread, broke it and gave it back to them. Then and only then were their eyes opened and they could lift their hearts and heads with great joy and faith. 

The same word is used to describe Cain when he realized his offering had less regard than Abel’s offering. Genesis 4:5-6 says, “but on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?” 

God provided a sacrifice worthy of His favor but instead Cain’s anger got the better part of him and he murdered his brother. Our friend Joy Dawson calls this the ‘insanity of sin’. We do regretful things, think we can get away with it and then find out God had provided another way our all along. Then once found out and Cain admits his sin to the Lord listen to what he says. “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth…”

Cain is driven by the Lord to leave the land which is “The Garden” and he knows He will be cut off from the presence of the Lord. He also knows that ‘outside of His presence he will be forever restless’ or without 'rest'! Cain is part of the lineage of Jesus and like Saul who became Paul, Cain had a vital part in God’s story of redemption. 

The Old Testament is a physical story about a spiritual reality measured by a law that looks for faith. The New Testament is a spiritual story that becomes a physical reality transformed by faith-fed by grace. The Word becomes flesh and dwells within us. "and we see his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

Though downcast on the road, the Lord opened their eyes to recognize Him and they would forever know the resurrected Jesus in the operation of the Holy Spirit in Communion! They would also go on to share all these things with the rest of Jesus natural family which included 5 of the 12 Apostles. God chose Cleophas and his wife Mary to show them:

1)      How they could always encounter Jesus: by the blessing of Communion at His Table.
2)      The purpose of sending the Holy Spirit in Pentecost (to continue revealing Jesus to them)
3)      That Jesus provides His Table and blessing so anyone could believe and know His life and love.

"The divine apostle Paul when he wrote to men like those today, who were interpreting with great difficulty the mysterious words of the Gospel of Christ, said with wisdom and profundity:    If there are those from whom our Gospel is hidden, it is so for those who are perishing, for the unbelievers whose minds the god of this world has clouded, so that “they do not see shining the light of the Gospel of the glory of the Messiah who is the image of God.”   ‘All of us’, he said, ‘who behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same shape, that is to say into the same image, from glory to glory, when we believe without hesitation in the words of the Gospel as (coming) from the Lord who is the Spirit.’"    

From about 700 A.D. The Letter of James of Edessa (Syrian) to John (His son) the Stylite 
on the genealogy of the Virgin Mary 

NEWS TODAY: Within 24 hours of this post a 21 year old white man sat in a Bible Study and prayed in Charleston, South Carolina. He then systematically murdered 9 of them in the Mother Emmanuel A.M.E. Church because of hate. Some angel caused a 5 year old to lay down and pretend he was dead to escape the jaws of death. In Israel the Catholic Church of Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes was burned down by the same people that Jesus fed 2000 years ago at that same spot. Hate Crimes are done by those so blind they cannot see. We need the Miracle of Emmaus today as never before. Jesus stood up and cried out, "Come to me all! The Little Children, The Weary, the Hungry, The Thirsty, The Impoverished, The Halt, The Blind, The Lame, Those Wanderers in the Highways and Those caught behind the Gates in the Byways. I will give you rest, food, drink and eternal life!   

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“Stay with us, Lord, for it is almost evening” (cf. Lk 24:29). This was the insistent invitation that the two disciples journeying to Emmaus on the evening of the day of the resurrection addressed to the Wayfarer who had accompanied them on their journey... Amid the shadows of the passing day and the darkness that clouded their spirit, the Wayfarer brought a ray of light which rekindled their hope and led their hearts to yearn for the fullness of light. “Stay with us”, they pleaded. And he agreed. Soon afterwards, Jesus' face would disappear, yet the Master would “stay” with them, hidden in the “breaking of the bread” which had opened their eyes to recognize him. ... Amid our questions and difficulties, and even our bitter disappointments, the divine Wayfarer continues to walk at our side, opening to us the Scriptures and leading us to a deeper understanding of the mysteries of God. When we meet him fully, we will pass from the light of the Word to the light streaming from the “Bread of life”, the supreme fulfillment of his promise to “be with us always, to the end of the age” (cf. Mt 28:20). 

St. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter “Mane nobiscum Domine” (2004), Introduction, 1-2

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