The readings today show us what happens when the risen Christ meets human weakness.
In the first reading, a man lame from birth sits at the temple gate.
In the Gospel, two disciples walk away from Jerusalem.
One cannot walk at all.
The others are walking, but in the wrong direction.
That is the human condition.
Either unable to move toward God, or moving away from Him.

The man at the gate has been carried there every day.
That is his life.
He does not expect healing.
He expects alms.
He has learned to ask for what will get him through the day, not for a new life.
That is what happens to us.
We stop expecting change.
We settle.
We reduce hope to something manageable.

Then Peter says: “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.”
And then: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Peter does not offer advice.
He does not offer sympathy.
He gives Christ.
Christianity is not first improvement.
It is Christ given.

And because it is Christ, the result is immediate.
Strength enters his legs.
He stands.
He walks.
And then he enters the temple praising God.
The man who was outside is now inside.
The man who was carried is now walking.
The man who asked for coins is now praising God.
Grace does not decorate life.
It restores it.

Now the Gospel.
The two disciples are walking.
But they are walking away.
Away from Jerusalem.
Away from what God has just done.
And they say: “We had hoped.”
Hope in the past tense.
That is what happens when Christ is misunderstood.
The Cross looks like failure.
Suffering looks meaningless.
Death looks final.

And Jesus comes alongside them.
He walks with them.
But they do not recognise Him.
Not because He is absent.
But because they do not yet understand.
You can be near to Christ and still not see Him.

So He teaches them.
He opens the Scriptures.
He shows them that this was always the plan:
the Christ must suffer and then enter His glory.

Faith grows like that.
Not by guessing.
By being taught.
Truth is not invented.
It is received.

Then the moment comes.
At table.
He takes bread.
Blesses it.
Breaks it.
Gives it.
And their eyes are opened.

That is not accidental.
That is the Eucharist.
He opens their minds in the Scriptures.
He opens their eyes in the breaking of the bread.
That is how the risen Christ meets His Church.

Now place the two readings together.
In Acts, Christ raises a man who cannot walk.
In the Gospel, Christ turns around men who are walking away.
In both cases, He restores what they cannot restore.
That is Easter.

Christ is not risen to be admired.
He is risen to act.
He still gives strength to the weak.
He still corrects the confused.
He still meets His people in His word and in the Eucharist.

So the question is simple.
Are we willing to be interrupted by Him?
Because the risen Lord does not just comfort.
He raises.
He does not just walk beside us.
He turns us around.
And that is where new life begins.