Sad
The disciples of Emmaus meet Jesus on the road, they do not recognize him, but stop to answer his questions. The text literally says: they stopped sad [Greek: skythropòs]. The Greek word skythropòs, used in the text to translate that looking downcast, etymologically means "enraged". Skythropòs derived from the root -skythr of the Greek skythròs, "cross, angry, sullen, annoyed," combined with òps, "eye, face." The root -skythr is the basis of the verb skýzomai, "I am angry, in a bad mood," which in turn derives from the Aramaic-Hebrew shaqàs, "to feel bitter at, to have hard feelings toward someone," sheqès, "hatred, contempt", which in turn originated from the Accadic shakasu, "look on with aversion." The disciples of Emmaus meet Jesus, the God of joy, and do not recognize him because they are sad. But what is sadness? Sadness is anger, just anger. Anger is Satan's deadly fluid which drowns the joy of our heart and soul and poisons our cells. Joy is God's life-giving fluid of which all our life is interwoven, which fills our hearts and spirits, and makes our cells strong and healthy. Satan's deadly fluid can mask in different ways but its nature is always the same, anger. It may appear as sadness but it is anger, as disappointment but it is anger, as melancholy, desolation, bitterness, demoralization but it is always anger. It may appear as moodiness, hopelessness, depression, but actually it is anger, pure anger. The mind can describe in many different ways the poisonous fluid of anger which it retains within itself, but it is always anger.What does anger provoke? Anger stops our steps, blocks our thoughts and desires, obstructs the energy of life. Anger stops the movement of life and turns it into agitation, anxiety, competition, struggle, conflict, destructive energy. The sadness of the disciples of Emmaus is anger, black and poisonous rage. The disciples of Emmaus are deeply angry with the events, with the priests of the temple, with the leaders of the people, with themselves for having allowed themselves to be misled, with life which tolerates such injustice and violence, with Jesus on whom they had placed their hopes and dreams, with God because they feel betrayed and abandoned by him. Jesus does not meet two insecure disciples, blocked by small faith, spirituality immature, indeed he meets two angry disciples, full of anger and resentment and, as a result of this distorting rage, they have become uncertain, blocked by small faith, spirituality immature. It is this anger that flows into the mind and heart, which turns dialogue into quarrel, relationship into conflict, unity into separation, the capability of seeing and understanding into intellectual blindness and stupidity. Nothing in the world as long and intense periods of angry thoughts has the power to make the mind stupid and unintelligent. It is this anger that blinds the eyes of the mind and of the heart of the two disciples of Emmaus, to the point that they cannot recognize Jesus even when he approaches them. The text says (v. 16): their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
It is not a mysterious, mystical impediment, it is just anger which darkens every intellectual and spiritual vision. The same inner rage that makes the eyes of the disciples impeded, makes their heart foolish, stupid, unintelligent and dull, hard.
It is the same anger that Jesus dissolves in the heart of the disciples of Emmaus with the power and warmth of His Word, and that is immediately replaced with joy, inner peace, understanding, loving passion, praise, desire of unity, sharing, Eucharist, evangelization.