After one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, He spoke at length with two people on the road that leads to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Scripture informs us that there were “two of them,” referring to followers or disciples of Christ. Blinded by both grief and providence, to say nothing of Jesus’ recent death and burial, and His post-resurrected state, the two of them did not recognize that the person with whom they were talking was Jesus Christ (cf. Luke 24:16, 31). In their grief, these Jewish individuals explained to Jesus that they had “hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21 NRSV). They thought that His death had dashed that hope into pieces.
Moreover, they heard a story earlier that day that some women had gone to Jesus’ tomb but did not find His body there, saying instead they had seen a vision of angels who claimed that He was alive (cf. Luke 24:22-23). Jesus responds: “‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures” (Luke 24:25-27 NRSV). First, Jesus berates them for not believing Scripture, or the prophets. The Greek word for “foolish” refers to misunderstanding, not understanding, unintelligible, unwise. Second, Jesus berates them for not believing the Scripture in a prompt manner, i.e., immediately.
The two individuals insist that Jesus have dinner with them. At the table, Jesus “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:30-31 NRSV). If these two followers of Christ had been long with Him, during His ministry, then they would have remembered Him taking bread, blessing and breaking it, and giving it away on several occasions. When Jesus miraculously fed five thousand men, not including women and children, He took five loaves and two fish, “looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them” away (Luke 9:16 NRSV). On another occasion, when He fed four thousand men, not including women and children, Jesus took seven loaves and fish, and “after giving thanks he broke them and gave them” away (Matt. 15:36 NRSV).
Finally, during the Eucharist (or Passover, Communion, Lord’s Supper), Jesus “took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. . . .’” (Luke 22:19-20 NRSV) Symbolically, Jesus had taught on this “giving” of bread and wine — body and blood — when He made His claim to be the Bread of Heaven in John 6. “I am the bread of life,” claims Jesus. “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35 NRSV). He then claims, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51 NRSV); He makes the same type of claim over the wine or blood (John 6:52-56).
Notice the correlating statements regarding the “breaking” of the bread. In both miraculous feeding accounts, Jesus “broke” the bread. During the Eucharist Supper, He “broke” the bread. In the John 6 message, Jesus informs us that the Bread of Heaven — His flesh and blood, or life (for “the life of every creature — its blood is its life,” Lev. 17:14 NRSV) — must be consumed. In the case of the bread (or symbolically, His flesh) must be “eaten” (John 6:50). When a piece of bread is put in the mouth and eaten, it becomes broken into smaller pieces so that it may be swallowed or consumed. The breaking of that Bread reminds us of His propitiatory death until He returns (1 Cor. 11:26), which also attests to His resurrection from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-8), for He cannot return unless He has been raised from death to life!
For the two followers of Christ in Emmaus, their “spiritual” eyes were “opened” when Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. The Bread of Heaven was taken to Calvary, blessed by God the Father, and broken; it is also now being given to all who trust in Him. Jesus is still being realized by and revealed in the “breaking” of the bread. The Book of Common Prayer offers the following prayer to God regarding our neglect to draw from the treasury of Christ both strength and renewal in the Eucharist: “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name. Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the Bread.”1 Christ’s presence, joy, and blessings, such as strength and renewal, may still be experienced in the breaking of the bread. David A. deSilva comments:
If baptism charts the course for our journey, the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, provides our nourishment for the journey. In the Eucharist, God provides spiritual refreshment and empowerment to sustain us in our exodus from sin and from the corrupting powers of this world, even as God sustained the Hebrews throughout their wilderness wanderings in their own exodus from Egypt.2
He continues, “It is not the simple act of receiving bread and wine, of course, that provides such a remarkable litany of spiritual benefits, but receiving the promises and gifts of God that have been joined to this bread and this wine, and, in particular, the intimate contact with Jesus that the rite facilitates.”3 Note Jesus’ mention of intentionality in His John 6 message: “Those who eat [present tense: eat and keep on eating] my flesh and drink [present tense: drink and keep on drinking] my blood abide [present tense: abide and keep on abiding] in me, and I in them” (John 6:56 NRSV). A person must with purpose and intentionality eat and drink of Christ’s sacrament, thus receiving from Him all blessings associated with “abiding” in Him (cf. John 15:1-7; Eph. 1:3; 1 John 3:23-24). May we come to know Him more and more in the breaking of the Bread.
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1 The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990) 372.
2 David A. deSilva, Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation Through the Book of Common Prayer (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2008), 77.
3 Ibid., 77-78.
Filed under: JESUS CHRIST, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES, UNION WITH CHRIST Tagged: COMMUNION, DAVID A. DESILVA, EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOOD, EUCHARIST, FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND, FEEDING OF THE FOUR THOUSAND, IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAK, JESUS CHRIST, JESUS’ RESURRECTION, JOHN 6, LORD’S SUPPER, PASSOVER, THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 
© 2011, Matt. All rights reserved.
