Bread
/Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. -Luke 24:35
This Sunday we’ll explore the wonderful story of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. One of them is named Cleopas and we don’t get the name of the other one - who knows, maybe it was Cleopas’ wife. Just two unknown disciples, they are walking back home to Emmaus from Jerusalem, where they’ve just experienced the terrible events of Holy Week and their teacher’s crucifixion. As they walk sadly along, they are joined by a stranger who comes alongside them, and who asks some good questions and sparks a pretty deep conversation about current events and theology.
The two disciples realize that their hearts are burning within them as they speak to the stranger, and they don’t want the conversation to end. So since it is getting dark when they arrive home, they urge him to come in and join them for dinner and to spend the night before walking any further. Even though they’d been together for most of the day, it was when the stranger picked up the loaf of bread and broke it, that suddenly, “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” as Jesus. Strangely, just as that happened, Jesus vanished from their sight.
I have often thought that the stranger that Cleopas and his friend met on the road did not really vanish like magic from their house all of a sudden, as the story seems to suggest. Maybe, as the guest picked up the bread to break it, it was more like the two disciples’ eyes were opened to something extraordinary through this most ordinary of actions. They had seen Jesus do the same ordinary thing at the feeding of the 5000, at the last supper, and at countless meals together with his followers. Perhaps through this everyday action, Cleopas and the other disciple suddenly saw that Christ’s body was now in them, between them and among them, right there in their fully human lives. I’ve often imagined that they had suddenly seen the stranger as if a new kind of lens had been placed over their eyes - saw him as Jesus - and when they shook their heads and blinked a few times, the vision passed away again as quickly as it had come - like a mirage - and there was the stranger again, just as he had been before.
But whatever happened, something about the experience left the disciples awakened and amazed. So they ran to tell the eleven all that had happened, and how Jesus had become known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Bread has become a key symbol in the Christian tradition. Jesus himself is quoted in the gospel of John of saying “I am the true bread.” Each week when we receive communion, the bread is said to be the body of Christ, broken for us. As we each absorb a little piece of that bread into our own bodies, we carry Christ out into the world to share a deep spiritual nourishment with others, until we can come back together again as ‘one loaf’ around the table to be nourished to start the cycle again.
It has been hard for us during this time of exile from the Eucharist. It is a regular spiritual practice to come together to re-member Christ’s body in church. We call the Eucharist a sacrament, for it is an outward and tangible sign of God’s inward and spiritual grace - and it is indeed a powerful, communal way to receive God’s grace. We will be eager to get back to being able to partake in that sacrament.
We’ll also be eager to get back to praying together, singing together and exploring the Word together. These church practices help us deepen in our faith, learn about God, be more mindful of our neighbors, and affirm our intenion to live into our higher selves for the rest of the week. Without these familiar church practices, we’ve been challenged to maintain a spiritual practices on our own and to find new ways to connect with one another outside of 44 West Street.
However, I’m reminded that when Jesus was in the wilderness - when he was hungry and lonely and away from everything he knew - he was tempted to turn stones into bread. His response was, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Sometimes you just don’t have bread. Sometimes fasting from what you normally do is the path of the moment for coming closer to God.
So despite our separation, many of us are recognizing a new level of appreciation for our church, our friends in faith, and the many ways Christ comes to us outside of our normal Sunday routines. We have experienced spiritual communion in unexpected ways, and have had occasional glimpses of Christ walking right alongside us, whether visible or invisible, tangible or intangible. Like the village of ‘Who’s’ in Dr. Seuss’s book, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” we’ve experienced that even without all the stuff we usually have, Christ comes into our midst just the same.
It is Christ’s presence in us, between us and among us that make us the church - not just when we are together in a certain building, but whenever two or more are gathered - even when that is online or over a telephone wire - or like you right now, reading the words of one of your siblings in Christ. May you be blessed this week with glimpses, however fleeting, of Christ’s presence with you on the road, and in your home, and at your own table.
