Luke 24:13-35
When he was at the table with them, he 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
We will often sit at the table for a meal with people we know. But the eyes of the two who were on the road to Emmaus were prevented from recognizing Jesus when he met them on the road and later at the table with them. It wasn’t until the familiar breaking of break, a-la-Last Supper, were their eyes opened and they recognized Jesus.
We’ve become so familiar with the ritual of Holy Communion that we’ve forgotten what a miraculous meal it is. The eating and the drinking of the bread and the wine, his body and blood, is so rote that it has become just another mundane meal. And the words, “for you,” have lost their meaning of the personal connection we have with Jesus’ crucifixion in the giving of himself.
I remember in my first year at seminary doing field work at a church in North Minneapolis. The pastor/supervisor believed that children of all ages, even if they didn’t understand what Communion was about, still ought to receive this gift of God’s grace. Consequently, his own son received Communion at a young age. One Sunday, as I was assisting with Communion, the pastor’s son, being held by the boy’s mother, came forward for Communion. The little boy took the bread from his father, and as mother and son were moving away, the boy cried out, “I want more Jesus! I want more Jesus!” The pastor turned to me and exclaimed, “You can’t tell me he doesn’t get it!”
That incident has stuck with me ever since. I think about that little boy often, crying out for more Jesus. There ought to be that same longing for wanting more Jesus each time we come to the table of the Lord, and when we leave the table. Wanting more Jesus is not only a recognition of his very presence whenever we eat and drink at the Lord’s Supper, but is also a recognition of our need for this meal continually. Whenever we receive God’s gift of Holy Communion our eyes are opened with the realization of our need to be fed and forgiven as we move forward with our daily lives.
Let us pray: O God, we want to see Jesus. Open our eyes to see him more clearly whenever we eat the bread and drink the wine, his body and blood, given and shed for us. Amen.