A Spring Day Stroll

Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

Two men are taking a walk, seemingly without purpose.  They are followers of Jesus and are talking about all the events of his recent execution.  Jesus appears to them, though they are unaware.  He asks them to share these events from their own perspective, which they do.  Jesus then sets about to situate his own execution within the context of the Hebrew scriptures and history of Israel.  As he did so, the hearts of the two men burned within them, but they still did not recognize the Lord.

When they arrive at an inn for the evening, they all sit down for a meal.  It is only when this table fellowship occurs, when Jesus breaks the bread for them and with them that they come to recognize his presence among them.  They have encountered the risen Jesus, but then he disappears from their midst.  They will come to realize later that Jesus forever remains with his people in this table fellowship, in this breaking of the bread.  It is that action that summarizes all that he was about on earth, all that scripture foretold.

We can talk on and on, sharing our own perspectives about Jesus.  We can have Bible studies aplenty until the end of our days.  But we will never recognize the Lord in our midst until we come together at the table and break bread as he did.  It is ultimately in action and not in words that we come to discover the presence of the Lord, that we come to make present the Lord in our world.