It is always interesting to me, in this story of the appearance of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, how the one thing that got through to them was the breaking of the bread. He spent a long time walking with them, interpreting the Scriptures and recollecting all the things that had happened on the way. But they never knew it was Jesus until he broke bread with them.
Because of this, the early Christian community quickly took on a Eucharistic identity. They gathered often and took part in the breaking of the bread, and it is in this act of worship that they found the icon of who they were. “Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus had commanded them, and through appearances like this one on the road to Emmaus, they quickly began to see how important this actually was. And because the early Christian Community found its own identity in the breaking of the bread, it is not terribly surprising, I think, that we find ourselves to be a Eucharistic people.
This story of the journey to Emmaus is an important one for us to hear with fresh ears. Because this story reminds us what Holy Communion is all about. Just as those disciples came to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so it will be for us. Filled with the grace of today’s Holy Communion, maybe we can recognize our Lord with fresh eyes and truly see him in our brothers and sisters. Maybe you will see our Lord in the faces of the needy when you come to serve them. Maybe you will see him in the faces of your children or grandchildren as you teach them and correct them and love them into the kingdom of God. Maybe you will see him in the face of a coworker or friend who is going through a difficult time. As we love those people the Lord puts in our paths, maybe we can see our Lord among us in a new way.
We are a Eucharistic people. So we gather over and over to find our identity once again. We offer our gifts: bread and wine, our experiences, our sorrows and joys, our loving and our living, our successes and failures, who we are and who we were meant to be. Jesus takes all this, blesses it, breaks it and offers it back redeemed and sanctified and made whole and holy. Every time we gather for the Eucharist, we not only recognize our Lord in the breaking of the bread, but also we recognize our true selves, the ones we were created to be.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!