Communion With the Christ:: The Easter Season: The Showbread of Jesus

In the Early Church, Easter was thought of more of a Season rather than just a day. It was called the Great Fifty Days of Easter. The Easter Season began on Easter Sunday and continued until the Day of Pentecost.

“When Jesus was at the table with them, he took bread and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus; and he vanished from their sight” Lk: 24:30-31

On the Evening of that first Easter when the two Disciples of Jesus, Cleopas and the other, were walking on the road to the village of Emmaus which sat about seven miles northwest from the Holy city of Jerusalem.

“Now that same day two of the Disciples were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem” Lk: 24:13

Jesus Comes in Uncertainty

The Disciples discussed the events which they had been a part of over the last three years, but especially over the last week. They had thought that their Teacher Jesus of Nazareth was entering Jerusalem to become the promised king of Israel, but all of the hopes which they had vested in Jesus were seemly shattered in but a matter of less than twenty-four hours with the arrest, mock trial convened by the religious leaders and then Jesus was given over to the hands of the Roman’s to be put to death upon a cross and they thought was now dead and in the Tomb.

“we had hoped that Jesus was the one who would redeem Israel” (21a)

As they walk the two Disciples were joined on the road to Emmaus by a stranger whose words had stirred their hearts. Due to the Stranger words, the two Disciples had hoped that the one who had walked along with them would at least come into the inn were they had planned to stay and eat with them.

They found this stranger’s words regarding the Messiah and his work so compelling and moving that the two wanted him to remain with them and have this inspiring stranger to stay with them and speak more of his powerful insights into the Sacred Scriptures about the Messiah.

“beginning with Moses and all the prophets Jesus open the Scriptures to them regarding the things which were to happen to him” (27)

Unknown to the Disciples was that this unrecognized stranger who spoke such profound things out of the Word of God was their very own Lord and teacher Jesus, yet he went unrecognized by them both.

The very Jesus who offered so much promise to them and raised their hopes that he was the long-awaited Messiah. As Jesus walked along with them and spoke to them regarding the things of God, causing their hearts to burn with the fire of truth instinctively knowing the stranger’s words were correct but even in his words, even as Jesus spoke to them, he went unrecognized by the pair of Disciples.

“When they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus walked ahead of them as if he was going on” (28)

The two Disciples, seeing that Jesus was walking on as if to depart from them, then urged their unrecognized Lord, to stay and eat with them. Jesus accommodates the pair and enters the inn with them.

“But they urged him strongly saying “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is almost spent.” So Jesus went in and stayed with them” (19)

Later on, after their realization and encounter with Jesus, the two would comment on the words which their unrecognized Lord spoke to them, “did not our hearts burn within us burn within us while he spoke to us regarding the Scriptures” (32)

Revealed at the Table

“they urged him strongly”.

When the three enter the establishment, they then gather at a table, and it is here, as they come together at the table with Jesus, that he assumes the role as the table host to reveal to the Disciples that it is he himself who was with them on the journey to Emmaus. Jesus does this through a simple yet powerful way.

Jesus assumes the role as the table host and then takes some bread, blesses it and breaks it, then presents the portions to the both of them.

“When Jesus was with them at the table, he took bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.” (30)

As the two men accept the offered bread. The astonished Disciples then receive the revelation of who it is that is, and was that is with them. Jesus is now made known to them, their eyes are now opened and they see that it is Jesus who gives them the bread. In the sharing of the table bread there at Emmaus, they recognize Jesus, he is shown to be he himself; alive from the dead.

“Then their eyes were opened; and they recognized Jesus” (31a)

It is then, that their Lord vanishes from their sight but only after “they recognized Jesus” through the presentation of the table bread.

“and he vanished from their sight” (31b)

The Showbread or Presence

As Jesus “vanished from their sight” the two Disciples are left holding the bread that remains, which Jesus gave to them as evidence of Jesus himself being with them. The bread remained there with them and was in their hands and upon the table around which they were gathered with the risen Lord.

This bread which remained which was given to the Disciples reveals a powerful truth. Jesus has given us, his Disciples, there at the inn at Emmaus, and throughout the ages, bread from his very own table as the evidence that he has risen from the dead and he himself is among us.

St. Luke’s accounts gives us the careful wording that Jesus had only “vanished out of their sight”, St. Luke does not say that the Lord has departed from them. The bread which was given them, and now was in their hands, speaks of this glorious truth and was the evidence of Jesus risen life.

That very same Jesus is still there with the Disciples, even though he is unseen by earthly eyes, and still at the table of which he assumed the role of table host through his blessing and presentation of the bread to the Disciples.

The bread which remained in the Disciples hands and that, harkens back to the Table of the Showbread or Bread of Presence which was found within the Wilderness Tabernacle and then latter in the Temple of God at Jerusalem. Ex: 25:30, Lev: 24:5-9.

This Showbread or Bread of Presence was only for the Priest of the Lord God, and was the Earthly evidence within the Sanctuary that their God was present with and among them. This Showbread was given to the Priest to eat as an ongoing symbol of the communion between Israel and their God.

The Bread of the Lord’s Table

The truth of the abiding presences of our Lord Jesus is demonstrated and presented to his Disciples as the evidence of the eternal presences of our risen Lord within the Sanctuary of the Church, that is, we are given, by our Lord the Bread of Communion, which remains with us to convey to each and all his Disciples whenever we share in the Holy Sacrament of Eucharist, that our Lord Jesus, though “vanished” from our earthy sight, is yet with us; and it is through the breaking of the bread, the Communion, that Jesus reveals himself to us as our “eyes are opened” and is recognized by us and is seen by the eyes of faith.

This was the purpose for which Jesus assumed the role as the host of the table and “took bread and broke it and gave it to them” so that they might recognize Jesus, that is see, him as who he is, the eternal Son of God incarnate who went to the cross died is risen from the dead and now is alive and with us forevermore.

Each time we share in the bread of the Lord’s Table, Jesus as the true host, blesses the Communion Bread and then breaks it and gives it to us so that we might “recognize “him and know that Jesus’ presence is with us. This a central focus of the sharing of the Eucharistic Sacrament, in it Jesus is revealing himself to us and telling us that he is here with us.

I Am With You

Even some of Jesus’ parting words which he declared to his Disciples just before his ascension into the Heavens confirms that he will be with his Disciples even until the very end.

“I am with you always even until the end of the world” Matt: 28:20

Jesus Reveals Himself

Jesus’ Disciples have this ongoing assurance and affirmation from our Lord of his abiding presence each time we receive from Jesus our table host, the glorious Sacrament of Communion, the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper however our particular Church culture refers to this Holy Sacrament.

Our Lord Jesus invites us each and all to come and share the bread of his table that we like the Priest of God who ministered in the Temple were given to eat to eat of the Showbread that represented the presences of the Lord God among the people of Israel. 1Pet: 2:9, Rev: 5:10

Each time our Lord Jesus invites us to his table we are strengthen in our fellowship and given the deeper revelation who Jesus is and the assurance that he is with us. That he has died and has risen again.

In Reembraced

St. Paul speaks of this truth in his first Epistle to the Christian Church at Corinth Greece. St. Paul begins by quoting the words of our Lord Jesus who as the table host, took the Old Covenant Passover and through his own self made it new and transposed it into the New Covenant Sacrament of the Communion.

“For I received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said “Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me” In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”1Cor:11:23-25

This remembrance which Jesus spoke of, is not only the recalling of an event which took place long ago surrounding the death of our Lord and his glorious resurrection, but rather, it is the ongoing awareness in continuous reembrace, that means that these things are always and ever in the uppermost parts of our thinking and shaping how we live in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus and his presence in our lives and into his grace.

It is true, that our Lord speaks of the Communion as being taken to “proclaim his death”, but this truth would have no relevance nor this Sacrament would have no power to transform us or to reveal to us our Lord without Jesus’ resurrection on that Easter morning.

This Sacrament’s power is only found in the resurrected life of Jesus himself; apart from his resurrection it would be only an empty ritual to commemorate the death of a Rabbi from Galilee who angered the religious establishment of his day a little over two thousand years ago.

As St. Paul wrote “if Christ be not raised we are above all people the most miserable.”

We can praise our Lord Jesus and thank him that he as the table host has invited us all to his table where we share in the bread, he gives to us so that each time come to recognize him and know that he is ever with us that though he be “vanished from sight” through the bread which remains we have assurance of his abiding presence. This is a lesson of the Easter Season.

Benediction: May we each and all, come to recognize and have an ongoing revelation of the abiding presence of our risen Lord Jesus Christ today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen