Breaking of the Bread
Those two guys, so sad and depressed thinking of Jesus and His Crucifixion. They were thinking of themselves, of what they had hoped for, they did not even see Jesus. There are times we blind ourselves to reality.
An example of this is when we think we have misplaced our keys. And we search everywhere to find them. And then, suddenly, there they are, right on the counter where we had put them. They were there all along, but our minds told us they must be somewhere else. And we believe we think we see. Finally, we slow down long enough to look and then we see. The key phrase is we slow down and look.
It was when meal time came that they finally slowed down. Now they could look. The Gospel tells us that in the breaking of the bread they recognize Jesus. Let’s slow down, too, and look, and think, just what exactly is happening here.
First, Jesus took bread, He blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. Just like He did at the last supper. Then He would take the wine, He would bless it and give it to them. Just like He did at the last supper.
At the Last Supper Jesus gave us the Eucharist. He said do this in remembrance of me. It would be the last words spoken by Jesus before He is nailed to the cross. When someone is dying we come to visit them. And if they can speak to us, we try to always remember what their last words were. Those words are very important to us, they help us remember who died.
Second, after listening to Jesus explain the scriptures to them as they walked, they would have understood the mission Jesus was doing. How He was coming to redeem all people. To give us eternal life with the Father. When the Bible tells us that they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, was it the person of Jesus, who disappeared, or was it the bread and wine that Jesus just consecrated as He had done at the Last Supper?
I have often wondered if the Gospel is telling us that the two men recognized the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Wouldn’t that be an amazing miracle? But then we have that same miracle happening every time we celebrate. We look to see Jesus in the bread and wine that have been consecrated into His Body and Blood.
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen