The First Supper - Emmaus Sunday (Luke 24:13-33)

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Of all the theories that seek to explain the identities of the two disciples on the Emmaus road, it makes the most sense to me that it was Cleopas and Mary, a married couple who apparently had kids old enough to have been finding their own way home after Passover. Mary and Cleopas were empty nesters, mature adults, who’ve lived their lives together for decades. They’ve raised their kids. They've discovered Jesus. They’ve been following Him closely enough to be present with Him in Jerusalem on that final Passover. They may have been present at the Last Supper. They may have been present in those days of waiting between Jesus’ death and resurrection. But now it’s over and it's time for them to head back home.

These are just two ordinary people, among the crowds and clusters of pilgrims streaming out of Jerusalem in every direction after Passover. Cleopas and Mary would have been heading westward, towards their own 4 walls, towards their own lives, where things actually made sense, where they knew who they were, they knew which way was up, and they could start wrapping their heads around the fact that... It was over. Right? From Jerusalem to Emmaus isn’t a bad journey: about 3 hours on foot, mostly downhill. And they had the advantage of the Roman roads that had been built from Jerusalem out into the countryside. Roman roads were engineering accomplishments. They were level and straight, paved with interlocking flat stones. Maybe Cleopas and Mary, as they walked that road, thought that the Romans - they build good roads. But that's about all you can say for them. Especially now. Especially after what they’d done to Jesus, because now... It was over. Wasn’t it? There was no reason to stay in Jerusalem, no reason to not return home to their regular everyday. They had no reason to not go back to their life of worshipping Yahweh God, and of waiting and praying for the Messiah. So that Resurrection Sunday morning, with everything so confused and up in the air, they gave everybody one last hug and melted into that crowd of pilgrims heading away from the city and down that Roman road. They must have been surrounded by crowds of fellow travelers who had just celebrated Passover, and were feeling joy, and gratitude, and looking forward to next time. But Mary and Cleopas... They were in the fog of feeling the void that He left behind. They knew what everyone had lost, because now... He was gone. Right?

But as they walk, This Guy comes up from behind. He’s been eavesdropping, apparently, and they don’t notice Him until He interrupts them: “Hey, so what are you talking about there, guys? Sounds pretty intense.”

And they stopped walking and looked very sad. (Luke 24:17)

Cleopas answers: “Well... That whole thing with Jesus of Nazareth! You know? That whole thing? He was a prophet but He was crucified. We were all hoping that He was the Messiah and He would redeem Israel.”

(I can imagine Cleopas asking Him, “How do you not know this? What, have you been, like, living under a rock or something?” And This Guy kind of smiling and saying, “Well, yeah, kinda sorta.”)

Cleopas continues, “But then we went this morning to His tomb and His body was gone! It’s just not there! We don't know where it is. We don't know what happened. And there were some angels—like actual angels—that said that Jesus is alive. So some of the guys went and checked it out and it matched what the women said, but we don't know what's going on. He's just gone.”

Cleopas pauses for a breath and This Guy says, “Oh, that! Oh, right. That. Yeah. Wasn't that amazing? Wasn't it amazing how all of the prophecies came true? Wasn’t it amazing how they pointed to exactly that? To the Messiah having to suffer and die?”

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the scriptures about himself. (Luke 24:27)

This Guy starts walking and talking. Mary and Cleopas follow. Maybe they don't even realize they’ve started walking again, but they have to hear what He is saying. He’s telling them:

• Genesis points to the Saviour's ultimate victory over the enemy.
• In Exodus, the Passover lamb dies in the place of the eldest son in every Israelite family and the nation of Israel is saved.
• In Leviticus, the image of the Passover lamb is perpetuated for generations as a remembrance and as a substitute.

And This Guy is walking and talking and they're just following Him and listening as He talks about:

• Isaiah, who prophesied that the Saviour would be born of a virgin; that He would be a stumbling stone, tripping up people who just didn't want to get it.
• Jeremiah, who says that the Messiah is going to establish a new covenant between God and humanity.
• Ezekiel, who says that the Messiah will be a shepherd.
• Daniel, who says that the Saviour will govern an eternal Kingdom.
• Joel, who says the Spirit is going to be poured out on all people, (and then maybe He pauses for a second and says, ‘Oh, wait, that hasn't happened yet. Just you wait, guys. You're gonna love it.’)
• Then the prophet Amos, who said that Gentile believers from every nation will serve the eternal King.
• Jonah, who creates a picture for us of a prophet who will be entombed for three days.
• Micah, who says that the King will be born in Bethlehem.
• Zechariah, who says the King will arrive riding on a donkey.

And Mary and Cleopas are just soaking this up. Because This Guy... He is opening their minds. He is opening their eyes to things that they had not seen before, had not understood before. And they are starting, I think, to remember some things that Jesus had said about himself.

As they walk and talk and listen and remember, suddenly they discover they're at their front door. They’re home.

Mary says to This Guy... ‘Listen, we just want to thank you for your time. This has been great! Come and stay with us for the night. Come and crash on our couch. We’re happy to have you for the evening. Just to say thank you.”

He steps back a pace or two and says, “Oh, I couldn't impose. I'm just gonna keep going.”

But Mary and Cleopas aren’t having that. They’re thinking, “We don't know what's going on. We don't know who He is. We haven't even got His name yet. But whatever this is... We need to hear more. We are not done with This Guy yet.”

I can picture Mary grabbing Jesus by the elbow and saying, “No you don't. I insist. It's nearly 7:00. The sun is going down. You're going to stay. Yes, you are. We brought some food with us from Jerusalem. It's nothing fancy but stay. I insist!”

They all go in the house. Cleopas and Mary have been gone for over a week. So they're picking up the mail from the front mat. They're opening the windows to change the air. They're getting out the food for supper. They're setting the table. They’re chatting and catching up, and thinking of questions to ask This Guy. (Maybe a neighbour sticks their head in the door to say ‘Hi, you're back. Good to see you guys. Who's your company?’ Mary whispers, ‘We don’t know. Go away. I’ll explain later.’)

Then they sit down—to the First Supper. The one that Jesus chose to sit down to after His resurrection, with people he loved.

While He was reclining at the table with them, He took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight. (Luke 24:30-31)

And they're sitting there, with the bread in their hands, staring. “Ok... You saw that right? It wasn't just me. He... He just disappeared. Poof!”

It takes a moment for them to gather their wits. They start comparing notes: “It was Him the whole time! It was Jesus the whole time! That makes so much sense, because our hearts were burning within us. We were hearing everything that He was saying, and it was just making so much sense and it was perfect and it was true and we didn't want to let Him go and it was Jesus the whole time!”

After those first few moments of shock, what do they do? They get up. They leave the mail unopened on the kitchen counter. They close the windows. They lock the door. They ask the neighbours to feed the cat, and they head back up that Roman road to Jerusalem to find the others.

Question: why, after all that time together, did they finally recognize Him in that moment?

Because Jesus chose—in that moment—to remove whatever mask he'd been wearing, or whatever blinders had been on their eyes. He chose—in that moment—to reveal himself, to be recognized, and to say, “I am here. Here I am.”

______

Jesus reveals himself to us as we share Communion, remembering that Last Supper, just as He did to Cleopas and Mary at that first supper.

Our response to Jesus can be one of any number of different kinds of response. Our response to recognizing Jesus, to realizing who He is, can be like the response of our sisters in the garden that resurrection morning: they literally fall to their knees in surprise and in confusion.

Our response to recognizing Jesus can be like Peter, out in that fishing boat: a moment of joy and recognition and friendship, as he jumps in the lake and swims to shore because he sees Jesus there. I can see Peter laughing as he gives Jesus a great big, wet hug.

Our response to recognizing Jesus can be like the apostle Thomas, the final one of the eleven apostles to recognize Jesus: he speaks those words of awe and humility, “My Lord and my God.”

Our response to recognizing Jesus can be like the apostle Paul; when he realizes who Jesus was, when he recognizes Him for who He is, Paul changes his mind. He changes his thinking, and he begins to live his life in a new way.

Our response to Jesus in that moment of recognition depends on who we are. It depends on where we are in our life journey. It depends on what happened yesterday, and what we think is going to happen tomorrow. It depends on our unique emotional landscape, our own brain wiring.

I go more in the intellectual direction. That's just me. There are folks in my church whose response to Jesus is to raise their hands and to shout, “Hallelujah!”

Jesus meets us each uniquely and individually, but He calls us each to respond. When we recognize him, when we see Him for who He is, we are called to respond. To act, to react, to live forward, beyond that moment of recognition. 

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