When [Jesus] was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread. Luke 24:30-35
“Beloved, the days which passed between the Lord’s resurrection and His ascension were by no means uneventful; during them great sacramental mysteries were confirmed, great truths revealed.
In those days the fear of death with all its horrors was taken away, and the immortality of both body and soul affirmed. It was then that the Lord breathed on all His apostles and filled them with the Holy Spirit; and after giving the keys of the kingdom to blessed Peter, who he had chosen and set above all the others, He entrusted Him with the care of His flock.
During these days the Lord joined two of His disciples as their companion on the road, and by chiding them for their timidity and hesitant fears, he swept away all the clouds of our uncertainty. . .
And as they shared their meal with Him, their eyes were opened in the breaking of bread, opened far more happily to the sight of their own glorified humanity than were the eyes of our first parents with the shame of their sin.
Throughout the whole period between the resurrection and the ascension, God’s providence was at work to instill this one lesson in the hearts of the disciples, to set this one truth before their eyes, that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was truly born, truly suffered and truly died, should be recognized as truly risen from the dead.”
Leo the Great (c. 400-461) in his Ascension 1 as recounted Milton Walsh in Witness of the Saints: Patristic Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012) 313-314.
Speaking at the NCF Wisconsin conference went great yesterday in Milwaukee.
Many expressed that the teaching was eye-opening. It was cool. God brought together the remarks of the speakers and worked powerfully. It was like an Emmaus Road experience for many. Praise God.
Thanks for praying for us too. We flew safely home last night. It’s good to be home after 7 flights in 8 days.
The context for today’s Scripture is the window of time between the resurrection and the ascension. It recounts the happenings after the first Easter. And it’s where we find ourselves today.
What struck me from this reading is that it echoes what we experienced yesterday: “God’s providence was at work.”
His providence worked in the days between the resurrection and the ascension (back then and now) pointing everyone to the Lord Jesus Christ who was born, suffered, died, and rose again.
But many people don’t recognize Jesus today. Jesus did not draw attention to Himself.
We only see His providence at work when we look for Him. The text says they only recognized Him when they broke the bread. The same holds true today. As we enjoy sweet fellowship with Jesus, we see Him and come to know Him more deeply.
And we get to tell others to trust in His providence. That’s our job.