On the Emmaus Road: The Lord's Supper

Wednesday in Easter Week

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his
disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith,
that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives
and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen.

Lectionary Readings for the Day 

Psalm 105-1-8

or Psalm 118:19-24

Acts 3:1-10

Luke 24:13-35

13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles* from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad.* 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ 19He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth,* who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.* Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ 25Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah* should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us* while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (NRSV)

Ah, now perhaps we see why yesterday’s reading from Acts stopped before the verse about the breaking of the bread, eh?! It seems that yesterday was indeed meant to focus on Baptism before today’s reading, a post-Resurrection appearance that focuses on the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, The Mass, The Eucharist, the Breaking of the Bread. This story, meeting Jesus on the Emmaus road, took place on the evening of that first Easter Day.

Not so in John, but in the synoptic gospels, Mark, Matthew and Luke, when Jesus “breaks bread” with anyone, he performs what the Church terms the four eucharistic actions: taking, blessing, breaking, giving -- thus lending eucharistic, though not necessarily sacrificial, meaning to the event. As it was so in the feeding of the five thousand, so in the feeding of the four thousand, so at the Last Supper, just so now with two believers on the road to Emmaus.

Very early on, even in time of Roman persecution when Christians had to meet secretly in homes and even in the catacombs to worship together, the Church held up the Breaking of the Bread as the central act of worship on the Lord’s Day. It is still so for us today. The body of Christ, the bread of heaven. The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. 

Apparently in those days of persecution and fear, Christians gathered for prayer, to read from the Hebrew Bible -- and in time from the letters of Paul and the gospels that began circulating among the faithful and eventually were canonized as our New Testament -- and to hear proclamations about the Risen Lord. Then the unbaptized were dismissed, perhaps with The Peace, and those who were baptized would know the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread. 

That practice would be the early situation establishing the tradition that only baptized Christians were invited to stay for the Eucharist; and that as much a precaution against Roman spies as anything. 

In our Baptismal Covenant we are asked

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

And we promise

I will, with God’s help.

The Holy Eucharist is still our central act of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day. 

TomW+
twellerpc@gmail.com

Some asked for a copy of my Easter sermon last Sunday. For nearly thirty years my practice, required by my supervising rector in Pennsylvania, has been to print several copies of every sermon. I still do that. There was a day and age when I took time and trouble properly to show all my references and citations; I no longer do that scrupulously and for that reason my sermons may not be emailed or posted or circulated on the internet. But anyone who ever wants a copy can pick one up in the parish office. TW+