Then They Recognized Him

Deeply pondering the Scriptures in Luke 24:13-32 this morning, I felt a sudden new revelation about this story. Two men are walking along the road to Amma'us, talking about the events of Yeshua's death and crucifixion.  As they are walking and talking together, Yeshua Himself appears to them. He asks why they seem so downcast, and they tell Him all about his own death and then how the women at the tomb had reported seeing a vision of angels who proclaimed His resurrection. They have no idea it is the Lord they are talking to, even though He begins teaching them many things from the Scriptures, showing them how the "Old Testament" prophecies about Him have been fulfilled.

 It begins to grow dark and they ask Him to stay with them, so He goes in with them for some food. They are reclining at a table together and verse 30 says,
"...He took the bread, made the blessing, broke it and handed it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him."

Then they recognized Him - when He broke the bread and handed it to them. Why then? Why did they not recognize His walk? Why was His voice not familiar to them, the way He taught the Scriptures? Why was it the broken bread?

I am transported back to days in the Church when I was very young and I watched my father linger over the little piece of bread in his hand, his eyes closed, his heart deeply connected to something or someone I didn't yet understand.  I am also remembering my now-grown son, who has not yet returned to the faith, tell me, "The only time I ever felt like I knew Jesus was when we took Communion."

Aren't these true and modern examples of what the two men experienced? He took the bread, made the blessing, broke it, and handed it to them....and then their eyes were opened."  All through my life this has been true for me. I have met my Lord so intimately in the breaking of the bread, knowing it was an intimate and holy moment in which my eyes were opened and I could recognize Him and commune with Him.

In his wonderful "Book of Mysteries" Jonathan Cahn writes, "The altar of Messiah's sacrifice (the cross) gives you access to go where you never could go before, to open doors you never before could open, to enter into that which you never could enter, and to walk a path you never before could walk. This cosmic altar gives you the power to enter the realm of the holy and, in the Spirit, to stand in the heavenly places, in the holy of holies, in the actual dwelling place of God. Bring your life totally inside the cross. It is a doorway."

A doorway! That really spoke to me, as it mirrors my experiences. Several years ago I wrote a song that must have sprung from this revelation. The words of the song:
All the love of God in a tiny piece of bread
All the love you need to be fed

Those two men on the road to Amma'us walked with the Lord and talked with Him, but did not know Him. Yet He had told His disciples that whenever they broke the bread and drank from the cup, they should remember Him. As Cahn illustrates, the remembering of His shed blood and the gratitude that fills our hearts for His gift of atonement allows us to stand in the heavenly places with our Messiah and truly know Him!

He is all the love of God in a tiny piece of bread.