“THE BREAKING OF BREAD”

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON APRIL 6th, 2008

                                                  

Luke 24: 35 "Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread."

 

The story of the road to Emmaus is fascinating for several reasons. It is in the afternoon of Easter day, after all the strange events of the morning. It is the second appearance of Jesus - the first being to Mary Magdalene in the garden in front of the tomb. This appearance, however, is seven miles out of Jerusalem, on the road to the town called Emmaus.

 

Although we know the name of one of the two disciples, Cleopas, they are not famous or well-known and their names are not in the list of saints. You would have thought that such a significant event - the second appearance of the Lord - would have been recounted with great gusto over the years, and these two unknown disciples referred to.   I can imagine them saying: "Remember when Rick and Terry met Jesus Christ on Easter day?"

 

The second fascinating thing is that they didn't recognize Jesus. Of course they weren't expecting to meet him on the road -, they were still going through the grief; and also probably taking in what the women who had been to the tomb had said about his body being no longer there, and that they had seen a vision of an angels. So there was a lot on their minds and perhaps they weren't expecting that Jesus would draw near.

 

Leaving aside these two strange tit-bits, the story becomes even more fascinating. For at first sight it seems we are presented with a purely earthly concept of the Resurrection. Here is Jesus seeming to be an ordinary person, a stranger, drawing near on a road - and there's nothing glorious about his body to indicate who he is, to give them a clue. It's a really human and really physical encounter - nothing glorious or supernatural about this incident. So much so that they talked to him about his death and resurrection without knowing that he is the very person who they are talking about!

 

Then Jesus expounds the Scriptures and shows that everything that happened to him - his death and his resurrection - was all prophesied in the Old Testament. And they still didn't get it.

 

They come to the village and ask this man who still seems a stranger to share a meal.   At the moment when he breaks the bread they realize who he is. To add to the puzzlement, he disappears as quickly as he had appeared to them.

 

This is certainly a strange story. There is nothing here like in Saint Paul's epistles expounding the triumph of the Risen Christ; nor of the powerful images in Revelation about the Lamb who was slain and now reigns in heaven. It's just an ordinary sort of story. And the underlying message is that the Risen Christ can only be grasped and discovered by faith.

 

There is a second message underlying this story also. Jesus Christ sets their hearts on fire by his interpretation of Scriptures. And then he opens their eyes in the breaking of the bread.

 

Now the term, "The breaking of the bread", is a term used in the New Testament and in the early Church to refer to the Eucharist. So from the start Christian worship involved Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Sacrament. Saint Luke is describing what happened on Easter day in terms of the common Liturgy celebrated within living memory of the road to Emmaus - the expounding of Scripture and the breaking of the bread.   Saint Luke is conveying to us the mystery of Easter in the pattern that was so familiar to the early Christians - the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

 

Ever since then, the Eucharist is the means whereby the indescribable becomes a tangible reality.  The indescribable event of Jesus rising from the dead - of which there is no record of how it happened or what it was like - becomes a tangible reality every time we meet to break to the bread. That is, we encounter the Risen Christ in his Word and in his Sacrament - because the Liturgy we celebrate is based on the mystery of Easter.

 

And so the Risen Christ comes to us today as he did to those two disciples all those years ago.

 

Here at the Altar, the Risen Christ approaches us, just as he did those two men on the road to Emmaus.

 

Here in this wonderful Sacrament, Jesus Christ becomes our traveling companion; sets our dull hearts on fire and opens our eyes to his presence and his love.  

 

He walks with us - especially when we are worried or down-hearted.

 

But there is more. The appearance of Jesus to the two disciples shows that not only can his resurrection be understood from Scripture and apprehended in the Eucharist - it is also shown to be true from the continued existence of the band of his disciples.

 

Those two disciples, along with the twelve apostles, were the beginning of the Church - which band has continued for the last 2,000 years, and which is called "The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church". We walk with Jesus, and we walk with those two disciples, even today. For the Church is the source of the Eucharist, which proclaims the Risen Christ.  

 

So the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Sacrament and the Body of Christ, all combine to not only proclaim the Risen Christ, but to make him present day after day, week after week, year in and year out.

 

In every age people like you and I, are brought into the Church and there encounter Christ "who rose from the dead and now ever lives to intercede for us".

 

If the experience of the Risen Christ was only a meeting with an historical figure, the resurrection would only be at the physical level, only be at a human level. But we are more than flesh and blood - and we need a saviour who not only died for us in his body, but rose from the dead so that we might have new life and forgiveness of our sins.   That is the great hope that Easter holds out to us.

 

Saint John said in his first epistle "We know that we shall be like him - for we shall see him as he really is".   Thus the Mass brings is into the presence of the Risen Christ - and our partaking of Holy Communion is a sharing in his risen life.

 

The Emmaus story tells us that the Resurrection is supernatural - but is also of this world. The road to Emmaus testifies to the fact that before the knowledge of the Resurrection rose within the hearts of the disciples:

 

  • It came to them from outside their experience
  • Drew near to them on that road, and then became part of their fired up hearts and lives.
  • Convinced them against their doubts.
  • Made them certain that the Lord had truly risen.

 

He, who had risen to new and unending life, was powerful enough to stand before them and offer them that same risen life - and also make it available in the tangible reality of the broken bread.

 

And in that consecrated and broken bread the Risen Christ still lives amongst his people.