This week I would like to invite you to dwell with me in the story about the two travelers who encountered Jesus while on the road to Emmaus. Before reading over the short selection below take a moment to breath, to remember you are alive, and that you are here… right now… in this moment. Be present to yourself and to God.
“28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road…”
Luke 24:28-32
What grabbed your attention? Is there a word or phrase you want to carry with you for the rest of the day?
Like many of my favorite stories from the bible I love how this one encourages us to expect God in the stranger. Not only that, if we open our houses and our tables, if we break bread with hungry travelers we may discover that God is in our midst.
It is at the table that Christ is revealed. While prayer and bible study are good things this story reminds us that there is no substitute for actual relationship with God. Jesus spends the previous few verses of this story explaining all the scriptures to the two travelers but it wasn’t until the breaking of bread that they realized who he was. Its like the difference between reading the menu at a restaurant and actually ordering something. You can read about a steak all day long but you don’t really know the stake until you eat it. Encountering God is much the same.
Where did you see Jesus this week? Did you see the living God in the midst of a meal? Did you have an opportunity to break bread with a stranger or with a hungry traveler? Both the featured image on this blog as well as the ones below are depictions of our story. Spend a few moments dwelling in the image or return to the short selection above. Which ever you choose I pray that the lord would prepare your heart for divine encounters with the living Christ. May your path and your table be an encounter with the living God this week.
May God give you the grace to do what Love requires, and the mercy to know what human frailty demands.
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Josh Love 