THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

         In Luke 24:35 we read, “He was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

        In the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican we saw a large tapestry on the wall of two men sitting on either side of a table. One was Cleopas and the other his unnamed companion. On the other side of the table was Jesus holding the bread in His hands.  To any one looking at the picture, Jesus seemed to be looking straight ahead between the two men. As we approached from the left, the table had shifted, slanted in that direction and Jesus appeared to be looking across the table between the two men directly at me. As we walked even with the tapestry and looked directly full faced at the picture, the table had shifted and Jesus was still looking between the two men straight at me. We passed by and I turned to look back at it and the table had shifted again and Jesus was still looking between the two men across the table at me.

Luke tells us when Jesus took the bread and blessed and breaking it gave to them their eyes were opened and He vanished out of their sight. They rose up that very hour and went back over the seven miles to Jerusalem and told the eleven and they that were with then how they had seen the risen Lord and how He was made known unto them in the breaking of the bread.

            The artist who painted the picture has given us an illusion of what happened, but the story of the two on the road to Emmaus is not an illusion to the Christian. Whether you are seated on the left side of the auditorium, in the center, or on the right, it is no illusion that Jesus is looking directly at you in the communion service as our view of Him as the crucified risen Son of God is renewed in the breaking of the bread.