It is in brokenness that we recognize Jesus

In Luke's Gospel we read the story of two disciples who meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus. (Lk. 24:13-35). It is the day of resurrection. The two must have been crushed by the events of the past few days. The story records that as the two were discussing these things Jesus opened their eyes to the reality of the whole Passion Week event. Everything that had happened was foretold in scripture. Every thing that had happened was necessary to inaugurate the coming kingdom.

For them this had been an educational experience. I hope someday you will acquire an interest to learn the kinds of things that Jesus told to these disciples. I have been studying the Bible carefully for years and one of the things I find to be the most astonishing is how the whole thing fits together. The Bible seems so disconnected and sometimes distant, because it was written over such a long period of time by so many different authors in so many different styles - poetry, and narrative, and prophecy, and what we call wisdom literature, and so much more - that it seems there could hardly be anything to hold it all together. But the more you look at it the more you see that the entire Bible from the first page to the last is about the gospel of Jesus Christ. About how God so loved the world that he sent his only son to bear our burdens, to bear our punishment, so that we could have the fullness of life with him. In my estimation there is absolutely nothing more astonishing than this.

And yet even for all that Jesus told, they still did not recognize him. It was, in the end, no matter how inspirational, just knowledge. It wasn't until later, at dinner, when Jesus blessed and broke the bread, that they suddenly recognized Jesus. What changed? What made these two disciples go from despair to knowing that the kingdom was upon them? What made them transition from experiencing Jesus as an inspired teacher to recognizing Jesus as the Risen Lord?

In some ways it is impossible for us to fully answer this question. We just know that when Jesus accepted their invitation to hospitality, and he broke the bread, the disciples suddenly recognized him.

What do you think it was about the breaking of the bread that opened their eyes? I'll tell you what I think it was. Spiritual writer Henri Nouwen writes about the breaking of the bread as a New Testament pattern for the life of Jesus. When Jesus fed the five thousand, he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the people. When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. Jesus identifies himself as the bread of life (Jn. 6:35). The Father chose him, blessed him, broke him on the cross, and gave him to the world. Likewise we, his disciples, are taken out of the world, blessed, broken, and given to the world, to build his kingdom of love.

It is in that brokenness that we recognize Jesus. It is in that brokenness that God identifies with his creatures. It is in that brokenness that Jesus bore the penalty for our sins. And it is in our own brokenness our that our eyes are opened to the depth of our sin and the magnitude of our salvation.

This story ought to give us a sense of humility when it comes to our understanding of the scriptures. I think it is instructive that the disciples and indeed probably almost everyone in the Jewish world at the time Jesus was on earth knew the scriptures about the Messiah. It was very common for Jews, then and now, to be very familiar with scripture. Yet, even though God had made it very plain what had to happened for the Messiah to inaugurate his kingdom, when it happened, everyone missed it. How can we think that we know any better than they did? Can we think that at all?

Of course I am not suggesting that we should abandon scripture because we don't rightly understand it. On the contrary I am saying that we should prayerfully approach the scripture with the attitude that what God is saying in scripture may not be what we want to hear. A proper understanding of scripture might not prop up our culturally conditioned beliefs. A proper understanding of scripture might not fulfill our worldly desires. It might make our lives more difficult, not less. It might make undeniable the true cost of our discipleship.

The other thing that we can take from this story is that no amount of knowledge, even correct knowledge, can substitute for a personal encounter with Jesus. We can only experience that encounter in brokenness. God's grace and our need come together at the cross. We become one with Jesus in his brokenness and our brokenness. And when Jesus rises to life, we rise with him, to live forever.