Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
Luke 24:30-31
The two disciples who were with Jesus on the road to Emmaus reached their destination and pressed Jesus to join them for a meal. He obliged.
Remember, they did not know it was Jesus at this point.
When they sat down to eat, Jesus blessed some bread, broke it, and gave it to the two disciples. It was then that they recognized Jesus. Why did they not recognize Him before, and why did they recognize Him at this point?
As for why they did not recognize Him, we can only say that, as in the case with Mary Magdalene, though she knew Jesus, she did not recognize Him because He needed to reveal Himself. This is true for everyone. We may know a good deal about Him from reading the Bible and listening to biblical preaching, but unless and until He reveals Himself—who He truly is—He will remain unrecognized.
As for why these disciples recognized Jesus when He blessed bread, broke it, and gave it to them, two speculations have been suggested. One speculation is that it reminded them of Jesus miraculously feeding the multitude. A second speculation is that this was a sacramental celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Matthew Henry comments wonderfully on these speculations:
“This was not a miraculous meal like that of the five loaves, nor a sacramental meal like that of the eucharist, but a common meal; yet Christ here did the same as He did in those, to teach us to keep up our communion with God through Christ in common providences as well as in special ordinances… to see our daily bread provided for us and broken to us by the hand of Jesus Christ.”
But why was it that at this meal that they recognized Jesus? Simply because it was at that point that He graciously revealed Himself to them, in the midst of ordinary fellowship. May the Lord likewise be pleased to reveal Himself to us in such ordinary circumstances.
Errol