And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. Luke 24:31
A careful reading of the gospel accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion gives a probable identity to the disciples on the road to Emmaus – Cleopas and his wife, Mary.
She had stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus’s mother, Mary, with John, with Mary Magdalene and Salome.
She had watched Him suffer.
She heard the blasphemous insults hurled at Him.
She felt the earthquake and the darkness.
But it didn’t click.
Jesus joined them as they walked home.
They rehearsed for Him all that had happened.
Jesus a Prophet, mighty in word and deed …
We were hoping He was the Redeemer …
There is a rumor He was alive …
But it didn’t click.
Jesus explained the Old Testament to them.
The prophecies.
The types.
The fulfillment.
It still didn’t click.
Until they invited Him to stay.
Until He broke the bread.
Until the moment of intimate fellowship.
If we are only observing, no matter how closely …
If we are only discussing, no matter how passionately …
If we are only hearing, no matter how attentively …
It is only in intimate fellowship that we recognize Jesus for who He truly is.