Supper at Emmaus
Three years ago—as I wrote the introduction to the remarkable life of Samson—I listed my 12 favorite Bible stories.
The impact
In these posts about my 12 favorite Bible stories, I hope you’ll think about the turnarounds—the life-changing impact God has on people as he reaches down and does what only he can do.
Let’s face it. Life is hard. Life without God is especially hard. Be encouraged by these words of Jesus.
“I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace.
In the world you have trouble; but cheer up!
I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33, World English Bible
In part 1 of The Beauty of the Bible, I listed my 12 favorite Bible verses and passages. They were grouped based on common themes. My 12 favorite Bible stories are listed below in the order they occurred, chronologically.
My 12 favorite Bible stories
Joseph ♦ Samson ♦ David and Goliath ♦ God fights for Judah ♦ Daniel and the lions’ den ♦ Esther ♦ Jesus’ birth ♦ Jesus’ healing (Mark 5) ♦ Feeding the 5,000 ♦ The last supper ♦ The resurrection ♦ The road to Emmaus
I had no idea until this month that half of my favorite New Testament stories involve eating supper.
Sweet suppers
One of the sweetest aspects of my retirement centers around supper—usually called dinner these days. I’m cooking a lot and we eat much more faithfully at the table. The days of “winging it,” eating out or grabbing something at a fast-food drive-thru are gone.
And I no longer dread The Daily Question—“What’s for dinner?”—because I actually have a meal plan (for the first time since Logan was a preschooler).
I absolutely love this new season. So does Brandon. (And so does our bank account.) Our freezer is filled with pre-cooked leftovers ready to be rotated into our fridge to nourish us. Sausage and cornbread pie, meat loaf, Sunday chicken, beef stew, chili.
Prayer and presence
Holding hands and praying before our meal unites us in gratitude, which feels so good. We chat about the day and the days to come. Sometimes, we reminisce.
Supper can be such a sweet, peaceful time.
Does our mealtime prayer automatically welcome Jesus to be with us? If someone at the table knows the Lord, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit is there. This painting and its title warm my heart: The Mealtime Prayer (“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest”).
The Road to Emmaus
In the book of Luke, right after Jesus’ resurrection, we learn about The Road to Emmaus—and Supper at Emmaus. The town of Emmaus was about seven miles away from Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead.
Jesus rose from the dead on the third day—what we call Easter Sunday. That very day, after some of his followers found his tomb empty, two of his followers were talking about Jesus as they walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The risen Jesus himself joined them, but kept them from being able to recognize him.
The two followers who walked on The Road to Emmaus—Cleopas and his friend—were sad and perplexed. The stranger who joined them seemed completely unaware of what had just transpired in Jerusalem. Cleopas and his friend told the stranger about Jesus, “a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel” (Luke 24:19c-21, NHEB). The men told the stranger—the risen Christ—that some women and disciples found Jesus’ tomb empty. The women saw angels, who told them that Jesus was alive.
Seeing the big picture
Understandably, these men were dismayed and confused. The brutal, public execution of a beloved prophet by Roman crucifixion obviously horrified Jesus’ followers. They didn’t understand what had just happened that weekend. They knew the facts. They had the puzzle pieces. But they couldn’t put the puzzle pieces together. They were missing The Big Picture. I can relate to that—seeing but not seeing. Can you? Sometimes we don’t “get it.” We don’t understand what’s really going on. We need the Holy Spirit to show us The Big Picture.
Then he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:25-27, New Heart English Bible
The road block and the maze
Sometimes our own emotions can form a road block to clarity. We can simultaneously participate in several of these realities:
♦ We’re focusing on our feelings.
♦ We’re trapped in our feelings.
♦ We’re obsessively thinking and/or talking about our feelings.
♦ We’re trying to process, mitigate, deny, project and/or transfer our feelings.
♦ We cling to distractions from our feelings.
♦ We medicate our feelings.
♦ We pretend we don’t have any uncomfortable feelings.
We can get lost in the maze of our own feelings. Take a few minutes to read these sections—Feelings through Feelings = Temperature—in this post from the first series on Choosing Peace.
I suspect that Cleopas and his friend were overwhelmed by their feelings as they walked on The Road to Emmaus. Can we even begin to gauge the intensity of that weekend? Jesus’ gruesome, bloody, torturous, long, public execution by crucifixion. His death. His burial. His resurrection.
The challenge and the solution
Cleopas and his friend were shocked and sad, to say the least, whether or not they witnessed the crucifixion.
When we’re distressed, it’s very challenging
to step outside our feelings to look for The Big Picture.
Jesus came to Cleopas and his friend to help them with that very problem. He wanted them to know the truth. To these followers, the situation was grim and hopeless. Jesus showed them that it was actually planned and wondrous. They saw the temporal. Jesus showed them the eternal.
Putting the puzzle pieces together
Jesus helped these two followers to see The Big Picture. He helped them assemble the puzzle pieces so they made sense. He showed them the truth—that these shocking events were necessary as a part of God’s plan for the world.
Many times in my life, the Holy Spirit has taken me from confusion to clarity. He helped me put the puzzle pieces together so I could see The Big Picture.
For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
1 Corinthians 14:33a, New Heart English Bible
Examples
The Lord helped me find the truth about many people, including:
♦ My parents
♦ Pam, The Almighty—my younger sibling
♦ My older sibling, Linda
♦ Brandon’s mom—“Her Majesty”
♦ Brandon’s dad
♦ Her Majesty’s new husband, Walter
♦ Uncle Henry
♦ An old friend, Stephanie
♦ The preacher’s son
♦ And myself—pride, fear, anger and much more
The teaching
What has the Lord been teaching me for many years? “There are sick people out there. There are evil people out there. Frankie Ann, keep your brain on. Do not forget what you’ve learned. Discernment is a muscle that must be used to stay strong. Do not get lazy and let it atrophy into flab. Be a truth seeker and a truth speaker.”
Your turn
It’s time to get out your journal or a piece of paper and a pen. Can you relate to the concept of confusion and puzzle pieces?
Think back to some times when you felt unsettled. Something felt wrong. You knew some facts. You had some encounters and/or experiences related to the problem at hand. Did God show you The Big Picture—or part of it? How did the Holy Spirit help you put together the puzzle pieces sitting in front of you? How did the Holy Spirit show you what the facts and your experiences actually meant?
Can you think of three examples? Five? Ten?
Write down your examples—with key findings. Consider carefully the answer to this question: What is the Holy Spirit teaching you?
Supper at Emmaus
The next section in Luke 24 shows us Supper at Emmaus.
They drew near to the village, where they were going, and [Jesus] acted like he would go further. They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them. It happened, that when he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.
Luke 24:28-31, New Heart English Bible
Each painting of Supper at Emmaus took months or years to complete. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God for it, broke it and gave it to Cleopas and his friend. These paintings all depict the life-changing, split-second moment captured in this short sentence: “Their eyes were opened.”
What a remarkable encounter! Then Jesus disappeared.
Parallel suppers
Consider the parallels between Supper at Emmaus, which took place on Sunday, and The Last Supper, which took place three days previously, on Thursday night.
[Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to [his 12 disciples], saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
Luke 22:19-20, New Heart English Bible
Jesus used bread both times. He gave thanks. He broke it and gave it to his followers. And he revealed the truth to them.
Here’s another one of my favorite Supper at Emmaus paintings.
Together
Last month, one of my hobbies intersected with The Road to Emmaus.
Verse for the year
I finally finished a project I started many years ago—our family’s 2012 photo book. As I wrote the summary for that year, I did a search on Bible Gateway for verses containing the word together—the title of the photo book. I chose this verse from The Road to Emmaus as the verse for that year:
While they were talking and discussing together,
Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
Luke 24:15, Revised Standard Version*
*Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Jesus himself drew near…. He came to them. He listened to them. And he revealed things to them.
I chose Luke 24:15 for our family’s photo book because it communicates Jesus’ intentional, beautiful presence—both gentle and bold. That dichotomy reminds me of this beautiful song: “Jesus, Strong and Kind” by CityAlight.
Before and after Good Friday
Today’s post came as a welcome surprise. I thought something else was coming next, but the inspiration wasn’t there. At all. So I put down my laptop and waited for the Holy Spirit. The day before Good Friday, the Lord revealed that the next post would be about Supper at Emmaus. The day after Good Friday, I showed our new photo book to Brandon and Logan. The reminiscing was very good.
Supper at Emmaus touched our family the day before and the day after Good Friday. Most interesting….
Beauty on Good Friday
Brandon and I had plans for Good Friday morning, but he ended up needing to work. After he’d been on the phone for several hours, I decided to buy some flowers for the pots on our porch for the first time in years. What a wonderful experience. I pulled the weeds, added the fresh potting soil, and planted the flowers. Joy, joy, joy!
An eyesore was transformed. That makes me think of the cross of Christ. A symbol of death became a symbol of new life.
After attending the packed Good Friday service at church that evening, Brandon talked about how moving and artistic it was. I heartily agreed.
We encountered much beauty on Good Friday. I hope you did too.
Response to seeing the risen Jesus
During their Supper at Emmaus, Cleopas and his friend saw Jesus risen from the dead! One second, their eyes were opened to his identity; and the next second, Jesus vanished.
What happened next?
Sharing and reflecting
Just as Mary Magdeline told the disciples that she’d seen the risen Savior, so did Cleopas and his friend.
And they said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?” They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven [disciples] gathered together, and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.” They related the things that happened along the way [to Emmaus], and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
Luke 24:32-35, New Heart English Bible
The wording in verse 32 above is so expressive: “Weren’t our hearts burning…?” We, too, can remember times when our hearts were burning as we heard the truth. The scales fell off our eyes and we received the truth. We were changed. We understood. We nodded our heads. We smiled.
Confirmation
What came next was equally beautiful.
As [Cleopas and his friend] said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
Luke 24:36, New Heart English Bible
(To explore the rest of the final chapter of the Gospel of Luke, read verses 36 thru 53.)
As I was finishing this post, I heard my favorite bird chirping on our window sill. I stepped in the kitchen, saw a beautiful red cardinal, and thought these wonderful truths: God sees me. God knows me. God loves me.
Peaceful Reader, in the words of Christ Jesus, our risen Savior and Lord:
“Peace be to you.”
Coming next
Which supper is coming next? Will it be The Last Supper or The Feeding of the 5,000? We’ll find out soon. Until next time, thanks for reading and for Choosing Peace.
Closing word and song
“My Redeemer” and “He Lives” by Fountainview Academy
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