Daily Good News – The Risen Lord Turns Death into Life

Apr 14, 2015 1529

Jesus “took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…” (Luke 24:30-31).

The Bible records a few important occasions when Jesus ‘broke bread’. This was a simple gesture. There weren’t any bread knives: Jesus would have taken the loaf in his hands, and broken and divided it amongst the people gathered for the meal. He had broken bread like that when he took the small loaves and broke them to feed five thousand people on the mountain.

This was an ordinary meal and just an ordinary loaf of bread. Perhaps the disciples recognised something about Jesus’ hands, perhaps it was the way he gave thanks or the look in his eyes as he handed them a portion of bread. Whatever it was, they suddenly saw and understood. It is very meaningful that this happened around the meal table – an ordinary daily situation. Jesus didn’t reveal himself to them while they were praying and worshiping God; he revealed himself at the dinner table.

How different was this meal from from the last one Jesus had officiated at with his disciples! That ‘last supper’ was about betrayal, a broken body and shed blood. This one was about the exchange of death for life through Jesus’ atonement for the sins of mankind. And the disciples joyfully recognised their living Saviour.

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