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Praying about the flow of time: Bread in Emmaus

Lynne Baab • Thursday May 15 2025

Praying about the flow of time: Bread in Emmaus

When Cleopas and another disciple meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus on the day that Jesus was resurrected, the two disciples don’t recognize him. They invite him into their home for a meal. Here’s one of the key moments of the story:

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:30, 31, see Luke 24:13-35 for the whole story).

Jesus was made known to the two disciples when he blessed and broke the bread. This moment of recognition evokes numerous significant events and rich themes in the Bible. Some of them are:

1. The feeding of the 4,000 and 5,000. Jesus took small amounts of bread and fish and multiplied them to feed very large groups of people. The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle in all four gospels, and I wrote about it here. It portrays the richness of grassy fields and the Shepherd who gives us abundance. The feeding of the 4,000 takes place in a desert region, speaking to us of God’s presence in barren times and places. I wrote about it here.

Good Shepherd, help us follow your lead to grassy hillsides where we can receive bread from you. Feed us, we pray, even when we are in dry and dusty places.

2. Jesus’ words about being the bread of life. Soon after the feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospel of John, Jesus says to his followers: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:48-51). Jesus gives us bread for today and for eternity.

Bread of life, enable us to open our hands so that we can receive you, the food that will nourish us in this life and in the life to come. 

3. The last supper and the institution of Holy Communion. Most scholars believe that only the twelve disciples were present when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, right before his betrayal and death. That means that Cleopas and his companion were probably not present, so they wouldn’t have memories of that last meal with Jesus. However, we remember. You may enjoy reading the four passages where the last supper is described. Small differences in details make the passages rich and deep: Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26,Luke 22:7-38, and 1 Corinthians 11:23-25.

Jesus, you are the host of all our meals. When we participate in the Lord’s Supper with other believers, please make yourself known to us like you did to Cleopas and his companion.

4. Bread as daily sustenance. Historians believe that for the people in Jesus’s time, bread was 60-80 percent of their calories. Their bread was made of barley or einkorn wheat. We usually think of bread as something we have with food. And many people don’t have bread at all, perhaps because of eating a low carb diet, having a gluten allergy, or coming from a culture where rice or another grain accompany most meals. When Jesus breaks the bread for Cleopas and the other disciple, Jesus is giving them the majority of their daily sustenance. Jesus sustains us every day, giving us everything we need. “Give us this day our daily bread” in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) refers to much more than the bread in our diets today.

Lord, giver of life, we depend on your every moment of every day, for our breath, nourishment, safety, and for water to drink and people to journey with. Open our hearts to see your abundant gifts as you meet our daily needs. Open our eyes to see you with us at our tables, in our relationships, and in our journey of faith.

At the table in Emmaus story, the disciples recognize Jesus. The bread Jesus is holding, blessing, and breaking at that moment evokes rich pictures for us. In Jesus's words about being the bread of life in John 6, his followers say, “Sir, give us this bread always” (verse 34).

Bread of life, we echo your followers’ prayer: Give us this bread always.

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Next week: Lessons from Emmaus about the unity of the Bible. Illustration by Dave Baab.

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