What Happened at Emmaus

“Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…” May I speak to you in the name of the G-d [+] who creates, redeems and sustains us? AMEN. 

Celebrating 130 Years 

 

Saturday I had an experience that prompted me to come home and rewrite the beginning of this sermon. I had been given the privilege of attending a prayer breakfast to celebrate the 130^th anniversary of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, the oldest African-American parish in the Diocese of Central Florida which is across town in Washington Shores. The room was filled with over 100 people who had gathered to celebrate their life together as an Episcopal parish.

 

The parish was founded in 1896 and has been at the epicenter of the civil rights movement here in Orlando all these years. Its late rector, Nelson Pinder, was a deeply admired servant of the church and of the people of this city. Yesterday, I was representing our parish at that event. This morning, Dale and some of our parishioners will be present at St. John’s to join in its festival eucharist commemorating 130 years of faithful service.

At one point in the breakfast, the senior warden conducted a moment of silence to remember those parishioners of St. Johns who had died but remained in the fond memories of those present. The audience was then invited to speak their names. And soon, much like that magical moment in our service of All Souls Day when we remember our beloved departed, the room resounded with the names of those who once shared their lives and today share the company of heaven.

They were present... 

As I looked around the room, I watched the faces of the people near me. Their gazes were not focused on their immediate surroundings, their attention far way. Many of them smiled as they spoke and heard names of loved ones who once played such important roles in their lives. And on more than one face, tears rolled down their cheeks.

 Suddenly I was struck by the analogy of that moment to our gospel lesson today. It was clear to me that the hearts of the people around me burned with the loving memories that this exercise had brought to consciousness. And amidst the happiness of those memories, there were also the tears of recognition that these loved ones no longer walked among us in physical form. And yet, at that unexpected moment, they were present with us once again.

For my ability to be present for that unexpected moment of grace, I am deeply grateful.

 A beloved but puzzling gospel... 

There is a reason today’s gospel reading is one of the most beloved passages from the New Testament. It relates the story of grief-stricken followers of Jesus fleeing Jerusalem where their master has just been brutally executed by the hated Romans. Along the way they meet a stranger they invite to accompany them on their walk. Quite unexpectedly, he begins to teach them. At their destination, they invite him to stay for supper. When he engages in a ritual blessing of the food they suddenly realize it is the resurrected Jesus. and then he disappears. Now, what are we to make of all that?

Renowned biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan makes the following observation about this passage: "Emmaus never happened. Emmaus is always happening." His comment reflects both a refusal to historicize the symbolic language of the gospels as well as a recognition that the archetypes of this story speak deeply to the human soul. Our reading today from Luke reflects the wrestling of the disciples to understand what that resurrection meant. And it has much to offer us as a community of Jesus followers in making sense of it today.  So let’s look at the story piece by piece.

First, it is important to note that Jesus simply shows up without warning in this story. His grieving followers are leaving Jerusalem, walking the seven miles to Emmaus, and this stranger appears. It’s the risen Jesus. But the disciples don’t recognize him even as they welcome him to walk with them.  Along the way he begins teaching them, as he always did. Surely at this point they must have wondered what was up. Eventually, they come to trust him, sharing their broken hearts with a complete stranger. When they get to Emmaus, they note that it’s late and their companion has no place to pass the night. So they invite him to stay with them.

 When do the players reveal themselves?

On the Road to Emmaus, Duccio, early 14th CE, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

This is the first place these disciples reveal themselves as followers in the way of  Jesus. Radical hospitality is the mark of the Jesus movement, including those whom polite society would say good Jews should avoid, not the least complete strangers on the highway. Here they have invited a stranger into their home to spend the night.

 

 Supper at Emmaus, Mathias Strom, 17^th CE

That hospitality quickly extends to a shared meal. Again, we should hear the Jesus movement in this. Jesus shared common meals with outcasts – prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners. Inviting the stranger to share one’s meal is consistent with the radical hospitality of the Way of Jesus. And it is only after they reveal themselves as his followers that the Jesus whose way they follow reveals himself to them.

This is the key moment in the story. Before they begin eating, Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and then offers it to the disciples. This was a pattern engaged in the common meals Jesus shared with them. More importantly, it reflected the Last Supper they had just shared in an upper room less than a week previously. It is that familiar pattern that causes their eyes to open and they recognize their Lord sitting among them, only to see him suddenly disappear.

 After he is gone they speak of how their hearts burned with joy in experiencing the presence of their master even if only for a few moments, even as their hearts still ached with grief over his crucifixion. While Jesus was no longer physically present with them, they knew they had just encountered him in their communal meal. And at that point they got up and returned to Jerusalem to join their fellow disciples who were waiting on them. This is the moment the disciples begin to say, “The Lord is risen, indeed.”

 

 Rembrandt, “Supper at Emmaus,” 1629.

How did they recognize their Master? 

Luke’s account has an important lesson for us. How did the followers of Jesus recognize his presence? In the breaking of the bread. Where did it happen? In the context of community. When did it happen? At the end of a long walk during which they heard his teaching, after extending radical hospitality to a stranger inviting him into their dwelling and offering him a place at their table. Then, and only then, they are able to recognize the Jesus who has been present with them all along.

 

Sound familiar? It should.

 

Consider what we do every liturgy. We enter the sanctuary from the road. We have travelled a distance to get here to engage this loving community that is St. Richards. We have heard the stories of our faith tradition provided by our lectionary and now developed by a sermon. After we have greeted one another in peace, as was Jesus’ custom, we will hear the very words we just heard in Luke’s gospel: “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” And with that, we will get up from our pews, come to this altar, shoulder to shoulder with one another, and we will share bread and wine that we understand to be the body and blood of Christ. In that moment, Jesus will be palpably present with us. And we may well find that our hearts will burn with joy as we recognize that presence.

Real Presence Doesn't Lend Itself to Rational Explanation

This miracle that we call the real presence is a mystery. It doesn’t lend itself to rational explanation any more than the resurrection did. But what we can know is how that presence comes about. It occurs in community that has assembled to remember Jesus, a community that practices radical hospitality and openness to strangers revealing itself as followers of Jesus.

 

There is a reason we invite everyone to our altar with the words “The gifts of G-d for the people of G_d.” All of them. No exceptions. No ID check in the aisles. Because we know that as we assemble at this altar, something incredible happens. We lose our self-focus to become part of something much larger than ourselves. And in that very moment, Jesus is present with us.

 

As Crossan puts it, while Emmaus never happened as a historical event, among those who follow the way of Jesus, Emmaus is happening all the time. We should not look to this gospel story for a history lesson. That is not its purpose. But what it does offer is much more valuable – the recognition that when we become fully present here and now in this liturgy we celebrate in beloved community, the Jesus we follow will be present with us. And for that I say thanks be to G-d.

Let us pray: 

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A sermon preached Easter III, April 19, 2026

St. Richard's Episcopal Church, Winter Park, FL 

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  frharry@cfl.rr.com

 hcoverston.orlando@gmail.com

 

 If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things worth considering do not come in sound bites.

Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either. – Mahatma Gandhi

For what does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d?  - Micah 6:8, Hebrew Scriptures

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the Jewish Sages (1993)

© Harry Scott Coverston, 2026

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