Luke 24: Recognizing Jesus When He Breaks the Bread

Introduction

Nathaniel, one of the pastors of Riverside Church in Birmingham, is continuing a series on Luke 24 and the road to Emmaus. This Sunday, the church is taking communion. He wants to answer some simple questions: why this bread and this cup, why this ritual, why do it so often?

The starting point is verse 35: the two disciples tell how they recognized Jesus "when he broke the bread." All along the road, their eyes were kept from recognizing him. One single gesture unlocked everything.

The pastor admits that 2026 is "the year of bread" for him: he set himself the challenge of learning to bake it. So this message starts with bread, from Genesis to the Lord's table, and arrives at a very personal question: what can awaken in you the memory of who Jesus is?

Outline of the message

1. Bread, a thread running through the whole Bible

• In Jesus' day, wheat is a common crop and bread is the staple food in Judea and Galilee. It is not a starter: it is the heart of the meal. Having bread or not is a matter of survival. Bread represents food and the ability to keep on living.
• The congregation names the passages that come to mind: the manna in the wilderness, the feeding of the five thousand, "I am the bread of life," "Give us today our daily bread," the last supper, the widow who feeds Elijah with a remnant of flour and oil that never runs out, the unleavened bread of Passover.
• Bethlehem means "house of bread." Jesus was born there, Ruth and Boaz meet there, and David was born there too.
• In the wilderness, Satan suggests that Jesus turn stones into bread, and Jesus answers from Deuteronomy: "Man does not live by bread only." The pastor also mentions the baker Joseph meets in prison, and his dream of baskets of bread.
• Jesus was born in the house of bread, he multiplies bread, he calls himself the bread of life, and he asks his disciples to break bread to remember his body broken on the cross. Bread clearly matters. So does wine, tied to the blood of Jesus poured out for us.

2. A gesture that awakens memory

• Before judging the disciples, the pastor tells a story. On tour with a theater company, he is sure he knows a fellow actor but cannot say from where. Weeks later, one evening at the hotel, this colleague deals out playing cards, and it all comes back: five years earlier, they had worked the same event, he as a magician doing card tricks, the pastor as a masked stilt walker.
• It was the gesture repeated before his eyes that woke a sleeping memory. For the disciples, seeing Jesus break the bread in front of them may have produced the same spark: "It is Jesus. We saw him die, and he is here, alive, in front of us."
• In the Bible, "breaking bread" means two things: sharing a meal, or celebrating the Lord's supper. At Emmaus, it is very unlikely that the disciples celebrated communion with a stranger. They had walked a long way, it is late, they are hungry: they have dinner. But it is Jesus' characteristic gesture that opens their eyes.
• Were they at the last supper? We do not know, but they had heard about it, and Jesus had broken bread on other occasions, such as for the five thousand.

3. When distraction and grief veil Jesus

• On the road, maybe it was too dark. Maybe they were distracted by grief, wrapped up in despair. Their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
• The pastor thinks the same is sometimes true for us. Our lives are full of distractions, sadness, stress, and sometimes despair over what is happening in the world.
• What can we do so that the memory of who Jesus is and what he has done comes back to us? Take communion together, break bread together. Through this gesture, we can once again recognize Jesus, the freedom he brings, and the hope that only he can give.

4. Communion, an act we live out together

• The word communion means "shared union" or "participation." It comes from the Greek term in 1 Corinthians 10:16.
• It should be frequent enough to renew the way we look at Christ, without becoming a routine, like brushing your teeth without thinking about it. At Riverside, it is taken one Sunday a month, but Jesus did not set a frequency.
• It is a collective act. Faith has a personal side, but many of its aspects are lived in a group: worship, confession, celebration. The Emmaus disciples head straight back to Jerusalem to find the eleven, who say: "The Lord is risen indeed." The good news does not stop with us.
• The pastor recommends taking communion during a meal, with your home group or friends who follow Jesus. He also recalls the church's position: according to the Protestant view it holds, the bread and the cup are symbols that help us remember the body and blood of Jesus.

5. Who is invited to the table?

• As a child, the pastor attended a church where only baptized people could take communion. There is a reason for that practice, but it is not a rule set by Jesus.
• It is Jesus who invites. The only condition is to know him as your personal Savior. The invitation exists only within a relationship with him: if you do not believe in him or do not choose to follow him, there is no point in coming to take the bread. So why not confess your sins, repent, and choose to follow him today?
• Because we were all sinners, we could not be in relationship with a perfect and holy God. Sacrifices had to be offered again and again. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice, once for all. He makes you clean so that you can know God.
• Whether you feel close to God or far from him, if you have decided to follow him, the invitation is for you. God alone knows the heart.

6. A time to let God search your heart

• Communion is a good moment to reflect on your life. The pastor suggests the prayer from Psalm 139: "Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts."
• Is there something in your life that God needs to come and set in order? People you need to forgive? Things you hold too tightly, because you refuse to let go of control and trust God?
• He invites everyone to recognize Jesus and to be transformed by the renewing of the mind.

7. We are forgetful, Jesus feeds us

• Why take communion? Because Jesus asked us to. And because this ritual ties together the whole biblical story, from the Passover of the Exodus to the meal where Jesus gives the bread and the cup: humans ruined everything, and Jesus saved us.
• "We are so forgetful." The pastor admits it: he forgets all the time. We need our memory to be shaken awake. The bread and the cup awaken it, so that we recognize Jesus in our lives.
• If Jesus really is the bread of life, we need him to survive in this world. He is the one who feeds us spiritually, the one whose body was broken for us.
• This recognition will look different for each person: for some, it will come through knowledge; for others, through experience, through hearing the voice of Jesus. Everyone needs the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus.
• The pastor speaks to people who are neurodivergent or living with a disability: God has already taken into account how you are made, since he created you, and he will find a way for you to enter into relationship with him. The church is incomplete without you. "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body."

Key takeaways

• Bread runs through the whole Bible, from the manna to the Lord's supper, and Jesus presents himself as the bread of life.
• The Emmaus disciples recognize Jesus when he breaks the bread: a familiar gesture awakens what grief had veiled.
• Communion is a shared act, frequent enough to renew the way we look at Christ without becoming a routine.
• It is Jesus who invites us to his table. The only condition is to know him and to choose to follow him.
• We are forgetful: the bread and the cup shake our memory so that we recognize Jesus in our lives.

Personal application

1. What is keeping you from recognizing Jesus right now: distraction, grief, stress, despair?
2. When was the last time you took communion really thinking about it, and not out of habit?
3. Can you pray this week, "Search me, God, and know my heart," and let God show you what he wants to set in order?
4. Is there someone you need to forgive, or an area where you refuse to let go of control?
5. Who could you share a meal with and break bread, remembering Jesus?

Verses quoted

• Luke 24:13-35
• Exodus 16
• Exodus 12
• Genesis 40
• 1 Kings 17:8-16
• Deuteronomy 8:3
• Ecclesiastes 11:1
• Psalm 139:23-24
• Matthew 4:3-4
• Matthew 6:11
• Matthew 14:13-21
• John 6:35
• Romans 12:2
• 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Frequently asked questions

Why didn't the Emmaus disciples recognize Jesus right away?

Luke 24:16 says their eyes were kept from recognizing him. The pastor also offers some guesses: maybe it was too dark, maybe they were distracted by grief and wrapped up in their despair. It was when Jesus broke the bread, a gesture they knew from him, that their memory woke up.

What does the word communion mean?

The word means shared union, participation. It comes from the Greek term used in 1 Corinthians 10:16. Communion is an act we live out together: there is one loaf, and we, who are many, form one body.

Who can take communion?

Traditions vary from church to church. For Riverside Church, it is Jesus who invites, and the only condition is to know him as your personal Savior. Whether you feel close to God or far from him, if you have decided to follow Jesus, the invitation is for you. If that is not yet the case, you can repent and choose to follow him today.