Breaking the Bread
First at Emmaus and then with the disciples, Jesus breaks bread in his resurrection appearances.

• Did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke? Then we knew him when he broke the bread.

Then it is those same broken hands that reach out to others- to be touched- as assurance of the reality of what has happened.

It is no surprise that it is in fellowship that we meet Jesus. It is not in theological arguments, great intellectual discernment, or being able to explain the intricacies of some atonement theory. It is in touching Jesus and having our hearts burn within us. Not many sermons can do that. (Although some I have heard by the likes of Fred Craddock, Tony Campolo, Fredrick Buechner, and Max Lucado have!)

• But the bread has at a fellowhsip meal.
• An embrace by a grateful friend has done it.
• A powerfully felt hymn or song will work that miracle.
• A smile of gratitude does it.

Perhaps, then, that means we need to

• hand out bread,
• give away hugs,
• sing with power, and
• smile with all our heart and hope.

Brian Stoffregen at Crossmarks ends his thoughts on this with a quote from Culpepper in Luke from the New Interpreters Bible.

• Where the Lord's physical hands and feet are no longer present, the ministry of the hands of countless saints in simple and sincere ministries continues to bear witness to the Lord's living presence. Although he may not appear in our midst to eat broiled fish, his presence is tangible in soup kitchens, around the kitchen table, and around the altar table. We see him "in the breaking of bread." As in the first century so now the most convincing proof of the resurrection is the daily testimony of the faithful that the Christ still lives and the work of his kingdom continues.