Peace to You

As Christians read the Bible with a hungry, willing heart, the Holy Spirit opens our understanding to notice deeper connections we did not see on the surface.  Sometimes people assume "deeper" revelations of God are new, things previously unheard or unknown, when they are primarily actually affirmations of the truth God has already revealed.  God is exceedingly generous with His wisdom and has made it available and understandable to those who lack it.  In the book of Proverbs Wisdom is personified of standing in the street and calling out to anyone who will listen, and God continues to speak in this manner today through the Scriptures.

While going through an inductive Bible study lesson, I was reminded of a wonderful connection of two passages that are not often placed together in Sunday School:  Jesus feeding the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish and His interaction with the two disciples in Emmaus.  In the first instance Jesus showed compassion for the physical needs of people by feeding them, and He demonstrated His miraculous power by doing so with only five loaves and two fish (He used seven loaves of bread and two fish to feed 4,000 on a subsequent occasion (Matthew 15:36-38).  Matthew 14:19 reads, "Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes."  Jesus distributed the food to His disciples, who in turn gave it to those who sat down at His word.  Jesus revealed Himself to be the Bread of Life sent from heaven, that whosoever receives Him will be born again and receive eternal life.

Fast-forward to Jesus and the two disciples He met and walked with along the road to Emmaus after His resurrection.  They were sad because of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ whom they hoped was the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel.  Jesus gently rebuked their slowness of heart to believe all the prophets had spoken concerning the Messiah, and He expounded Scriptures from Moses, the prophets and all Bible passages concerning Himself.  After they arrived at Emmaus, Cleopas and his companion invited Jesus to stay with them.  Luke 24:30-32 says, "Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. ³² And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"

After the eyes of Cleopas and his fellow disciple were opened to recognise Jesus, they did what the disciples did when they fed the 5,000 with bread and fish in a spiritual sense:  as they had received from Jesus, so they were moved to distribute the word of God to disciples starving for hope in Jerusalem!  Luke 24:33-36 continues:  "So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" ³⁵ And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. ³⁶ Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you."  The disciples hustled back to Jerusalem and shared that the LORD Jesus was indeed risen, what Jesus told them from Scripture, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.  As they spoke of Jesus Christ, Jesus Himself stood in the midst with a blessing of peace for them.  How awesome is this!

Jesus told His disciples, "Freely you have received; freely give."  The Holy Spirit opens the Scriptures to us, not only so we might spiritually feed and grow, but so we would be moved to share Jesus Christ the Living Bread with others so they might be born again, strengthened in faith, and experience peace with God.  The joyful reunion of Cleopas and his friend with the disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem provided a literal fulfillment of what Jesus said in Matthew 18:20:  "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."  This is also literally fulfilled at church, in the breakroom or boardroom, in an office or walking along a beach.  Wherever Christians go to share Christ and His word, Jesus is present with us.  We may not see Him in a human form or hear and audible voice, but our eyes of faith see Him and our hearts know He is there, for He has promised to never leave or forsake us.

What the disciples who returned from Emmaus did in sharing Christ and His word, so we are all called to do as Christians.  Even as the bread and fish passed from the hands of Jesus to the disciples to distribute to others, so we are not to keep spiritual truth concerning Jesus to ourselves.  There are some who are hungry, willing and ready to receive Christ, and as we open and proclaim God's word--including the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus--our risen Saviour will meet with those we speak.  Jesus said in John 6:57-58:  "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread which came down from heaven--not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."