recognize Jesus

Saturday April 12^th, Luke 24: 30 As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. 31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!  32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”   When Jesus was breaking the bread and saying the words, this is my body, broken for you, was he looking at the bread or at those gathered?  Is it the bread that is magical or the relationship?  The Passover meal is a celebration of the angel of death passing over the houses of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt and a celebration of their freedom.  The sign was the blood of the lamb on the door.  The celebration is for liberation.  When we gather with one another, whether in our homes or in our churches and we share a meal, a relationship, a conversation with one another and in the process recognized Christ is there with us, then we too recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread.  When we fail to see our brothers and sisters, we fail to see and taste and know Jesus.  When was the last time your hearts burned within you at a conversation you had with a stranger?  Look around you the next time you take communion; it is there you will see the true body of Christ.