The Stranger Who Walked with Us
Experiencing Resurrection: Part 4
May 3, 2026
After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight.
They said to each other, "Weren't our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?"
~ Luke 24:30-32
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Cleopas and I had followed Jesus for a while now. We heard about his miracles, so we went to hear him teach for ourselves. There were thousands gathered on the hill. By the time it was over, he was passing around bread and fish for everybody. I don’t know where he got it all. The supply was endless. That was our first meal with Jesus, before he even knew us, and it definitely would not be our last.
We knew about Jesus. We saw his works and heard his teachings. We called him a prophet and believed he was sent by God to redeem and restore Israel. He talked about the Kingdom of God, how even now it was in our midst. We heard his words, but we didn’t understand.
After he was crucified, we were all in shock. We didn’t know what to do or where to go. We vaguely remembered him saying that he would rise from the dead, but we weren’t really sure what he meant. On the morning of the third day, the women said the tomb was empty, that Jesus was alive. We didn’t know what to make of it.
That morning, our last shred of hope died. Cleopas and I left Jerusalem for Emmaus. It was a seven-mile walk, but that morning it might as well have been a hundred. We walked slowly, shuffling our feet in the dust, utterly lost in grief.
A stranger joined us on the road. He asked what we were discussing. We told him everything, how Jesus was crucified, how we had hoped he would redeem Israel, and how the tomb was now empty.
The stranger listened, then began explaining the scriptures, quoting Moses and the prophets. As he spoke, something stirred deep within me.
When we reached the village, we asked him to stay. We gathered around the table. Suddenly our guest turned host. He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to us. In that instant everything became clear.
We knew him.
He had been with us all along. And then he vanished.
Without a second thought, we ran back to Jerusalem. What had been the longest journey of our lives became the fastest. We told the others how he was made known to us in the breaking of the bread.
Even when we did not recognize him, he was walking with us on the road.
At his last meal he said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” but this is more than remembering. He isn’t just a memory. He is alive and with us right now. Even when it seems like all hope is gone, he is walking with us.
We come broken to the table.
He breaks the bread and gives it to us.
And in that moment, we discover that the risen Christ has been with us all along.