Welcome Home: Hospitality as the Lord's Supper (Luke 24:13-35)

A Light-bulb Moment

Sir Joseph Wilson Swan was an English physicist, chemist, and inventor. He started his career in a pharmacy and later became a manufacturing chemist. In 1850, Swan began using carbonized paper filaments to light up a vacuum tube. By 1878, Swan had improved his invention enough to demonstrate a working device that functioned as a crude, but successful filament electric lamp using fiber from cotton. Swan had invented the first incandescent light bulb. But that’s not the name we know. We know the name of Thomas Edison because Edison improved on Swan’s idea using bamboo for his carbon filament and he made a better vacuum tube, allowing his bulbs to last for hundreds of hours. Swan had the light-bulb moment. Edison got the credit.

Today’s story has an incredible light-bulb moment… it may be one of the most remarkable light-bulb moments in all of the Bible. Today we are continuing our hospitality series with the story of two men who have a conversation with Jesus on the same day that he rose from the dead. These two disciples of Jesus were having trouble making sense of the past 72 hours. They had watched their Messiah executed on a Roman cross. They are totally confused. And then this stranger shows up. And this stranger isn’t showing a lot of empathy.

Conversation with a Stranger

Dr. Luke clues us in to who this stranger is. He says Jesus joins them on their walk. They don’t know it’s Jesus. They don’t see him yet. So we know who this is… and it’s Jesus acting like Jesus. Jesus, the stranger, is asking questions.

There’s a long conversation that happens. This is a conversation between strangers. And this stranger who joins the two walking listens to their story and he says this:

Luke 24:25-26 “Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

Not a lot of empathy there initially. But there is compassion. Jesus doesn’t leave them completely in the dark. Jesus shows them from the Old Testament how none of what has happened over the last few days should be surprising. The Messiah had to suffer and die to save men from their sins and become a ransom for many. Jesus tells them it’s been there in front of them the whole time in their Bibles:

Luke 24:27 Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

All the Scriptures. That’s a remarkable statement. Jesus the theologian, the rabbi, tells them that the whole Bible is about the Messiah, himself. This statement changed the way I understood the Bible. All the Scriptures. The Old Testament isn’t simply a history book. And it’s not primarily about the nation of Israel. It’s about Jesus.

But even as great as it is to understand that the Bible is all about Jesus from this passage, we’ll miss the purpose of what Jesus is doing if we stop there. Jesus is not giving them a theological lecture or a defense of his resurrection as He is interested in their hearts. There is grace for their confusion. The apex of the story is not that Jesus sets them straight. The highlight of the story is how Jesus engages them and turns their world upside down with a new kind of hospitality.

The Hospitality

They hear the explanation. And they are so energized by the conversation, that they resort to hospitality with this stranger who has been giving them a view of the Old Testament they hadn’t seen before. They come to the village where the two of them were going… and it’s as if the arrival interrupts a fascinating conversation. They want to know more. So twice they ask Jesus to “stay” with them. Stay. The conversation with a stranger has them desiring to hear more and they offer their hospitality:

Luke 24:29 They urged him, “Stay with us, because it’s almost evening, and now the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

Stay with us. Hospitality flows out of conversation, and in this conversation, it is the Word, the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection from the Scriptures, that prompts their hospitality. Understanding the Messiah from “all the Scriptures” leads two disciples of Jesus to offer hospitality to this stranger. Because of the Gospel, their home is to be the home for a stranger.

Jesus Stays

They want Jesus to stay, and he does stay with them. Their hospitality to this stranger is now something bigger… Emmanuel, God With Us, has come to their house to take up His stay with them. In providing hospitality to a stranger, Jesus himself is served and ministered to.

But it’s not long before the entire experience is being flipped on its head by Jesus.

The Meal

The strangers eat together. The Conversation that led to Hospitality has now led to a meal. But then there’s this:

Luke 24:30 It was as Jesus reclined at the table with them that he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

Two things here. “Reclining at the table” is how Jesus and his society ate. Only those well off could afford chairs and tables, and even then, most reclined when they ate. The most common way for people to share a meal was to eat in a reclining position on the floor around the food. This is the sign of hospitality.. to be reclining at a table was to be the guest of hospitality, and here, the guest is a complete stranger, albeit one who was obviously a rabbi.

But this also is not normal. This is where the script is flipped and Jesus is doing the unexpected. Jesus took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the other two disciples. The two disciples are no longer the host. They are no longer the ones providing the hospitality. No, this stranger is providing the hospitality. They asked Jesus to stay and Jesus ends up being the one who provides the hospitality.

He Promised. He promised to eat and drink with them in the kingdom. And now here He is, the Risen One, delivering on that promise. And they thought they were hosting the meal? This is what happens when Jesus shows up at His Table. Hospitality happens.

The Opening of the Eyes

Jesus starts acting the part of the host and providing hospitality and it’s at that moment that they have their light-bulb moment.

Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened.

They do not recognize Jesus until he is the One hosting the meal. This is their Messiah. This is their Savior. This is their Redeemer. And this recognition leads them to begin moving their feet.

Luke 24:33 That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem… they began to describe what had happened on the road and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Mission

They can’t wait to tell. Jesus’ revealed as the host of the meal prompts them to go and tell. Christ’s hospitality compels them to go on mission with the Good News that Jesus has risen from the dead.

But this hospitality that Jesus provides is doing much more than simply getting them to go on mission with the Good News. Their eyes were opened by more than a simple gesture of providing a meal and good hospitality on the part of Jesus.

Note what Jesus does at the meal:

Luke 24:30 Jesus took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

This language is not an accident. The last time that Jesus “took the bread, blessed, and broke it and gave it to them” was just a few short days ago:

Luke 22:19 Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

They’ve seen this before. They’ve heard this before. What is it that opens their eyes? What is it that gives them their light-bulb moment? What is is that changes them and transforms them in the moment from confusion and unbelief to belief? What is it that compels them to immediately get up and go start talking about the Resurrection? It’s the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Table. The place where the Bread of Life is given and the Cup of Salvation is given for the forgiveness of sins. And they know it. they aren’t just talking about the resurrection when they get to the rest of the disciples. Here’s what Dr. Luke says:

Luke 24:35 They began to describe what had happened on the road and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the Bread. The hospitality that Jesus provides is a hospitality in which Jesus is feeding himself to his people and making himself known to them. It is at this Table where Jesus people are no longer strangers. It is at this Table where strangers become friends. Relationships are transformed at this Table.

This is the rhythm of hospitality throughout Luke. In fact, it’s not just at the Last Supper or the meal with the disciples at Emmaus. When Jesus feeds the 5000, Luke tells us that Jesus blessed the bread, broke the bread, and then gave it to the crowd. This is how Christ provides hospitality for His people. But this hospitality all finds its meaning and its goal and its fulfillment in that meal the upper room, where Jesus inaugurates the Kingdom meal for Kingdom people.

Christ’s Table hospitality

This meal is where all of the eating and drinking in the Gospels are leading. All those table hospitality stories in the gospels? It seems Jesus was preoccupied with tables. Jesus always seems to be either eating (reclining) at tables or telling stories about tables. And he’s doing it with sinners. Those who need Him. And all along the way, Jesus is teaching us something about His Table, the Lord's Supper. Jesus’ resurrection day has one of the most important table meals in the Bible.

That same Table continues to provide Hospitality for God’s people.

The hospitality that Jesus provides at His Table provides identity.

This is absolute grace. This is love. This is where He makes himself known to strangers and sinners. This is where sinners are forgiven. It’s a fascinating thing in that line… “their eyes were opened… and then they recognized Him.” That is the exact same line used way back at the beginning of our story with our first parents. When Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says “their eyes were opened, and they saw their nakedness.” Jesus is reversing the sin problem here with his hospitality and his breaking of the bread. Blind eyes from sin and sickness and death and the devil are being opened so that all they see is Jesus.

This is one more place where I think we tend to miss the main point of this story. And I know there are helpful programs and organizations that use the Emmaus story. I have found many of them helpful to me. So I’m not here to thrown stones. But the point of this story is not a conversation with Jesus. The point of this story is not walking with Jesus and having Jesus give us the meaning of his life, death, and resurrection. The point of the story is not "Jesus in all the Scriptures", as great as that is and as meaningful it is to me when, for years, I was told otherwise. All of these things are good. But this isn’t the point.

The point was to get to that meal. To have their eyes opened. To recognize Jesus. To see Jesus. We are so focused on conversation and knowledge because knowledge is power. We long to find meaning and knowledge gives us that. Or so we think. We do need to know, like these disciples the proper understanding of Christ’s death and resurrection from all the Scriptures. But meaning.. our meaning for life, is found in Jesus. Seeing Jesus. Our eyes being opened to Jesus and Jesus alone. And Jesus opens our eyes and He gives us meaning and identity through this meal.

The hospitality that Jesus provides at His Table creates community and makes His home.

This Table is where Jesus makes his enemies his friends. This Table is where Jesus makes strangers His family. This table is where Jesus comes to stay. Jesus is always here making himself known to sinners and strangers making them family and friends. Jesus stays here. You will always find Jesus here at His home. This Table is Jesus’ home and it’s where he welcomes us home.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

This Table is where Jesus gives us hospitality. And the hospitality that we provide strangers and sinners begins right here. Jesus loves us here. Jesus gives us grace here. Jesus gives us our identity here. Jesus provides us with community here. This is His hospitality for us.

The Benediction

Numbers 6:24-26 “May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”