Genesis 3:4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Luke 24: 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
…30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
2 Corinthians 3: 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
The clever serpent of the garden told the woman (Adam seems to be right beside her) a deceptive partial truth. Although their eyes were opened, they were opened to the naked shame of their rebellion. In taking the food of rebellion, they would lose the vision of the LORD God’s glory-filled presence—a presence hidden from them East of Eden.
I think that Luke had this tragic garden story in mind as he told the story of Cleopas and his unnamed companion on their journey to Emmaus. The risen Jesus joined the pair, “…but they were kept from recognizing him.” What kept them from recognizing Jesus? Perhaps, it was only that God veiled the identity until the right moment, but it may be more. Although they had the Scriptures and at one level knew them, their unknown Companion told them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! (Luke 24:25 NIV).” Had their eyes been open, unveiled, while reading Scripture, they may not have fully recognized their Companion as Jesus, but they would have recognized Jesus in the Scriptures.
When they arrived in Emmaus, the three shared a meal. I don’t argue that this is a Lord’s Supper meal, I do argue that the reader/listener of Luke would remember that the exact words were used to describe the Supper in the upper room, “…he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them. (Luke 22:30 NIV).” The point of breaking the bread is reinforced with their words to the assembled disciples back in Jerusalem, that Jesus was recognized in the breaking of the bread. In taking the food of faith from Jesus, their eyes were open to the glory of the One who bore shame, to end ours.
So, here we are living in a world East of Eden, that labors to veil God’s glory in our work, in politics, and in our sheer busyness. In worship, we stop, and in faith, gaze on the glory of the presence of God. We see, again, the glory of Christ as we open His Word. And then, in the Supper, we recognize Christ anew as the bread is blessed and broken, and we partake of Him. How we need these unveiled moments, so that when the Spirit moves us to live in a world that is still East of Eden, we may keep our eyes unveiled and fixed upon Jesus’ glory, and the world may glimpse that glory in us.[1]
Tim Kelley