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To: MurphsLaw; aMorePerfectUnion
This is a classic case of creating a religious tradition and then cherry-picking Scriptures to find justification for your rituals. If this brief encounter is considered an example of the "eucharist" why not these:

36 He took the seven loaves and the fish, and when He had given thanks, He broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
Matthew 15:36 AMP

6 And He commanded the multitude to recline upon the ground, and He [then] took the seven loaves [of bread] and, having given thanks, He broke them and kept on giving them to His disciples to put before [the people], and they placed them before the crowd.
Mark 8:6 AMP

11 Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples and the disciples to the reclining people; so also [He did] with the fish, as much as they wanted.
John 6:11 AMP

And note the posture in John 6:11 - reclining at the table was common - not specific to any ceremony.

5 When the disciples reached the other side of the sea, they found that they had forgotten to bring any bread.
6 Jesus said to them, Be careful and on your guard against the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
7 And they reasoned among themselves about it, saying, It is because we did not bring any bread.
8 But Jesus, aware of this, asked, Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? O you [men, how little trust you have in Me, how] little faith!
9 Do you not yet discern (perceive and understand)? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many [small hand] baskets you gathered?
10 Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many [large provision] baskets you took up?
11 How is it that you fail to understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But beware of the leaven (ferment) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
12 Then they discerned that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matthew 16:5-12 AMP

Leaven is figurative for sin, in this case false doctrines, hypocrisy, self righteousness among others. Its amazing how much figurative language is used in the Bible. It must be carefully studied to avoid taking something literally, where a figure of speech is deployed to provide much greater depth of meaning. Greeks defined over 200 figures, everything from Acrostichion (Acrostic) to Zeugma (Unequal Yoke) to the common Metaphor (Representation). In the case of "this is my body" (Matt 26:26) it is historically proven if you ignore the clear rules of language, ignore the figure, and take this literally, you end up in the deepest of religious ditches for centuries. Body and the pronoun "this" are neuter, bread is masculine. This (bread) REPRESENTS my Body. Its simply the rules of language. A simple test, replace the verb (often - is) with represents. Does it work? Consider the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 for example. Figures are throughout the Bible and add much depth to the Word. We do a great disservice to God's Word by ignoring them.

Its a 2 to 3 hour walk to Emmaus depending on pace and number of stops, about 7 miles. The disciples were sad, confused, and disappointed. They did not believe what Jesus promised. They were dominated by reason, not spiritually mature. So why did Jesus appear? I would suggest the same reason He appeared to Thomas. Thomas CONFESSED that he WOULD NOT believe, unless he SAW and TOUCHED Jesus. And note Jesus' response to Thomas.

24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples kept telling him, We have seen the Lord! But he said to them, Unless I see in His hands the marks made by the nails and put my finger into the nail prints, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe [it].
26 Eight days later His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, though they were behind closed doors, and stood among them and said, Peace to you!
27 Then He said to Thomas, Reach out your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand and place [it] in My side. Do not be faithless and incredulous, but [stop your unbelief and] believe!
28 Thomas answered Him, My Lord and my God!
29 Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, Thomas, do you now believe (trust, have faith)? Blessed and happy and to be envied are those who have never seen Me and yet have believed and adhered to and trusted and relied on Me.
John 20:24-29 AMP

Scripture interprets Scripture. It helps to note what happened before and after, and also in other Gospel accounts. THEN, you can see the COMPLETE picture. Emmaus was one small moment among a VERY BUSY DAY for Jesus. Let's start with a very key statement in Luke that sets the tone for the day.

10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who reported these things to the apostles.
11 But these reports seemed to the men an idle tale (madness, feigned things, nonsense), and they did not believe the women.
Luke 24:10-11 Amp

Jesus used women to announce the greatest Revelation in the history of mankind, and even his disciples rejected it because it came from women! Just let that percolate for a time. Religious folks do really DUMB things. These Women were CONFIRMING the very WORDS of Jesus! Compare with John 20.

So now we have two disciples heading to Emmaus. Disappointed and attempting to rationalize their time with Jesus. Just imagine, you thought your spiritual leader was THE ONE, and then the religious folks and the state, torture and murder him. Who would do that? How could anyone who claims to love God torture and kill someone like Jesus - accusing him of heresy? That is demonic behavior. Yet religion has done it for centuries, even those who claim to be Christian.

13 And behold, that very day two of [the disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus, [which is] about seven miles from Jerusalem.
14 And they were talking with each other about all these things that had occurred.
15 And while they were conversing and discussing together, Jesus Himself caught up with them and was already accompanying them.
16 But their eyes were held, so that they did not recognize Him.
Luke 24:13-16 AMP

What do you think "held their eyes" in this situation? The same thing that hampers so many people, especially religious folk - UNBELIEF.

Jesus plays dumb and lets them recount the things that they had witnessed. And keep in mind, this is likely a 2-3 hour conversation, very important as we continue.

19 And He said to them, What [kind of ] things? And they said to Him, About Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a Prophet mighty in work and word before God and all the people—
20 And how our chief priests and rulers gave Him up to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him.
21 But we were hoping that it was He Who would redeem and set Israel free. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things occurred.
22 And moreover, some women of our company astounded us and drove us out of our senses. They were at the tomb early [in the morning]
23 But did not find His body; and they returned saying that they had [even] seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive!
24 So some of those [who were] with us went to the tomb and they found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.
Luke 24:19–24 AMP

Note their description of Jesus - a prophet, a miracle worker (mighty in work), were hoping for a political deliverer, not a spiritual Savior. They had a very temporal view of Jesus. They also rejected the women's testimony, but rightly blamed the religious leadership. So much confusion all around as to what the events of the last week mean, and the plan and purpose of Jesus. So what does Jesus do?

25 And [Jesus] said to them, O foolish ones [sluggish in mind, dull of perception] and slow of heart to believe (adhere to and trust in and rely on) everything that the prophets have spoken!
26 Was it not necessary and essentially fitting that the Christ (the Messiah) should suffer all these things before entering into His glory (His majesty and splendor)?
27 Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the Prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself.
Luke 24:25–27 AMP

This is a strong rebuke, done in Love of course. This was no "liturgy" - My gosh, let the elevator reach the top floor! This was Jesus, PREACHING the Word. And since He is the ANOINTED ONE, THE LIVING WORD, He was teaching under the Anointing - so full of power. And the message RESONATED in their spirit. Their "hearts (were) greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us." A religious message will not do that. Neither will some customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. But boldly preaching/teaching the Word under the Anointing will.(Luke 24:32)

What was Jesus teaching for 2-3 hours? We can only speculate. But He started with Moses according to Luke.

Jesus would likely recount all the prophetic passages, the symbols and types. How each life like Joseph was a type of Jesus. Aaron's staff cast down and becoming a serpent (sin) swallowing all the Egyptian snakes (becoming sin to destroy its control) and then returning to Aaron. And Moses placing the brass serpent on a pole - sin being judged. The Word is all about Jesus, the Living Word - they cannot be separated. It is spiritual Truth, not the creation of man or religion. In Ruth He's our Kinsman Redeemer, Joshua - Captain of Our Salvation, Exodus - Passover lamb, Our Shepherd, Our Wisdom Our High Priest - and on and on.

This was what Jesus taught the Emmaus disciples. And guess what, they had EARS TO HEAR. Faith comes from HEARING the Word. (Romans 10:17) So now by FAITH, they RECOGNIZED JESUS - their spiritual eyes were open and they could see Jesus through their natural eyes. And Jesus left - His work was complete with them. They didn't even eat!!!

Why such details then on what you would consider as insignificant event?

These two disciples were abandoning the movement. They were disappointed possibly disillusioned. They did not understand what just happened. Jesus arrived to CONFIRM that He was alive, and explain the TRUTH behind all that just occurred - in essence to BUILD THEIR FAITH so they would BELIEVE! This was not insignificant in light of so much unbelief at the beginning.

Why would this be important for Luke to record?

The passage runs for over 20 verses - hardly insignificant. What WAS insignificant is the "meal" that never happened, as the disciples - And rising up that very hour, they went back to Jerusalem. The breaking bread is 1 (ONE) verse. No mention of eating. No mention of wine or drinking. Feel free to read it again to doublecheck me. I do not see a ceremony, or even a full meal in that passage. I see two men who were transformed by God's Word immediately returning to tell the disciples what they saw and heard.

This Supper with the Lord, was the VERY FIRST THING Christ did after he was Resurrected!

No. This was not the first thing even mentioned in this Gospel account. The appearance to the women. The walk to Emmaus. Appearance to the 11. Its very likely Jesus appeared to many more that were not recorded. Let's not make this more than it is, or less. The HS recorded what was needful.

Why he would spend all of Easter Day?

Give me patience Lord! He did not. See above and the Gospel accounts. Let the WORD speak for itself.

walking on a desert road- with 2 less known disciples - Yet it was important enough for Luke to write this down:

I've covered all of this already. It was NOT a ceremony. It was not even a meal. This was only ONE verse among 20+ verses on this event. Hearing the Word and BELIEVING was far more important than the bread. The WORD is TRUTH. it is ALIVE and POWERFUL. Let IT SPEAK. Religious thinking will undermine the TRUTH. Most of us here are not pimping religion, our denomination or a church. My faith sits squarely on the WORD, not the reasonings of man, or his religious ideas. The WORD IS SOLID GROUND. (Matthew 7:24-27) Remember His statement to His disciples near Sychar - 34 Jesus said to them, My food (nourishment) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.(John 4:34)

And for extra credit, why did Jesus say, "It is finished!" on the cross. What was finished? Consider this carefully in relation to the topic at hand.

Bonus question #2. Where IS Jesus' Blood now? Jesus identified His resurrected (Glorified) Body as Flesh and Bone instead of the usual Flesh and Blood. Much was lost on the cross. But where did the rest go? (see Hebrews 9)

39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Feel and handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.
Luke 24:39 AMP

Read the Word, and BELIEVE!
429 posted on 10/15/2023 8:49:33 AM PDT by Kandy Atz ("Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want for bread.")
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To: Kandy Atz

—> This is a classic case of creating a religious tradition and then cherry-picking Scriptures to find justification for your rituals

+1


430 posted on 10/15/2023 9:11:46 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything)
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