(28) And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.  (29)  But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.  (30)  And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.  (31)  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Luke 24:28-31

Explanation:

It looked as if Jesus wanted to continue on without them, but they pleaded with Him to stay and eat with them. They certainly must have begun being convinced as to who Jesus was, and yet He was still unknown in that moment to them as we will see.

Jesus does stay with them. They sit down for a meal. When they started the meal He prayed, then broke the bread, and handed it to them. He had broken bread with them so many times:

• The disciples had lived with Jesus for so much of His ministry.  I’m sure they ate together a lot.
• They brought Him food when he talked to the Samaritan woman.
• They had seen him multiply bread and fish when he fed the 5,000.
• He had broken the bread with the disciples and told them that it was His body that was broken for them.
• He had even instituted the Lord’s supper where they would remember His broken body.

And it was in this moment, where the bread was broken, that these disciples’ eyes were opened. They had been convinced by the scripture Jesus taught, and now they were being convinced by seeing their Lord Himself.

Immediately when they rightly identified Him, He vanished.

Application:

This is the stage that so many need to get to in their identity of Jesus. Those who are confused by who Jesus was, need to be convinced through the scripture. But it is not just to know that the scripture speaks of Him.  It’s not enough to know that He died on the cross for our sins.

There must come a point in time where each person is convictional about the identity of Jesus. There must come a point where one personally believes- He is the Christ.  He is my Lord.  He is my Savior.  It must come to the point of conviction. Paul said it this way:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus; and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Romans 10:9-10

Response:

Who is Jesus to you? How do you identify Him?