Research for this passage leads us to the rather forbidding term anagnorisis.1 In classical Greek drama, anagnorisis defines a great recognition scene, a moment when a main character or a hero sees for the first time something that has been right there all along, but that his or her eyes have been kept from seeing.
The anagnorisis in the story before us is, of course, that moment in which Cleopas and his traveling companion recognize that it is Jesus, risen from the dead, who is their guest at their evening meal. It was Jesus who had caught up with them on the road, Jesus who explained the scriptures to them, Jesus who demonstrated to them that the Messiah must suffer and die in order to accomplish the mission for which he had been sent. It was Jesus with them all along, and they did not know it.
Anagnorisis, sudden recognition of what is right in front of us, is our theme for this morning. Cleopas recognizes the risen Christ for the first time in the breaking of the bread. Many believe that this scene is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Holy Communion. They recognized Jesus, as we may recognize Jesus, in the breaking of the bread. This is where discipleship, in this Easter time, begins: with the recognition that Jesus, though crucified, is alive indeed. He is risen and is among us. We who have faith in him can follow him through death into new life, the resurrection life.
Seeing what has been right there
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