The Recognition of Christ

“He was known of them in breaking of bread” — Luke xxiv. 35.

Men have often asked whether the departed will be recognised. The risen Son of Man is recognised by that in Him which was most humble and most human. We should have thought that the token of recognition would have been selected from the least human parts of His life. We should have thought that He would have been recognised by the glory of the transfiguration mount, or by the old splendours of the miraculous power. But it is not so; that which connects His life in heaven with His life on earth is just the lowliest path that on earth He ever trod — the path of sacrifice, the hour of humiliation: “He was known of them in breaking of bread.”

Wouldst thou meet and recognise thy risen Lord? then must thou follow the disciples’ way. Thou canst not, any more than they, meet Him by a flight of ecstasy, thou canst not, any more than they, find Him by a recoil from the human. It is only in the sacrifice for man that thou shalt discover the Son of Man; it is only in the breaking of the bread that Christ shall be made known to thee. Did not He tell His disciples that when He was risen from the dead, He would go before them into Galilee and invite them to meet Him there? And why into Galilee? Because Galilee was the region of the shadow uf death, the place for the breaking of bread. Thee, too, He asks to meet Him in Galilee. Wouldst thou have a vision of the risen Lord? then thou must go down into the valley of His humiliation. Wouldst thou see Him as He is? then thou must be like Him in sacrificial spirit. That side of His being which heaven has not changed is just the side that is most human; He keeps the mark of the nails, He remains a high priest for ever. If thou wouldst know Him, it must be through that priesthood; if thou wouldst recognise Him, it must be through the mark of the nails

MOMENTS ON THE MOUNT. i;g

borne in thine own body. If thou shalt break the bread to the hungry, if thou shalt help the fatherless and the orphan, if thou shalt lift the erring and the fallen, if thou shalt give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, then thou art bearing about in thy body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Thy spirit is His spirit, thy life is His life, thy love is His love, and by the power of a kindred sympathy thou knowest His love to thee; thou shalt recognise Him by that act whereby He recognises thee — the breaking of bread,