The Lord of hosts is with us.
"And it happened that, while he was with them at the table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, 'Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?'" (Luke 24:30–32) This passage, drawn from the Emmaus narrative, reveals the transforming power of Christ's presence in Word and Sacrament. The two disciples, who had left Jerusalem, overwhelmed by sorrow and confusion after the Crucifixion, encounter the Risen Lord without initially recognizing Him. Their journey from despondency to recognition, from spiritual blindness to renewed faith, is a microcosm of the Christian journey. Jesus walks beside them, listens to their grief, and interprets the Scriptures to reveal how suffering and glory are inseparably linked in God's redemptive plan. Yet it is in the breaki...