When the resurrected but still unrecognized Jesus sits at table with the two disciples in Emmaus, he “took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them” (Luke 24:30). Immediately, several things happen: Their eyes were opened; they recognized him; he vanished from their sight (Luke 24:31).
Why does Christ vanish? An important passage from the Old Testament can help us find our bearings.
The Old Testament Background: Judges 6
Judges 6:1-24 recounts the call of Gideon. The chapter opens by recounting a familiar story: God’s people have sinned and broken the covenant. As a result of their unfaithfulness to the covenant, Israel has fallen under the terrible power of the Midianites.
However, the Lord God will act to save his people. In the person of his angelic messenger, God visits the unlikely Gideon and tells him, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior!” (Judges 6:12). The formula “The LORD is with you” evokes the covenant, by which God binds himself to his people — and in fact, the call of Gideon concludes with a renewal of this covenant:
The messenger of God said to him: ‘Take the meat and unleavened cakes and lay them on this rock;
