When the two disciples recognized Jesus as he broke the bread for them in their house in Emmaus, he vanished from their sight (Luke 24:31). The recognition and the disappearance of Jesus are one and the same event. Why? Because the disciples recognized that their Lord Jesus, the Christ, now lives in them… that they have become Christ-bearers. Therefore, Jesus no longer sits across the table from them as the stranger, the guest, the friend with whom they can speak and from who they can receive good counsel. He has become one with them. He has given them his own Spirit of Love. Their companion on the journey has become the companion of their souls. They are alive, yet it is no longer them, but Christ living in them (see Galatians 2:20).
--Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
Image source: Henry Ossawa Tanner, And He Disappeared Out of Their Sight (1898). Tanner depicts the moment when Jesus, having sat down to dinner with two disciples, and broken and blessed the bread, disappears, leaving only a shadow to represent his ever-present Spirit. See the following website:
https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/and-he-disappeared-out-their-sight-23637
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