To Emmaus: From blind words and presence to recognition and absence (in abstract)

Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James ; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles.

But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.

And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were associating with each other about all these things which had taken place.

While they were associating and disputing, Jesus Himself came near and began traveling with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.

And He said to them, "What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?"

And they stood still, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him,

"Are You the only one visiting...

...Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?" And He said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. "But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. "Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said;

but Him they did not see."

And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets,

He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them,

He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them.

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.

They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, "The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon." They began to relate their experiences on the road and how

He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

Though the idle tale, the bit of crazy nonsense, was not embraced by faith, the Lucan account traces its willingness to settle into the logoi --the words -- of association (homileō) and dispute (suzēteō)---exchanged (antiballō) between two disbelievers.
"I thought...but..."
"What foolishness...how?...besides, we saw...nothing!"

What are these words you are exchanging...? Not on any theological level, of course. Rather, a primitive moment in the genealogy of the gospel: questions...not answers; hopelessness...not assurance. His absence could not be understood. What did this absence signify, after all? His absence could have signified the foolishness of the women's words. His absence could have signified a verification of the women's words. "Him they did not see..."

What are these words you are exchanging? Yes, they did not see him. Yet, in these words of association and dispute--these words which concerned the women's words, whose words concerned the angels' words--in the words of these two disbelievers Jesus draws near to them(kai autos iēsous eggisas...autois). Through (or because of) the words, there is proximity. He is actually present. But he is not recognizable. He is a stranger, a migrant (paroikos). Two foolish men(?), slow of heart to believe were trying to see what was on the tips of their tongues.
The stranger spoke...
What was spoken in that which was written (tais graphais)? His dia-hermeneutic (diermēneuō) of that which was spoken in the written relayed to these disbelievers the necessity of that presence, that 'nearness' (eggizō) of the one who was, as yet, still a stranger. But in the written their malleable hearts were burning and they were confident that this 'nearness' and this 'hermeneutic' were to be welcomed.

"When He had reclined at the table with them,
He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them.
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight...
...He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread."

And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them saying, "This is my body which is given for you..."
...He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

In words (logoi) and in the written (graphais) he was seen but not recognized.
In the breaking of the bread he was recognized but no longer seen.