Interpretation on the Way to Emmaus: Jesus Performs His Story

Abstract

Abstract Using recent claims that scriptural interpretation is a kind of performance, this article examines the "Walk to Emmaus" in Luke 24. There Jesus is presented as the authoritative interpreter of Scripture, both in his verbal performance on the road and his table performance in Emmaus. Luke's telling of Jesus' performance on the road both claims the Scriptures (soon to become the Christian OT) for Christ and frees the church for Christological readings. Luke's contrast between disheartened disciples and risen Christ reveals Jesus as the one who not only knows but is where the scriptural story is going. At table in Emmaus, the risen Jesus prompts their recognition by performance. He performs his identity by two enacted resemblances to prior meals: taking the role of host and a characteristic fourfold action that is recognizably similar to the feeding of the 5,000 and the Last Supper. Just as those prior meals were themselves performances of Scripture, both recalling and anticipating God's redemption, so Jesus' breaking of bread in Emmaus performs Scripture fulfilled in his death and resurrection. Refocusing on Jesus' table performance allows a clear connection between those meals, the breaking of bread in Acts, and the later Eucharist, while avoiding anachronistic claims about early Christian practice or Lukan intentionality. Finally, the article displays how "text talk" and table performance enable the two disciples to improvise their own faithful performance of Scripture in Jerusalem.