THE SUPPER AT EMMAUS

Rembrandt Van Rijn (1607?-1669)

embrandt has taken the story of the two men and the stranger on their way to Emmaus after they have gone into the house. You see the disciples still did not know that the stranger was Jesus, the Christ. But when He sat at meat with them, He took bread and blessed it and brake and gave to them. Then they knew that it was the Savior who was talking with them and sitting at the table with them. Rembrandt shows the wondering men as they begin to recognize who their guest is, and he makes us feel the warmth and gladness that fill their hearts when they know that it is the risen Lord. The boy, too, lingers at the Savior's side as though to hear the meaning of the scene. But as they look, Jesus disappears out of their sight. When He is gone they say to each other:

"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?"

Rembrandt painted this picture after many sorrows had come to him. His beloved Saskia, the mother of the "golden lad," Titus, was dead; friends had deserted him and his patrons were gone. But the love of people still filled the heart of the great painter.

Fig. 20. The Supper at Emmaus. Rembrandt. Louvre, Paris

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