The Walk
Read Luke 24:13-35.
It's almost cruel the way it reads. I don't know that I've ever noticed before that these disciples who are walking home to Emmaus are actively "kept" from recognizing Jesus. I think I've always assumed they, like others in the resurrection appearances, just don't seem to notice that it's him. (Mary, for instance, though he was the gardener.) I may have even preached it that way before. But that's not what Luke says. He says they are "kept from recognizing him" (24:16). God is actively dulling their minds so that they don't recognize that it's Jesus who is walking alongside them.
So my first question is why. Why would they be shielded? Why wouldn't Jesus want to be recognized? Perhaps a clue is found in the conversation they have. Jesus asks them what they have been talking about, and they pour out their hearts to this stranger on the road. They talk about Jesus' death, and about the resurrection, and about their grief...it's a long walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus, so they had lots of time to tell him everything.
Once Jesus has heard their side of the story, he tells them his side of the story. He begins to help them understand the promises and prophecies in the Old Testament, all the pieces that pointed to what he had just done on the cross. To me, this is one of the most frustrating parts of the whole Bible: Jesus is leading Bible Study and no one is taking notes! We don't have any account of what he told them, just that he shared with them the Scriptures and what it meant. And still they don't recognize him. They only recognize him in the breaking of the bread—and only then, we're told, because their eyes are opened. First they are kept from recognizing him, and then they are allowed to recognize him.
Why?
Was it, perhaps, so that they could hear the message? Sometimes we get so distracted by the messenger we can't hear the message God wants us to hear—even when the messenger is Jesus. If they had immediately recognized Jesus walking with them, they wouldn't have been able to hear what he wanted to teach them. The miracle would have obscured the message. So they were only allowed to recognize him in the breaking of the bread—the same thing he had done the last time he was with them (see Luke 22). They got the message, then they saw the miracle.
I still wish they would have taken notes during Bible Study, though.
It's almost cruel the way it reads. I don't know that I've ever noticed before that these disciples who are walking home to Emmaus are actively "kept" from recognizing Jesus. I think I've always assumed they, like others in the resurrection appearances, just don't seem to notice that it's him. (Mary, for instance, though he was the gardener.) I may have even preached it that way before. But that's not what Luke says. He says they are "kept from recognizing him" (24:16). God is actively dulling their minds so that they don't recognize that it's Jesus who is walking alongside them.
So my first question is why. Why would they be shielded? Why wouldn't Jesus want to be recognized? Perhaps a clue is found in the conversation they have. Jesus asks them what they have been talking about, and they pour out their hearts to this stranger on the road. They talk about Jesus' death, and about the resurrection, and about their grief...it's a long walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus, so they had lots of time to tell him everything.
Once Jesus has heard their side of the story, he tells them his side of the story. He begins to help them understand the promises and prophecies in the Old Testament, all the pieces that pointed to what he had just done on the cross. To me, this is one of the most frustrating parts of the whole Bible: Jesus is leading Bible Study and no one is taking notes! We don't have any account of what he told them, just that he shared with them the Scriptures and what it meant. And still they don't recognize him. They only recognize him in the breaking of the bread—and only then, we're told, because their eyes are opened. First they are kept from recognizing him, and then they are allowed to recognize him.
Why?
Was it, perhaps, so that they could hear the message? Sometimes we get so distracted by the messenger we can't hear the message God wants us to hear—even when the messenger is Jesus. If they had immediately recognized Jesus walking with them, they wouldn't have been able to hear what he wanted to teach them. The miracle would have obscured the message. So they were only allowed to recognize him in the breaking of the bread—the same thing he had done the last time he was with them (see Luke 22). They got the message, then they saw the miracle.
I still wish they would have taken notes during Bible Study, though.
I've always felt sad when I read this account. Talk about "wishing you knew" afterward! But you make a good point in sometimes not hearing the message because our focus is more on the message.
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