In Luke 24:13-35, the Bible describes a fascinating encounter between Jesus and two of his disciples (Cleopas and another disciple). The fascinating bit is that they walked and talked for quite a while without the disciples recognizing Jesus. As disciples they must have known Jesus by sight, but something was in the way (v16).
The encounter occurred after what must have been a "big deal" event for these disciples...their leader/teacher had been arrested and executed. It's unimaginable that they would have been ignorant of the events. They would have heard everything that was to be heard about what had happened and discussed it with others (v14). Somehow they missed, or more likely, refused to believe (v23-24) the news of the resurrection! (Perhaps that's what they were arguing about in v15?) They acted as if Jesus were dead, even in the way they retold the story. There is a sense of discouragement and disappointment in the words, "We were hoping he was the One..."
"Then their eyes were opened..." Notice that they did not open their eyes. They recognized Jesus because he opened their eyes. What a great picture of how we come to belief. Jesus is right there in front of us but we don't recognize him until he opens our eyes. Nothing has really changed except us, but everything is different.
I think what happens next in the story is what's at the very core of what it is to live the Christian life. The two disciples "that very hour" got up and went back to be with other believers and to tell people of their experience. It was late in the day and travel after dark was dangerous, but they didn't care. Their lives were changed and they had to act.
That's what the resurrection means. It's the most important event in history and the most important thing for us to really understand as Christians. It changes everything for us, and it changes us. Once we grasp the truth of this one event we can't remain the same people. It compels us to personal evangelism, joyful worship, fellowship with other believers, Bible study, and prayer.
2 comments:
I think Christ's identity being hidden could have been from different possibilities. The first possibility is of course miraculous power. The 2nd could have just been what Jesus was wearing. If you remember, after Jesus died a great thunderstorm came over the area. It is possible that Jesus was wearing some type of hooded robe, similar to the ones the Jedi wore in Star Wars (I know that sounds nerdy). This robe may have covered his face and hands. Once Jesus broke the bread, his hands and mannerisms were revealed which "opened" the eyes of the the 2 travelers.
I had always thought that these two were the 1st to see the resurrected Christ. But in verse 34, when they had returned to tell the disciples about the sighting, they said that Simon had already seen Jesus. This might be trivial, but it was something new to me.
In closing, as Pastor Phil mentioned Sunday, we are getting different accounts of Jesus's last days. The James Cameron claim to finding Jesus's bones is one of these. The Bible speaks of false ideas in the end times that different people will try to confuse us. This could be one of them. The resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith, and it is through this faith by grace which gives us our Salvation. All these trivial things about Jesus are fun to discus, but when it comes down to it we have to take it all on faith. But through these discussios it helps to convert many areas from blind faith to more of an educated faith. Thanks Rob.
Rick,
I think I've always believed that Jesus' identity was supernaturally hidden. I never thought of the "mysterious stranger" idea, but it could well be exactly what happened.
My friend over at Believer's Brain posted a commentary entitled The Jesus Family Tomb a little while ago. He's a fair amount brighter than I am and routinely thinks deep thoughts. You should check it out! He suggests the motive is simple greed rather than any real attempt to deceive. None-the-less, many are deceived anyway because they don't bother to educate themselves.
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