Day 721: Recognizing Jesus - Luke 24 vs 13 - 27

13-15 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

17-19 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” 20-24 And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even 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 as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

25-27 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:13-27 English Standard Version

On the same day that Mary Magdalene and the other women had found the grave empty and told the disciples of the vision of angels they'd seen, two of Jesus' disciples were joined on their walk to the village of Emmaus by someone who they took to be a stranger. Apart from assuming that the resurrected body of Jesus may have had some measure of transformation, what was the main reason they didn’t immediately recognize Him? (vs 16)

The implication is that God kept them from doing so. I wonder why that should be. My own conclusion is from what follows. Jesus, in a delightful way, asks them questions about their heavy discussion and gloomy faces. (Can you imagine how He would respond to us when we are puzzled, despondent or fearful!) So, in vs 20-24, they tell Him of everything that had happened over the previous three days, finishing with the women’s report of an empty tomb. It's how Jesus responds to their tale of woe that suggests to me a reason why they were kept from recognizing Him. What does Jesus focus their thoughts on? (vs 25-27)

He takes them to God's word to show them that everything they had just described as having taken place over the past few days had been foretold through the centuries by Moses and the prophets. So, in light of what was written, it was necessary for the Messiah to go through the things they had witnessed. The fact that He started with Moses is significant. Moses was the man used by God to describe creation and mankind's fall into sin and separation from God. He was also the man who showed Israel their need of priests and sacrifices to atone for sin. The prophets had spoken too with one voice of a promised Messiah and some had given graphic details of the suffering He would go through. In short, He showed them that the whole Old Testament had been fulfilled in the man they knew as Jesus.

The penny still didn't drop. That would only happen a little later when He took bread and gave a blessing and their eyes were opened. But for me the important lesson here is that we don't need a physical vision of Jesus to become a Christian. The apostle Paul said “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) By seeing how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament, and by taking to heart the gospel records of all that He said and did, we can recognize Him and become believers.