Recognising Jesus

by General John Larsson (Retired)

STUDY PASSAGE: LUKE 24:13–35

WOULD we recognise the risen Jesus if we met him? Two of his disciples didn’t – and that was on the first Easter Sunday after they had been told that he was alive again!

Luke tells the story in chapter 24:13–35. Cleopas and another disciple were walking to Emmaus, ‘talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him’ (vv14–16 all quotations unless stated otherwise, from New International Version).

Or, as Mark puts it: ‘Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country’ (16:12).

The two disciples told the stranger why they were downcast. They had hoped Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel, but he had been crucified. That morning some women disciples had found the tomb empty and an angel had said he was alive. Some of their companions had later been to the tomb but had not seen him.

‘[Jesus] said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

‘As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

‘When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

‘They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread’ (vv25–35).

We don’t know exactly how they were kept from recognising him, or in what way Jesus appeared in a different form. The two disciples would have known Jesus well – an ancient tradition even has it that Cleopas was Joseph’s brother, and therefore an uncle of Jesus. But the Lord was clearly sufficiently different in his risen form for them not to know immediately who he was.

If they did not recognise Jesus on the first Easter Sunday, how much more are we in danger of not recognising him today when he draws near to us? We have the added challenge that Jesus ascended into Heaven 40 days after that Easter Sunday, and his physical appearances on earth ceased. From that time on, encounters with Jesus have been in the nature of a spiritual experience. Sometimes such experiences have been dramatic, as was Saul’s on the Damascus road, and he could hardly have failed to recognise Jesus in that encounter. But for most of us, the approach of Jesus has been gentler – and more easily missed.

The signs of his approach can vary, but are often the same as those the two Emmaus disciples experienced. When words of Scripture suddenly light up for us, and when – in that beautiful phrase – our hearts burn within us, they are sure signs that Jesus has drawn near and wants to share with us. And when we recognise his presence and quietly say to him ‘Stay with me’ and then listen to his voice within, we soon know that we are meeting with the risen Lord.

But how easy it is for us to miss him. We hurry along the road – there is so much that has to be done – and when Jesus draws near we don’t recognise him. And instead of an Easter morning in our soul there is emptiness.

When, some weeks before his death, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, he exclaimed, ‘You did not recognise God’s moment when it came’ (Luke 19:44 New English Bible). Had Cleopas and his companion not recognised God’s moment when it came to them on the Emmaus road, there would have been tears in Heaven.

May there never be tears in Heaven because we have failed to recognise such a moment!