As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. Luke 24:15-16
When I read this passage in my early days of Bible study I wondered what God gained by preventing these two disciples from recognizing Jesus on the road to Emmaus. It didn’t seem to make much sense to me, because just a short time later, Jesus broke the bread and gave it to them, “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him…” (verse 31). Why did God choose to delay their recognition of Jesus for just a short time? It never made any sense to me.
In reading this passage recently (or, more accurately, listening while Sharla read it to me as we drove), I saw things a little differently. I don’t think that God had blinded their eyes to Jesus at all; I think that the blindness that kept them from recognizing Him was a result of their own flawed thinking. In their way of looking at things, it was impossible for Jesus to be walking beside them, because they knew that He was dead! You can see this mindset in the words that they use in verses 19-24. As you read you sense that, to them, Jesus was gone for good – they use the past tense for every verb that they use about Him and about their hopes for who He was. And even though they testify that their women went to the tomb and found it vacant, even though they report the women’s vision of angels “who said He was alive” and the disciples’ fruitless trip to the tomb, a physical resurrection is clearly not on their list of possible explanations.
And so they walked with Jesus down the road, talking to Him about Him, they never allow themselves to see that it is Him that is walking and talking with them; they never allow themselves to believe what Jesus had foretold so many times; they never even see the clear evidence that was right there in front of them.
Now, if that seems unreasonable, think about how the same thing happens today. Two people experience the same terrible tragedy in their lives. One of them decides that God has abandoned them and turns away from their faith, often never to return. But the other one comes out of the event testifying to God’s great grace and upholding power all through the time of trouble and grief. See, I don’t think that God chose to give grace to one of the two and not to the other; I really think that the person who believes that God has abandoned them has actually allowed themselves be blinded to God’s presence by their anger and pain, when He is really right there beside them the whole time. Often the blinded one experiences a lot of God’s grace in their time of trial, but their self-imposed blindness won’t allow them to see that those good things are actually coming from the God who they believe doesn’t care about them. This is a real tragedy that has eternal consequences!
In the event on the Emmaus Road, the thing that finally opens the disciples’ eyes is Jesus doing something that is so familiar to them that they recognize His actions in spite of themselves: the simple act of giving thanks, breaking the bread and handing it to them. I am sure that they had witnessed Jesus do this simple ritual hundreds of times. At first His actions probably just “rang a bell,” but in just a few seconds, as they changed their view from His hands to His face (was he smiling at them?), they suddenly really saw who He was. And, apparently before they could even say anything to Him, He just vanished, leaving them gasping and shouting at each other in amazement!
I don’t know what it takes with some people to help them to see past their pain so that they can have their eyes opened to see the God who is walking beside them through the troubles of their lives. Maybe we just need to continue to point out to them the continued blessings of God all around them so that they can begin to recognize His familiar fingerprints that they have seen so many times before. The good news is that when they finally open their eyes and recognize God right in front of them, this time He won’t disappear!