Recognizing Jesus
Part of A Deeper Response to the Scripture

Sermon Title: Recognizing Jesus
Scripture: Luke 24:13-36 (NIV)

Contributed by David Buschart

“… their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” —Luke 24:31

Where do we get our ideas about God? And when we encounter a potential window into who God is, a potential window into what God is like, how do we go about evaluating what we think we see? Do we hold firmly to and apply our own categories, our own ways of thinking, whatever these may be? Are we open to the possibility that God may show Himself to be different—perhaps profoundly different—from the ways we have thought of Him until now?

God wants us to know Him and to learn His ways. He has revealed and is revealing Himself. He reveals himself through the heavens (Rom 1:18-20). He reveals himself through the scriptures (e.g., Jn 5:39; 2 Tim 3:15). As Francis Schaeffer put is, “He is there and He is not silent.” And He reveals Himself most profoundly in the person of Jesus Christ, God-incarnate. God Himself—God Himself—took on human form, human being, and walked, talked, ate, laughed, cried, lived, died and rose among us (Phil 2:5-8).

As we celebrate during Eastertide in particular, Jesus has risen from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Jesus does not currently walk among us as He did during His incarnation. But in Luke 24 we read an account of people who not only lived on earth at the time of Jesus’s incarnation, not only lived in the same region on earth in which Jesus lived, but they encountered Jesus up-close and in-personal. They walked with Him. They talked with Him. Likely for several hours. He even “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24:27).

Yet, whatever the reason, “they were kept from recognizing him” (Lk 24:16), and this lack of recognition persisted through much of the story recounted in Luke 24:13-35. It was not until the midst of a meal together that “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (31; also 35) And then, no sooner did they recognize him than “he disappeared from their sight” (31).

A cursory reading of this passage could lead one to the conclusion that God is fickle, revealing and concealing himself, appearing and disappearing, on a whim. But that would be to misread the passage. More importantly, that would be to misunderstand God.

There is always a temptation to seek God in ways which align with our usual ways of thinking, to conceive of God in accord with our terms. However, seeking and recognizing God requires the humility to seek Him in accord with the ways that God Himself chooses to reveal Himself. It requires us to think of and respond to God in accord with who God Himself has said He is. God has said, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is 55:9). Consequently, the psalmist acknowledges that “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain” (Ps 139:6), and the apostle Paul recognizes that “now we see only a reflection as in a mirror” (1 Cor 13:12).

Yet even though we are finite and fallible, God continues to reveal Himself. Jesus did not walk away from his traveling companions in their lack of understanding, but rather “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures.” And during the meal “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” And we later read (36-49) that he once again appeared to them, and others, once again ate with them, and once again taught them from scripture. We can and should learn about God through the scriptures. And we can, oh yes we can, know God in and through the risen Jesus.

Consider
╬ God reveals Himself in the scriptures and in Jesus. Where do I most often turn to learn about God and His ways?

╬ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Do I seek God with a readiness to let God Himself teach me about Himself?

╬ Thank you, Father, that within our limitations you reveal yourself to us. Thank you for revealing yourself through your works, through Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. Grant us listening minds and hearts to learn and worship. Amen.