Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Recognizing Jesus


And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!  - Luke 24:25




If I could go back in time to any part of the New Testament, I would have wanted to travel to this moment, where I could listen to Cleophas and his friend as they met a stranger on the way to Emmaus and said to him “What the heck is wrong with you?  Haven’t you heard all the news about what happened in Jerusalem?” (my interpretation) 

I would like to think my female intuition would have kicked in at some point and I would have nudged one of them to say, “Yoo-hoo, I think this guy looks familiar!”   


But the reality is, I may not be that great at always recognizing Jesus either. I certainly have much more to learn that the Lord wants to teach me. However, I am often too busy, too distracted, too proud, too lazy, or just quite honestly too dumb to figure it out.  I also need my eyes and my heart opened to be able to see all that the Lord is doing in my life.


I love to ponder on the moment and put myself in the scene when after this long journey, Jesus broke bread in front of us, and then *poof* disappears right before our eyes and we all realize what complete idiots we were.  I imagine how we must have recounted every word we told him on the journey, and then realized who we were telling.  I can imagine our hearts on fire when we remembered every word this stranger shared with us, and then we realized it was JESUS that was telling us this information.  We must have been in awe, in shock, in total disbelief, for all that they experienced. I can imagine our joy, our amazement and I can imagine we all RACED back to Jerusalem to share the news.  Imagining I am there and reflecting on this moment is Joyous, Humorous and Enlightening.  What Joy!  Jesus is RISEN!