Facial Recognition
Notes
Transcript
Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over 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 took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed 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 they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
The road to Emmaus was seven miles long. That means there is an opportunity for a lot to happen while walking down this road. I mean, it was probably a 2 hour plus walk to get from Jerusalem to Emmaus. This gives an opportunity for things to happen. And happen they did. A lot happens in this text, enough that you could do multiple sermons from this text. But, I am going to pull one sermon out of the text this morning. It is something that has really been weighing heavy on my heart lately. It is a thought that has been nagging me for sometime.
As I was reading the text, I decided to listen to it being read to me also and a verse jumped off the page at me. It is verse 16 where the text says, “But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” It seems odd that these two disciples could not recognize him. The disciples spent many days with Jesus and had seen him after his resurrection. Out of all the people on Earth at that time, the disciples should have recognized Jesus, if not by looks by his responses. But they were not able to recognize him.
Hearing this and then thinking and praying about about what the scripture says, I heard the question, “What is keeping you from seeing Jesus?” What a profound question to think about. I mean, I had not really thought about this until I heard the scripture read aloud. Then I began to ponder on what could keep us from seeing Jesus. We know that Jesus lives today but many people, even Christians, say they do not see him active in today’s world. Why is that? What blinds us? What causes the disciples to not recognize him?
The disciples not recognizing Jesus is strange but I truly believe they would not have recognized to many people who was just on the road. They were caught up in trying to figure out what had happened in the past couple days. While Jesus had told them what would happen, they did not understand still. I mean they were so caught in their thoughts and conversation that they did not realize this man that appeared out of nowhere. Not only does he appear he joins in on their conversation and it does not even slow them down. I know if it were me I would have been asking a lot of questions like who are you, where did you come from, why are you jumping in on our conversation, or even making the statement, this is an A and B conversation so C your way out. But Cleopas and his companion engage this stranger in conversation and invite him to join them for dinner.
What is keeping you from seeing Jesus on your journey? There are a multitude of things that keep us from seeing Jesus around us. The first and probably the largest on is sin. We are all sinners and sin separates us from God. It drives a spike through our relationship and causes us to pull away from God. This keeps us from seeing Jesus in our own personal lives. Sin keeps us from hearing God’s calling in our lives because we are focused on other things that are not of God.
While we are all sinners and sin drives us away from God, there are other things that take our attention away from the things of God. On is the desires of the world. This can be a sin too but it is something that pulls us away. The world desires many things that are not of God, power, respect, position, finances, ownership, individualism, success, and so on. These things take our attention away from what God is calling us to be apart of. These things of the world pull us away from God and acting as God has called us to act. The things of the world cause us to be selfish and self-centered. If our focus is on these things then we cannot help those in need because helping those in need would take us away from accomplishing the things of the world.
Maybe it is a pandemic that gets in the way of you seeing Jesus. I had never thought that would be the case but after being part of this one, I can truly say it is the case. I am not talking about our inability to gather as a church in worship either. I have seen many who have lost sight of Jesus because they are caught up in the pandemic. They are caught up in the political debates verses participating in worship online or studying scripture. I have seen people lose hope because they have lost sight of Jesus. While there are many tuning into church services online, there are just as many or even more that aren’t even willing to set aside 30 minutes of their time to login and watch or listen to a sermon. Some of these were in church every Sunday for an hour now because it interrupts their time at home they don’t feel a need to worship. Friends, this is a quick way to lose sight of Jesus and not be able to recognize him.
The disciples were not blinded to where they could not see Jesus, they saw him but were not able to recognize him because they were so caught up in what had happened. They lack of understanding of the prophecies and what Jesus had said led them to be caught off guard when Jesus appeared. They did not even recognize Jesus in his rebuke of their lack of understanding. I mean, how many people would say, “Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe.” That to me is a Jesus response if I have ever read one. Their shock over the question of what happened really threw them off their ability to recognize things.
You may be asking, how can we ensure we do not miss seeing Jesus? Friends, that requires us to follow through with our responsibility as a disciple of Christ. We must focus on the things of the scripture and not the the things of the world. We must repent of our sins and commit to removing sin from our lives. We have to repair our relationship with God. We must seek Jesus during a time of pandemic. When confusion and struggle sets in, we cannot just turn to the government but need to turn to God. We must be willing to set aside time to be in worship of God and studying the scripture. We must be willing to be in conversation with God and not just offering up a monologue to God.
Friends, see Jesus during this time. Do not let your eyes be covered so you cannot recognize his face. Do not let the things of the world confuse you. Do not let your discussions block you from hearing his voice. Do not fear the uncertainty because that can blind us. It is time that we were willing to remember where our hope and joy comes from and to practice our spiritual disciplines during this time. I invite you to update your facial recognition so you can recognize Jesus without any issues.