🎏 RECOGNIZE🎏
“Then he said to them, ‘So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said?’”(Luke 24:24 MSG).
Would we recognize Jesus if He suddenly appeared walking right beside us in bodily form?
I’d like to think I’d know Him instantly, unlike several followers who, encountering the risen Christ in that 50-day period before He ascended into heaven, didn’t know Him at first. What would it take for me to recognize Him?
It’s interesting that each Gospel account gives another vignette to complete our picture of what went on with the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection. Mark shares the part of the story that Mary Magdalene was the first to see (and recognize) Jesus and run to tell the others that He was alive.
But John includes the detail that Mary Magdalene thought He was the gardener at first! It wasn’t until He called her by name: “Mary!” that she knew who He was.
“The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. ‘Good morning!’ he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet and worshiped him.” (MSG)
The women didn’t recognize him until He spoke the words of greeting.
Take the hikers on the now-famous “road to Emmaus,” disciples traveling the seven miles from Jerusalem to their home after the unsettling events of the crucifixion. Jesus just slips into step with them and chats. Clearly, they don’t know who He is and even ask how He could not know what had just gone on in Jerusalem. It wasn’t until they took Him home with them and shared a meal that they recognized Him.
“He was known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:25 RSV).
Impulsive, loving, lovable Peter, however, ran to the tomb on hearing the news and “he went home marveling at what had happened” (Luke 24:12) after he saw the linen cloths without a body attached.
Even the most faithful of the disciples, when Jesus suddenly stood among them as they gathered in fear in the locked “upper room,” thought it was “too good to be true” (Luke 24:41). They weren’t fully recognizing their Raboni until they saw His wounds and acknowledged that He was not a ghost. They “disbelieved for joy” as the RSV puts it.
And we all know the story of cynical (doubting) Thomas. He had to actually see Jesus’ hands and feet and touch His wounds to recognize and believe. (John 20:27)
How can we recognize Jesus’ presence? Does He have to call us by name or greet us personally? Or do we have to have a meal with Him or see the graveclothes left behind? Perhaps we feel we must put our fingers in the nail-scarred hands?
I’d like to be like Peter and John, seeing Jesus directing their net-fishing from shore, and declare confidently, “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7).
PRAYER: Jesus, Help us to recognize you as you come into our lives daily in many special moments. Open the eyes of our hearts to see you and know you. AMEN