Text: Luke 24:13-35

Ever wonder just how many times the Lord has been near to us and we didn’t recognize Him. On Monday we saw where Mary Magdalene initially thought that He was a gardener; here the two on the Emmaus road thought He was a stranger—same day, but different misunderstandings.

Vincent adds emphasis to stranger, “[the word] is used in later Greek of strangers who have no rights of citizenship, and no settled home. The only of the A. V. [Authorized Version] is commonly understood adverbially: ‘Are you nothing but a stranger?’ But the emphasis of the question falls there, and the word is an adjective. Render ‘Dost thou alone dwell as a stranger in Jerusalem?’ ‘Are you the only one who sojourns as a stranger in Jerusalem, and who does not know?’” Yet, with all the emphasis on Jesus being the stranger the two were actually the ones who did not know as Jesus chastised them for their unbelief.

A common thread of recognition emerged when both Mary and the two identified Him as Jesus. What was the thread? It was a present act that had been personally witnessed previously. For Mary it was the calling of her name, “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master” (John 20:16 KJV). How many times before had she heard His voice, and now, with her back to the “gardener” she heard it again and acknowledged her Lord.

For the two it was how he took the bread, blessed it, and broke it to give them. They had seen that before, maybe at the feeding of thousands (cf. Matthew 14:19) or maybe at the Last Supper, or maybe they saw the nail prints in His hands as they received the bread. Whichever it was, they had pervious knowledge and then “their eyes were opened, and they knew him…” (Luke 24:31).

Make a special effort to “see” Jesus around you today. As you pray, ask for Him to make you aware of the spiritual as you go about your natural day. Think on those special times in the past that you remember “seeing” Him and anticipate seeing Him today in a way you may not have expected.