‘Then their eyes were opened and they recognised Him…’ (Luke 24:31)
One of the things that we seemed to be blessed with here in this part of the country is the number of beautiful sunrises and sunsets that we see on a regular basis. It’s a sight that I never get fed up with seeing and have taken many photographs of these over the past few years. The other day I caught the last half hour of the film Local Hero and I switched it on at the part where the man was in the phone box making a call to his boss in America, trying to describe the sight of the Northern Lights to him and as he was doing so the only thought I had was that no-one could ever adequately describe such a vision – it is something you have to see with your own eyes to fully appreciate it. Although, sometimes even when we do see things with our own eyes still we don’t fully appreciate them for what they are.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of the Resurrection suddenly found themselves joined by a stranger on their journey. It was of course Jesus, but we are told that initially they were kept from recognising him. But what was it that stopped them from recognising Jesus, after all they knew who Jesus was? Over the years many have come up with different answers to that question. Fear and confusion over what had happened over the last couple of days invariably come to the top of any such answers. But I wonder where faith comes in to all of this.
How often in our journey through life has our Lord come to us – but we have failed to recognise Him. We too could maybe come up with various answers as to why we didn’t recognise His presence. Too busy or too fearful because of whatever is going on in our life at that time might again be answers that we might offer. But how much of it is down to a question of faith. We don’t recognise our Lord’s presence we don’t believe enough that He might be there – for whatever reason.
Through the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter Day, God has said that He will always be with us. No matter where we are or what we are doing, whenever we call on the Lord, by His Spirit He will be there with us. But it’s not just in times of such need that the Lord will be with us. Every day of our lives He will be by our side, an ever present presence in our lives. All we need to do is open ‘our eyes of faith’ and believe.
Lord, we give You thanks for all Your goodness to us and for the many ways in which You come to us every day. Forgive us for not always recognising You and help us, we pray, in the busyness of our lives, to open our eyes and our hearts to Your presence, that in all we say and do we might witness to the glory of Your name. Amen.