“But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” Luke 24:16
The disciples ought to have known Jesus; they had heard his voice so often, and gazed upon that marred face so frequently, that it is a wonder they did not discover him. Yet is it not so with you also? You have not seen Jesus lately. You have been to his table, and you have not met him there. You are in a dark trouble this evening, and though he plainly says, “It is I, be not afraid,” yet you cannot discern him. Alas! our eyes are held.
We know his voice; we have looked into his face; we have leaned our head upon his bosom, and yet, though Christ is very near us, we are saying “O that I knew where I might find him!” We should know Jesus, for we have the Scriptures to reflect his image, and yet how possible it is for us to open that precious book and have no glimpse of the Wellbeloved! Dear child of God, are you in that state? Jesus feeds among the lilies of the word, and you walk among those lilies, and yet you behold him not. He is accustomed to walk through the glades of Scripture, and to commune with his people, as the Father did with Adam in the cool of the day, and yet you are in the garden of Scripture, but cannot see him, though he is always there.
And why do we not see him? It must be ascribed in our case, as in the disciples’, to unbelief. They evidently did not expect to see Jesus, and therefore they did not know him. To a great extent, in spiritual things, we get what we expect of the Lord. Faith alone can bring us to see Jesus. Make it your prayer, “Lord, open my eyes, that I may see my Savior present with me.” It is a blessed thing to want to see him. But oh! it is better far to gaze upon him. To those who seek him he is kind; but to those who find him, beyond expression is he dear!
Adapted from Morning and Evening.
