Paul Harvey in For What Its Worth tells of the young
lawyer who was sitting in his office waiting for his first client.
When he heard the outer door open he quickly tried to sound
very busy. As the man entered his office the young lawyer
was on the telephone saying this: "Bill, I'm flying to New
York on the Mitchell Brothers thing; it looks like its going to
be a biggie. Also we'll need to bring Carl in from Houston on
the Cimarron case. By the way, Al Cunningham and Pete
Finch want to come in with me as partners. Bill, you'll have
to excuse me, somebody just came in...."
He hung up and turned to the man who had just entered.
"Now how can I help you?" The man said, "I'm here to
hook up the phone." His disguise as a busy man was ripped
off, and he was exposed as a deceiver. We see the disguise
used in the Bible by the wicked trying to hide their identity.
King Saul disguised himself when he went to the Witch of
Endor, and King Jeroboam sent his wife to the prophet
disguised so as to hide her identity. Disguise is one of the
ways Satan practices his deceit. He comes as angel of light,
but is in fact the prince of darkness. Like Dr. Jekyll, he has
something to Hyde.
Hypocrisy is the hiding behind a mask of deception, and
pretending to be what you are not. Because the forces of evil
specialize in the mask and hiding behind disguises, we tend
to associate disguise with evil. There is a tendency to throw
any weapon the devil uses out of the arsenal of Christian
weapons. The folly of this is revealed by Jesus on the very
day He conquered death and rose from the dead. Jesus
became the master of the disguise, for He was the best known
person in the lives of His disciples, yet He walked 8 miles with
two of them and they never even recognized Him.
To add to the perfection of His disguises, D. L. Moody, the
great evangelist, says, these two disciples were His aunt and
uncle. The evidence does support his conviction, and many
of the great preachers of history agree. One of the women
standing at the cross according to John 19:25 was Mary's
sister the wife of Cleopas. Moody reasons that it is likely that
Cleopas in this passage who was heading home from
Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified was the same man, and
that his partner was his wife who stood at the cross. They
invite Jesus into their home, and it is not likely it is two men
living together. If it was today, it would be more likely, but
this seems obviously to be a couple, a man and his wife, and
they could very well have been the aunt and uncle of Jesus.
Yet, here they walked 8 miles to Emmaus with Jesus, and as
far as they know, they never saw him before in their lives.
Jesus had the ability to hide Himself so His identity was
not known. Mary Magdalene had the same problem. She
was at the tomb of Jesus, and He spoke to her, but she did
not know Him, for she thought He was the gardener. This
couple thought He was a stranger, and she thought Him to be
a gardener. The clothes Jesus wore were different from His
usual garb, for the soldiers took His clothes, and His burial
clothes were all left behind in the tomb. We do not know if
Jesus by a miracle created new garments, or if He had some
stashed away for this need. But they were clothes that were
not recognized as His. He looked different because He was in
a disguise that hid His identity.
This was not a new thing, however, for God loved to play
this game all through history. The game of hide and seek, or
guess who's coming to dinner were His favorites. When God
came to Abraham He came as a way fairing man, and ate
with him as a friendly stranger. He came to Jacob as a
wrestler, and to Joshua as a soldier. The Old Testament is
filled with Pre-Incarnate appearances of Jesus, and He
always comes in some disguise to hide His identity at first
before He reveals who He is. This is not a game Jesus gets
tired of playing with man, but is one that goes on all through
history, and that is why we read in Heb. 13:2, "Do not forget
to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have
entertained angels without knowing it."
The supernatural is often disguised as the natural, and it
can be right in front of your nose and you miss it because
you assume all is as it appears, forgetting Jesus likes to play
disguise. He said, "As you have done it unto the least of one
of these my brothers you have done it unto me." And, "I was
a stranger and you took me in." Every kindness shown to a
stranger could be a kindness shown to Christ in disguise."
A popular children's book is Find Waldo. His face is
hidden in a massive crowd, and the challenge is to find him
in that crowd. The Christian game is similar. It is called
Find Jesus. He is hidden in life, and in the crowd of
strangers we meet from day to day, and we never know
which face we confront is the face of the hidden Christ-the
Master of disguise. The point is that we need to be kind to all
strangers, for you may be being kind to your Lord who
played the role of the stranger the first day of His
resurrection.
The Gnostics of the early centuries threw out most of the
Gospels, but they kept this account on the road to Emmaus,
for they loved to see Jesus as the Master of illusion, and the
great magician. This Easter special was their favorite, for
Jesus did special tricks on Easter that He did at no other
time. He conquered death, then walked through a closed
door, and made Himself appear as someone else. They
especially loved His vanishing trick at the end of the story.
As soon as this couple recognized Jesus He disappeared into
thin air as the grand finale.
What makes this different than any other day in the life of
Jesus is that all His miracles were more playful than ever.
Before His resurrection Jesus did not play around with His
power. He healed and raised the dead, and He fed hungry
people, but He did not walk through walls, disappear, and
disguise Himself as someone else. His Easter miracles were
less serious and business like, and more for fun and amazing
as He played with the minds of His disciples. Jesus was alive
,and in a new state of being as victor over the power of death.
Life was less serious now, for Jesus had accomplished the
task of atoning for man's sin, and opening the way to heaven
for all who would receive God's gift of salvation.
Jesus had fought the hardest battle ever fought, and He
won, and so now it was time to lighten up. For the first time
in His life Jesus did miracles that were not necessary, and
which were for Himself and His own purpose. The
resurrection changed the whole psychology of the Savior.
The devil tried to get Jesus to use His power this way in the
temptations. Make the stones into bread; leap off the temple
and show the crowd the most spectacular trick of their lives.
These were the enticements he tried to get Jesus to fall for,
but He would not. Now that Satan is defeated, and Jesus has
the keys of death and hell, He can feel free to use His power
in a more personal and dramatic way.
Jesus ends His life on earth with the spectacular
ascension. With all eyes on Him He, like a space ship being
launched, slowly rises off the ground, and the soars into the
heavens leaving His disciples in a state of awe. Luke
24:52-53 says of the disciples reaction, "Then they
worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
And they stayed continually in the temple praising God."
The disciples had their whole psychology changed by the
risen Lord. They were sad and gloomy and fearful because of
the cross, but now they have confronted the living Christ,
and they are full of joy. Joy is to characterize the Christian
life now because of the resurrection.
The risen Christ revised and revolutionized
everything-even the way He taught. No longer does He speak
in parables, but He boldly tells it like it is. Before the cross
the disciples could never grasp it, but now that the cross is
history Jesus takes these disciples on a tour through the Old
Testament, and shows them that the cross and all He
endured was the predicted plan of God carried out to the
letter.
In His disguise Jesus reveals Himself more clearly than He
ever did before, and thus, we see through the disguised Jesus
the revised Jesus. He is a disguised stranger, but He makes
His identity as the promised Messiah more clear than ever
before. Concealed He is more revealed. We want to change
our focus then from the disguised face of Jesus to the revised
face of Jesus which He reveals to this couple. Not everything
is revised, of course. Jesus is back to His old ways. He is on
the road again teaching as He walks. Jesus was a travelling
teacher with a mobile school all through His ministry. He
taught as His disciples followed from village to village. Now,
on this first Easter, Jesus is on the road again teaching as He
did before.
There are some important truths to recognize here. First
of all, if the risen Christ is going to spend a good portion of
His day teaching, just after doing the most spectacular thing
ever done in history, the conquering of death. We need to
recognize there are few things more vital than teaching. The
kingdom of God depends on informed disciples to do the will
of God. Ignorance is no friend of the Christian. Intelligent
belief and behavior depend upon knowing God's Word. So
Jesus does not spend His first day back from the dead flying
through the air with a banner announcing His resurrection.
He spends it in teaching His disciples the Old Testament so
they can see God has done just what He said He would do.
Jesus made it clear by His choice of how to spend His first
Easter that the need to know the Word of God is more
important than religious experience. Jesus gave these two
the experience of their lives when He revealed Himself alive
and then vanished. For an emotional high point this had to
be the peak for them when they saw the risen Christ. But
you will note that He did not give them this experience until
He first taught them the Old Testament. Jesus is not saying
that experience and emotion are not important. He is saying
they are not the foundation on which to build. If they were,
He could have forgotten the teaching all together, and just
appeared and given them a great emotional experience. That
is never enough. You can have visions of Christ, and
mountain top experiences, but these are the fruits. The roots
are to be in Biblical revelation. Neglect the roots and you will
soon have faulty fruits.
Experiences are temporary, but the Word is permanent.
The foundation for our lives must be built on knowing the
revelation of God. There is no higher goal in life than to
know God's Word. It was a priority for Jesus to teach it,
and it should be our priority to do the same, and to know
God's will through His Word. The second thing we see here
is that Jesus, the Lord of life, who has the keys of death and
hell, and is at this moment the greatest hero ever to live on
this planet, is not gathering great masses on the hillside or in
the temple. He is walking along with two obscure disciples to
a podunkville called Emmaus.
What kind of strategy is this for the greatest success and
winner of all time? Where is the common sense of Jesus
wasting His time on this couple? Is this a good way to spend
your first day alive from the dead? Is this wise use of the
greatest day in history? Does it make sense to be giving the
most important lecture ever given on the Old Testament
revelation of the Messiah to a couple of unknowns?
Apparently Jesus is determined to make the first Easter
parallel the first Christmas where the only people in on the
secret are the obscure and lowly shepherds.
Jesus has some strange priorities, and does not follow the
advice He would get from any promoter on how to make the
most of a great event. Christmas and Easter have become
the most celebrated and promoted events of the Christian
world, but not because Jesus set the example. He made it a
day of low profile. He said by His actions there are no
unimportant people in His kingdom. There is nobody so
obscure they do not deserve the very best in Christian
education. Jesus taught two people on the day of His
resurrection. We ought not to ask is it worth while to teach
just a couple. Jesus says, yes it is. It is worth while to teach
God's Word to any number of people who are willing to be
taught.
The essence of what Jesus taught these two is a revised
picture of the Messiah. They were conditioned by traditions
to expect a Messiah who would be a conquering hero. The
texts about a suffering Savior were ignored, for they were not
acceptable to the leaders of Israel. They did not want a
Messiah like that. So all through history we see this tendency
in man. He reads the Word of God, but there is a lot He does
not like, and so He pushes this off to the side, and builds His
theology on the parts He does like. This is going on in all of
our minds constantly, for none of us like all that God has
revealed. I have never seen a book of theology yet where the
author likes all he finds in Scripture.
The only reason there is controversy in Christian circles is
because nobody likes all of God's Word, and the result is,
different people and groups focus on what they like, and
exclude what they don't. The problem is that others like
what they don't, and so you have conflict. These two
Christian disciples are victims of theologians who did not like
the suffering Savior revelation that runs through the Old
Testament. They basically never dreamed that God would
send the Messiah to suffer and die. It was not a part of their
tradition. Jesus had to take them through the Old Testament
and show them a new perspective they had never seen. This
is the only way He could make it clear that everything that
happened to Him was just as God had planned it.
The lesson for all time, and for all Christians, is this: Do
not depend on any tradition, but be a searcher of the
Scriptures for yourself. People who depend on somebody else
to tell them what God's Word says end up in cults and
groups where their faith is in what men are saying rather
than what the Word of God is saying. It is never wise to
ignore parts of God's Word because you don't like it. It may
run counter to your pet theories, or the way you were taught,
but it is always better to change and conform to the mind of
God than to change the Word to conform to the ways of men.
Jesus revised their perspective on the Messiah, and they were
wiser disciples than they were under their old convictions.
Their revised view enabled them to see the cross as positive
rather than negative.
We have seen the disguised face, and the revised face of
Jesus, but the story ends with the recognized face of Jesus.
Verse 31 says, "Then their eyes were opened and they
recognized Him." Jesus chose to take off the disguise and let
them know it was Him as He handed them the bread. It was
only a glimpse of His face, and then He was gone. Not
another word did He speak. He did not even taste the bread
before He disappeared. That is all it takes to change these
two lives, and fill them with enthusiastic energy that took
them flying back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of the disciples.
History is filled with examples where one glimpse of the face
of Jesus changes all of the future for those who recognize
Him.
Paul on the road to Damascus is the great example. The
face of Jesus was like the sun, and it blinded Paul in a flash,
but Paul was made to recognize the one he was persecuting.
He is converted by the recognized face of Jesus, and all of
history is changed. Over 200 years ago in England the
church was dead. Society was in a state of decay and
crumbling, but the clergy were out hunting fox. John Wesley
was one of those dry as dust clergymen who cared more
about ritual than people. But then he had his Damascus
road, or Emmaus road, experience. Like these two, he had a
heart strangely warmed he said as he recognized Jesus Christ
was the living Lord of his life. He began a revival that saved
England from a revolution like what happened in France,
and multitudes were saved for the kingdom of God. It never
would have happened had he not come to recognize who
Jesus was.
The goal of Jesus on that first Easter was to be recognized,
even though he wore a disguise. This is the goal of all we do
as Christians. In our worship, and in our Sunday School,
and in all our groups, the goal is to see Jesus for who He
really is. To recognize Jesus is the bottom line, for it is that
awareness that gives meaning to all of life. Their sorrow was
turned to joy, and their pitiful shuffle was turned to powerful
jogging as they raced back to Jerusalem. If you want to see
your energy level rise, and your spirit changed to one of joy
and enthusiasm, you need to recognize the face of Jesus in
your life.
Russell Conwell, one of the great preachers of the first half
of the 20th century, tells of how his father seemed to be
uninvolved in his life. Hefelt bad that he did not seem to take
much interest in him.
Then one day he fell from the barn beam to the floor, and
was severely hurt. When the thought struck his father he
could have lost his son, he became the most tender nurse he
ever had. Dad would sit by his bed and entertain him, and
eat meals with him. He never had such attention before, and
he said, "I would fall again to find my father was my greatest
friend."
This is the way it was with these two on the road to
Emmaus. They had lost their greatest friend they thought.
But the fact is, the cross did not take him away, but rather,
gave Him back to them as their permanent Savior,
companion and friend. They recognize now that all that was
suffered was necessary for God's best to be theirs. God was
with them even in their sorrow, but they just did not
recognize Him. He was hidden from their view.
Leonard Griffith, a great preacher, tells of Ethel Rogers
Mulvaney, a Canadian who worked for the Red Cross in
Singapore when it fell to the Japanese in 1942. She, along
with 4000 other civilians, was put in jail. They suffered 4
years of crowding and hunger. Filth was everywhere, and
they had no contact from their families. Sometimes they felt
God forsaken. On the first Easter they were there she asked
the prison commandant if they could sing hymns on Easter
morning. He barked a loud no, and that was that. 12 times
she made this request, and 12 times she was refused. Then
out of the blue the order came that women prisoners could
sing for 5 minutes on Easter morning. They did just that,
and praised the Lord for His resurrection which was their
only hope to cling to. As they were marched back to their
cells, a guard pulled out a tiny orchid from his brown shirt
and handed it to Ethel. He softly said, "Christ did rise." He
then made a military about face, and marched down the hall
way. They stood there with tears in their eyes, for not only
was Jesus alive, He was recognized, and that gave them the
energy they needed to go on until they were released. The
energy to cope with life and be victorious comes through the
face of Jesus recognized.
