“Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.” Luke 24:31
I so often take the beautiful gift of eyesight for granted. Seldom do I give thanks for being able to see. This fact hit me right between the eyes on the morning of September 5th, 2023. Our mission team had boarded our airplane in the darkness of the early morning for our first flight to Seattle. While reading a good book by the small light from above me and without realizing that the sun had risen, I turned my head to the right and without notice I was suddenly blinded by the brilliance of the early morning sun as it hit me square in both eyes. For a few seconds I could not see but then my eyes refocused and I could return to reading my book.
But instead, I was prompted to take out my phone, it was on airplane mode, but I could open my Bible App. I opened it to the historical account in Luke 24 of Jesus and two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It is a remarkable encounter between two disciples and our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, but even as they walked and talked, their eyes did not see or recognize Jesus. They were clueless, sightless as they were all wrapped up in their own dilemmas, problems, worries, etc. They had lost sight of Jesus’ words to them, “I will rise on the third day.”
Then suddenly without fanfare or notice Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them… BAM- The SON was in their eyes. He disappeared from their sight but not from their hearts or minds.
I can only imagine a few of their immediate thoughts:
- How could we have been so dumb to not recognize Him?
- What were we thinking?
- Why didn’t we look closer, especially at His hands?
- What are we going to tell our brothers? You tell them! No, you tell them.
Yes, the gift of eyesight is an amazing blessing, but the eyesight of the heart and mind to see, know, and love Jesus Christ as our Savior by faith is the top of the list all time most important fact of life. My hope for all who read this is that the Son of God, Jesus Christ is in your eyes of faith. God bless you.