13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.

16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. 17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” 18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 “and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 “Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 “When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. 30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. (Luk 24:13-35)

Have you ever had the embarrassing experience of being in the presence of someone that you did not recognise? You see them, they see you, but the physical sight of them doesn’t turn into the mental experience of recognition, recall, putting that face onto a name and a person. That moment in which it suddenly comes back to you is a strange feeling – I’ve been seeing this person, but not seeing as I should have been seeing. And suddenly, it is as if you see more, you see who this is.

I wonder how common that experience is for Christians with Christ. It is a strange but common irony, that on Easter Sunday we celebrate that He is alive, but yet for many, He is unreal. On Resurrection Sunday we proclaim the fact that He is alive, but for many He remains unseen. Risen, but not recognised.

The Gospel accounts seem to wish to draw our attention to significance of post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus where He is initially unrecognised. This happens on more than one occasion. Mary thinks Jesus is the gardener and has a conversation with Him about where His body might have been moved, until Jesus speaks her name, and she sees it is Him. When Jesus is on the beach and the disciples have gone fishing, they do not recognise Him until He tells them to cast the net on the other side, and they catch a great haul, and Peter recognises that it is Jesus. And it happens in its most pronounced and obvious way in this account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

This happens enough times to show us that it is an important phenomenon. The Lord lets this happen several times, and the Holy Spirit included it in Scripture repeatedly, so that we would draw our attention to this phenomenon: Jesus was risen, but not recognised. He was seen, but not known. And since Jesus could have appeared in ways that were unquestionably obvious and attention getting, we have to conclude that there is something here for all believers of all times.

We who live two thousand years after these events can perhaps say, If only we’d had the chance to see Jesus physically. If we’d seen the risen Jesus, we would never again have a single doubt. He would be so real to us, we would have such a living faith.

But what happens here seems to be God’s way of showing us that the physical presence of Jesus seen with your physical eyes does not mean you will see Christ and enjoy Him. Here were people who actually saw Him, but yet didn’t know Him.

From the day of Christ’s Resurrection, God seems to want to teach His people – knowing my Son is now going to require spiritual receptivity. Yes, he is bodily risen, yes He is fully human with a tangible body that can eat and see and hear and be touched. He is no ghost. He is physical, and He will return with the same glorified, resurrected body and dwell with us. We are taking nothing away from the absolute physicality and material reality of Christ’s bodily resurrection. But that is no longer the means of knowing and perceiving Christ. Paul even says:

16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer (2Co 5:16)

But notice that the post-resurrection appearances are just that: appearances. Jesus does not just eat, drink and stay with them for forty days. He comes and goes. He is seen by none of His enemies, but only by His people. And when they do see Him, something has to be present in their hearts to recognise Him.

That becomes very important for us who live between His comings. Since the Ascension, Jesus does not appear to His people physically (with the exception of Paul and John), and in fact told us it was to our advantage, since He would send someone who would not appear intermittently, but would abide with us – the Holy Spirit. The fact that Christ is not here physically is not really an excuse for not perceiving Him, since it didn’t benefit those who had that advantage.

And as we study this passage we see that there is a reason why Christ could be near and not known, present but not perceived, risen and real but not recognised. God wants us to know that there is a kind of seeing, a kind of perception, a kind of recognition that does not have to do with light and your retina and your optic nerves. You see, God seems to say to us, these people had the very advantage you think you need! They physically saw Jesus, but it did not help them, until something changed within them. Which seems to say to us, the fact that Christ is not physically present makes no difference to your perception of Him. For them He was risen, but not real. For us, He is risen, but is He real?

Tozer said, “For millions of Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real than He is to the non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal to a mere principle. Over against all this cloudy vagueness stands the clear scriptural doctrine that God can be known in personal experience. A loving Personality dominates the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a living Person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting Himself whenever and wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to receive the manifestation.”

So without spiritualising this passage, we want to try to understand why these two did not recognise the risen Jesus, what Christ did to remedy that, and how they came to recognise Him. We want to draw the right parallels for when we do not recognise the risen Jesus, and how that is remedied.

I. The Risen But Unrecognised Christ

We meet these two disciples, one of whom was named Cleopas, walking the 12 kilometres from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus. These are followers of Jesus, not unbelievers, but confusion is clearly clouding their eyes. They are talking it out, trying to make sense of how Jesus, the clearest candidate for Messiah, could have been successfully murdered by the Pharisees.

And while they are seeking answers, Jesus draws near. Jesus Himself. They have been discussing truth, but now Truth Himself walks up and joins the conversation. We cannot for the life of us understand how they could not have instantly recognised Jesus. But our text tells us in verse 16: “16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.”

Recognition is not the same as seeing. The word restrained in the original means to be held back, to be overcome, or pulled. It’s in the passive, meaning this is not something they were doing to their eyes, but something that had been done to their eyes. Eyes here means understanding, their ability to understand and recognise had been hindered. Something had been done to them. Now we’ll have to wait to see what or who did this to their understanding, because it emerges as we go on.

It’s a strange thing to see, these men hearing the words of Jesus without recognising Jesus. They are hearing truth about Jesus without seeing Jesus. But before we shake our heads in scorn, remember, this is in Scripture for our learning. This is a pattern for us. We can be in exactly the same boat. Jesus draws near, and we do not recognise Him. For us, in fact, His presence is now permanent, in the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have the advantage that Jesus said would come when He ascended, that the Spirit would now bring the permanent presence of Jesus to His people. But we can be in the same place – hearing truth about Jesus in the Bible, hearing the words of Jesus, but not recognising Jesus.

As Jesus approaches them, He questions them about their conversation, and about their mood. And as they express surprise that anyone in all Jerusalem could not know about the events of the last few days, Jesus still plays the part of one looking for answers, to draw them out.

And in the response, we can begin to see the problem.

19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 “and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 “Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 “When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

II. The Unbelief of the Disciples

To those words, listen to Christ’s response:

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

What is the problem, according to Christ? Sluggish faith. Hardness that prefers the safety of unbelief rather than the risk of faith. The problem here is unbelief. Spiritual hardness.

You can see it in their words and actions.

In verse 16 we read that they were sad. Sadness and sorrow through unbelief filled them. They were not filled with hope and joy and expectation, but with grief and defeat.

In verse 21, they say this, “21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”

Now don’t write them off: at least they were correct in their understanding of who was the Messiah. But their childish, incomplete faith, mixed with unbelief could not connect the dots. They couldn’t connect the crucifixion to a reigning Messiah.

And then they relate the events of the women finding the empty tomb, it now being the third day, and they are recalling the many times Christ spoke of rising on the third day. His body is not there, but we didn’t see Him. You can pick up fragments of faith here mixed in with unbelief, human wisdom, low sights– we believed He was the Messiah, but He is dead, we believed He would rise, but we didn’t see him.

What does Jesus call this? Foolishness, being slow to believe what God has already said!

Why were they slow? Well, had they read Isaiah 53, had they read psalm 22, had they considered Zechariah 12 and 13, they should have expected Messiah to die. And since Jesus had told them again and again that He would die and then rise the third day, there was a reasonable expectation that they should have been saying something like, “Well, it’s going just as it was predicted. Things are right on schedule.”

But instead of allowing the Word to shape their interpretation of events, they allowed the events to shape their interpretation of the Word. They took their eyes off the promises of Christ, and gave more weight and more consideration to the sight of their eyes.

The result is, they were undecided about whether or not Jesus had risen. They were unsure as to whether they would see Him. They were uncertain as to whether He was going to fulfill His Word and conquer and indeed, deliver and redeem Israel.

Their own unbelief was the restraining power on their understanding. Yes, certainly the Lord was not going to reveal Christ to them, because their hearts were dull, hard. There was no expectation to see Jesus, and so they did not recognise Him even when He was in front of them.

I am going to suggest to you that the glorified Jesus is always seen only by illuminated eyes. Where there is no expectation to see Him, where there is apathy, ambivalence, double-mindedness, there is no illumination. If you are a Christian, then Christ is in you, He is present in the indwelling Holy Spirit. And every time you open the Word, you are potentially drinking in more oil for the lamp of the Holy Spirit’s illumination to burn. But He will go unrecognised as long as there is no expectation for Him, as long as there is no waiting on Him, desiring Him. So long as we have no expectation, no real hope that He will come, He will be present, real, but unrecognised.

I wonder how many Christians approach their times of corporate worship, approach their times of private worship with the same vague uncertainty about whether they will commune with Christ, the same indecision as to whether He really is present in His Spirit and in His Word, the same double-mindedness as to whether He is both risen and real and therefore recognisable. James told us of the fate of the double-minded man.

7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (Jam 1:7-8)

But Christ was gracious. He worked with them to undo their slowness and dullness and hardness.

III. The Illumination of the Lord

26 “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Lord begins to correct their theology and show them that the Messiah was supposed to suffer first. But then He does something more. He starts at Genesis, and works His way through to Malachi, showing them Himself. In other words, He showed them that He had been there in the Word all along. He showed them a Christ-centred approach to reading Scripture. He showed them that the seeking heart will find Christ in the Word. He does this later with the eleven.

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” (Luk 24:44)

To read Scripture with eyes alert for God Himself, with eyes alert for Christ throughout the Word is the beginning of recognition. Not just reading facts, not just storing up ideas. Looking for the Person in the pages. From beginning to end, Scripture is God’s revelation of Himself, particularly through His Son. When you read the Bible for a fact here or there, for some helpful life principles, for some moralistic ideas, you are missing what is there. Christ is present, but not recognised, because you are looking for something else. The first path to recognising Christ is reading Scripture with the expectation that He is there to be seen.

They later say that while He is doing this, their hearts burned. Their hearts were ablaze, something was lit inside them, causing both light and heat. They were seeing more, and enjoying it, loving it. These men were not bored with truth. They were not indifferent about truth. They wanted to know. They had unbelief and they had failed to connect the dots, but when Christ graciously did it for them, they listened, they welcomed it.

To come to God’s Word and recognise Christ, we need to come with hearts eager to have them opened and ignited. Solomon told us of the attitude we need to have before illumination comes.

Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,
2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; (Pro 2:1-6)

A.W. Tozer wrote of four laws regarding seeking God:

• You will get nothing unless you go after it.
• You may have as much as you insist upon having.
• You will have as little as you are satisfied with.
• You now have as much as you really want.

A Christ-centred focus, an eager zealous desire to see Him. And then notice when and how He manifests Himself to them.

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. 30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

Jesus indicates He will go on, but they beg Him to stay. They still haven’t recognised Him. They are nearly there, but not quite. Verse 29 tells us how much they wanted to fellowship with Him. The word translated constrained means to forcefully urge. You picture these men kindly and happily tugging at his arm, arm around the shoulder, “No, no, you are coming for supper with us.” They do not yet recognise Him, but someone so mighty in the Scriptures had a place in their hearts. They loved fellowshipping around the truth and they wanted more of it. They want fellowship.

And it is in fellowship, as Jesus takes that bread, and as he had done so many times, blessed it and broke it, that their eyes are opened. At table fellowship, the scales come off.

Now I don’t think we can go so far as to make a one for one relationship with the Lord’s Supper, since Jesus had only revealed that to the eleven. But what the Lord’s Supper represents is fellowship with Christ through the cross. And it is in fellowship, after seeking fellowship, after desiring communion, that finally the eyes are open.

Christ communes with the ones who are seeking that from Him.

20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Rev 3:20)

The antidote to double-minded ambivalence is a Christ-centred reading of the Word, an eager, teachable heart, and a desire to fellowship with Him.

What is the experience of illumination? Recognition. Jesus is here. Jesus is real – as real as He is true. Jesus has been in this text all along, but now I see Him. Jesus has been present in Me, and revealed in this text, but now I see Him speaking to me through it. This text was always here, and I never saw Jesus standing here. Like Jacob said, “Surely God is in this place and I knew it not.”

“If we co-operate with Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face” Tozer

Why does He then vanish? I am speculating, but I think the answer is, because at that point, they had got it. They had put together the Christ-centredness, the hunger, and the longing for communion that were the ingredients their hearts would need from that day forward. No point in now knowing Christ after the flesh, since what would make up the bulk of the rest of their lives would be knowing Christ by faith through the Holy Spirit.

And that is how we know our risen Christ. We recognise our real and risen Christ with the same tools. We come to the Word whether in private, or in the gathered worship of God’s people and we come looking to see our Messiah, our High Priest, our Saviour and Lord and King. We can rightly say to the preacher, Sir, we would see Jesus. And then we have eagerness, zeal, a desire to have the wood ignited. Like Isaac Watts wrote in that hymn,

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
with all thy quickening powers;
kindle a flame of sacred love
in these cold hearts of ours.

And then we look to fellowship. We want to commune with Christ.

Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word!
O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes, and make me see:
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.

Love reveals itself to love. God will not be found by people looking for information. Christ will not be recognised by those looking to simply increase head-knowledge. Christ will be found by those seeking to know and enjoy Him.

Three things – a Christ-centred approach to Scripture, a eager zealous hunger, and a desire to fellowship with the person of Christ are what brought about recognition for these disciples.

When we read these accounts of the risen Lord not being recognised, something in us says, how could a man not recognise the real and present risen Christ? But Scripture says to us, thou art the man. Let us not be satisfied with the knowledge that our Lord is risen. Let us go on to recognise Him as He shows Himself to us.