ODJ: blind eyes & burning hearts


February 27, 2013 

READ: Luke 24:13-35 

Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road? (v.32).


If you want to humble me, all you need to do is hand me one of those Where’s Wally? images—the ones where you attempt to locate the numerous places where the character Wally blends into the scenery. I can stare at them for hours with little result. When someone finally points out Wally’s location to me, it’s embarrassing to see him—right there in plain view! As theologian Stanley Hauerwas has said, “We do not see reality by just opening our eyes.”
On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, two of His followers walked the road to the village of Emmaus. They were filled with grief, “sadness written across their faces” (Luke 24:17). A stranger approached them, but this stranger was no stranger at all. It was Jesus, raised from the dead. The two disciples, however, didn’t recognise Him. It’s interesting that the biblical text doesn’t actually tell us if it was God or Satan or their own grief that blinded their eyes. I wonder if Luke purposefully left this detail open—allowing us to ponder the many ways we see Jesus without ever really seeing Him.

Whatever the reason for their blindness, Jesus would not leave them in the dark. To open their eyes, He explained “from all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (v.27). Then He gathered them around a table, broke and blessed bread, and offered it to them. This replicated the Last Supper, Jesus’ final meal before the cross.
In this powerful moment the two travellers recognised their Lord! As the scales fell from their eyes, they remembered how their hearts had been aflame when Jesus conversed with them on the road. Their eyes were dim, but if they had only paid attention, their hearts would have shown them the truth. Sometimes, our blind eyes need to listen to our hearts. —Winn Collier