Luke 24:13–27 // Slow hearts and patient teaching // Josh Hamm
This week we are thinking about how we reorient our lives towards God and His work, and the passage we’ll consider today is all about seeing. As you read the story take note when seeing or the eyes are mentioned (and I suggest reading through v32). The leading characters are two lesser known disciples who move from unseeing to seeing, from slow of heart to burning hearts. So what changed them and reoriented their hearts to God?
Well, the first thing Luke tells us is what we can’t depend on. Interestingly, getting reoriented to God will not happen through our own ability. See verses 15-16.
While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Their eyes were kept…. Who prevented these disciples from seeing Jesus? We call this a divine passive in Scripture– it’s when God isn’t named but the action could only be Him. Clearly these two disciples should have been able to know who it was that was walking and talking with them, but sometimes God keeps us from seeing the plain and obvious because He has something deeper He needs us to see first.
The fact was, they were not seeing Jesus as they were meant to. As you read the ensuing conversation you discover that even after an amazing report from some women in their group (that Jesus was alive) and a missing body corroborated by others, these two had resigned their hope because “him they did not see” (v. 24). There’s that seeing again. Should the fact that none had yet physically seen Jesus have kept them from believing that He was in fact raised from the dead? Should the fact that you and I have not physically seen Jesus keep us from believing He really lived, died, and rose again?
There’s something more we need to see. And what happens next is the point of the passage and the key for us today. These disciples found their eyes truly opened and their hearts awakened, not through a sudden epiphany, but as Jesus patiently and methodically interpreted the Scriptures for them. Passage by passage and story by story, he helped them see what had been there all along!
What does this say to us about moving from unseeing to seeing and slow hearts to burning hearts? Luke 24 invites us to recognize two things. First, change comes from being in the Word of God patiently. Sitting on it. Learning from it. Little by little. Story by story. It is a patient work. That means we need time to regularly dwell on what we’re hearing and ponder its implications for our lives. Second, change comes from being in the Word of God methodically. Jesus was a student of the Bible. He was able to interpret it because He had carefully observed the text (words, grammar, context). Seeing rightly requires reading responsibly. This is the needed truth that both these disciples and we need to see even more than seeing Jesus face to face! If we understand what He has said and done, then we’ll see and recognize Jesus – because it all points to Him! Eventually these two disciples were able to recognize Him (verse 31) but not until they had learned that true sight is found in the words of Scripture!
Question to Consider
Everything you need to really see and believe is available to you today in God’s Word. How does that encourage you in how you read the Scriptures?
Prayer Prompt
Jesus is a patient teacher of his followers – thank Him for that as you go to prayer today. Then, ask him to slow your reading down so that He might open your eyes and stir your heart to new and wonderful things which it reveals about Him!
