Kaylee and Kyler, my neice and nephew, out for a walk at Grandpa’s house at our family reunion.

What the Scripture Says

As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him.

As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared! They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:15, 16, 30-32

What My Mind Thinks

Have you ever searched for your sunglasses only to find them resting on your head? Afterward all that fumbling through sticky pennies and gum wrappers under the car seat seems silly, doesn’t it? Desperation can blind us to the nearness of the answer that we seek to our problems.

Cleopas and his buddy were a gloomy pair that day. A gray rain cloud of hopelessness tracked over their heads like a speech bubble of despair. Jesus was right beside them presenting a private, leisurely 7 mile counseling session. But they were so intent to look at their feet and study the ruts in the road that they never noticed who the stranger was.

It would be easy to brush aside their blindness as the product of their own gloom. But the Bible says “God kept them from recognizing [Jesus].” God himself had blindfolded their eyes in a game of Hide and Seek!

Why would God do such a thing? Why does God hide himself from us when we are earnestly searching for the sunglasses on our heads? Why doesn’t God pop out and cry, “I’m here!” Why does he deliberately play this blindfold game with us?

The answer is found in the transcript of the conversation that day. Cleopas and friend essentially said, “God is not here” while Jesus said over and over from the Bible, “Look God is near.” Because the two bumbling disciples looked for answers rather than for Jesus they never saw that he was walking right beside them all along. Finding God may be as simple the trite motto implies: “God is nowhwere. God is now here.”

Of course God doesn’t play the game forever. He did come out of hiding as if to say, “Tag, you’re it” and then poof! disappeared from their sight. The Lord won’t play the game forever with us either. Jesus has a habit of revealing himself to those who keep walking with him.

But the point of this story is to remind us not to miss the journey with Jesus. Jesus spent several hours telling them in detail how Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled in him. It was probably one of the most remarkable talks of Jesus next to the Sermon on the Mount. Yet not one word of it is recorded because the two disciples were so busy looking for answers that they missed listening to Jesus. Sure their hearts burned, but we have no record of the words he spoke that day. There is so much of the Lord to enjoy on bewildering roadways but we can miss it if we are preoccupied looking for the answer who is walking right beside us.

How My Heart Responds

We who walk today along familiar roads with confusing questions need to remember the lesson of this story. We must not be so focused on finding answers as in discovering the presence of the Lord Jesus. He is walking beside us. The choice to become aware of Jesus presence changes everything. Could it be that the Lord hides himself because he is waiting for us to stop asking for him to restore what we’ve lost and instead to enjoy what we’ve found? Jesus says, “Stop looking for answers, start looking at me!” Instead of saying, “Lord, where are you” we should call out, “Lord, you are here!”

What my Spirit Prays

Father, what would have happened that day if Cleopas had stopped studying his toenails and looked for a few minutes into the face of the stranger beside him? Would he have seen you in the eyes of the Lord? You hid yourself that day not in the torture of the crucified Jesus, but in the face of wholeness and health that only the resurrection could bring. Those men could not see you in the face of Jesus because they had made no room for miracles in their thinking. Help me not to miss Jesus today. Help me to expect him not just with hardship and trial but also with the face of a victor. Jesus, I know you are walking beside me right now. I am aware of it. I’m listening closely because what you have to say is more important than all the answers I could ever find. Instead of showing me the road, show me yourself. Amen.