He Is Risen AND He Is WITH Us Until the END of the Age

It was as He reclined at the table with them that He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, but He disappeared from their sight.

— Luke 24:30-31 (HCSB)

He had walked the road to Emmaus with them, and unbeknownst to them, He was their Saviour.  As they walked with Him, He opened up the Scriptures from within His own heart, and, as He read to them from His memory about Himself, their hearts were aflame — but the eyes of the risen Jesus’ travelling companions only opened when He had vanished, having broken bread with them that third evening in that Village.

The risen Saviour was unrecognisable.  Nobody knew who He was until He chose to be revealed to them.  That was His purpose.

He walks today, because He is risen to life, and He walks in and amongst life, and most of us most of the time don’t have any idea.

He walks with you, and He talks with you, if you recognise His voice.  He walks in Spirit by the truth of His Word.  And He walks with humanity until the very end of the Age.

And yet He is not recognised, even in the midst of believer’s lives.  We are still too late to know His mark on our living situations.  Only in hindsight do we see His faithfulness.

None of us are better positioned to see our risen Saviour than His own disciples were, and they were basically clueless, unless from the vantage point of retrospect.  This is the way God works.

Our opportunity is to live as He lives.

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If we will live as He lives, we will promise to live a secret life.  We will be incognito.

We will promise to live ordinary lives, to be happily humble, and to live our lives in extraordinary ways.  To bless people privately, and sometimes without them finding out.  Jesus sees.  To imagine how difficult life is for a person or people, and to somehow relieve a burden, however small a relief is possible.  Jesus smiles.  To live unfussed lives.  Jesus applauds.  To quit publically complaining and begin privately praising.  Jesus hears.  To fill our minds with the hardships of the faithful, and to expunge from our hearts every selfish wickedness without sweating it.  Jesus heals.  To judge others less and be extravagantly merciful.  Jesus’ pleased.  To forgive everyday transgressions and to forget long held grievances.  Jesus restores.  To live worthy lives secretly.  Jesus blesses.

He is risen.  And there is nothing better than that.  He is alive all the more in our secret life.

© 2016 Steve Wickham.