The God Who Hides Himself

We are continuing our meditations on the day of the resurrection of Christ. Luke tells us of two despondent disciples on the road to Emmaus: 

¹³Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶but they were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?" ¹⁹"What things?" he asked.  "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²²In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning²³but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see" (Luke 24:13-24). 

The day these two disciples were walking we know to be Resurrection Sunday, the third day after the crucifixion of Christ (v. 21). Passover had finished, but the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasted seven days, was continuing. To walk any further than a mile on the Sabbath was considered work, so this was their first opportunity to walk more than a mile. We don't know why they were walking westward away from Jerusalem; it may have been that they were walking to their homes or a place of work.

As they walked, a stranger came walking along behind them. The stranger caught up and walked beside them, listening to a very deep and intense conversation. Cleopas and his friend were comparing notes with one another and reflecting on the events of the last three days (v. 14). Perhaps, they talked about the curtain torn from top to bottom in the Temple (Matthew 27:51), i.e., the curtain that separated man from God. Maybe they talked about the tombs breaking open at the death of Christ and about the bodies of many holy people coming out of their grave (Matthew 27:52). The two were believers but not of the eleven Apostles. 

They had become disillusioned since the One they hoped would redeem them had been murdered at the hands of the religious leaders. Depression and discouragement had settled in their hearts. “We had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (v. 21). Luke tells us that Jesus walked up behind them and engaged them in conversation, but “They were kept from recognizing him” (v. 16). Some think it was the setting sun in their faces as they walked westward in the late afternoon. Others believe that it was because he had a cloak with a hood on it that kept them from seeing His face.

It is a lesson to those who are strong believers to come alongside those who are discouraged or weak in their faith. We are to encourage one another by explaining the Scriptures that our God is never far from us, even when we are low in our faith. He is always close at hand and ready to meet with us, especially when we lack understanding in what He is doing in us and through us. God will manifest Himself to those who are seeking Him and enquiring after Him: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”(Jeremiah 29:13). Mark, writing about this same meeting, said that Jesus appeared to the two in a different form: “Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country” (Mark 16:12). Luke uses a Greek term that is a theological passive to describe that their eyes were divinely kept from recognizing Christ. It is a lovely thought that maybe Christ is not far from any of us. Often it is just that He chooses to hide Himself from us, in order that we may live by faith and not by sight. “Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior of Israel” (Isaiah 45:15). Keith