“Then Their Eyes Were Opened!”

  “He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see: a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’”*

While I was in the dentist’s office one day, our dentist asked if I knew about a popular word game that was circulating around.  I had to laugh. Our friends, Jim and Sue Verhage, had introduced the game to us when we were together playing cribbage one evening.

The word game was new to us, so they proceeded to explain how it worked. Six tries to guess a five-letter word. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, there were a few other complications that made it challenging. Between the four of us, we managed to figure out the word in five guesses. Fun!

“Well, yes, but I’ve had to put it down. It just compels me to keep working until I find the answer and takes up way too much time!” I responded.

The dentist said that his brother had got him started and texted him the new challenge each day. He held his cell phone up so that I could see the screen. He almost had the word for the day figured out.

“I’m going to get it soon!” he said.

 “So that’s what you’re doing behind the closed door in your office,” his assistant said chidingly. He just grinned.

I could relate to that grin. It was tempting to tackle the daily challenge, but oh so time consuming. And all of that thinking even gave me a headache!

When our grandson, Nate, and his younger brother were visiting a few days ago, I thought it would be fun to find the day’s word together. After accessing it on our cell phones, Nate told me to start with “adieu” because it had four vowels. A good tip!

While I was entering the word “adieu” and arranging all of the remaining letters in alphabetical order to make it easier to recognize the missing word, he said, “Got it!”

     “What? You couldn’t have!” I was astounded! He had recognized the word on the second try! Oh my! Adieu, Nate!

Word recognition is one thing, recognizing people is another. Seeing someone who looks vaguely familiar and trying to figure out who it is can also be mind boggling.

Al and I were at the Senior Center when a fellow came up to Al and asked his name, saying that he looked familiar. But neither of them had met before.

 “Some people say I look a bit like Gene Wilder!” Al responded.

We parted smiling. Hopefully the next time the three of us meet, we will recognize each other!

            Mary Magdalene went to the Garden of Gethsemane, intending to anoint the body of Jesus with spices on the Sunday morning after His crucifixion. She discovered to her amazement that stone in front of the tomb had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty. When she encountered a man standing near the empty tomb, Mary thought he was the gardener, not recognizing Jesus until He spoke to her.

 Later that afternoon, Jesus actually walked along with two of His followers on  their way to a village called Emmaus. They didn’t recognize Him at first either until they stopped to eat. When He broke bread and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they realized that it was the Lord.

The two of them ran back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples and while they were talking about what had happened, Jesus came into the room! Again, He had to identify Himself… “Look at my hands and feet. It is I myself!”

Why was it so hard to recognize Him? Because none of them were expecting to see Jesus alive, let alone have Him show up in their midst. Jesus had to convince them! “Touch me and see…”

 I wonder if we often miss the presence of Jesus among us because of this very reason. We forget that He is alive—too many other things get in the way. With patience He reminds us, “Here I am! Hey, it’s me! Don’t you know? I’ve been with you all along!”

May our eyes and hearts be opened so that we can recognize Jesus, who is always with us and always working in our lives. Christ is risen indeed!

*Luke 24:38-39 NIV