On the Road to Emmaus: Why Couldn't the Disciples Recognize Yeshua?

shalom and welcome to simcat israel this week's besora portion is luke 24 and the famous story of yeshua on the road to emmaus we read that after his resurrection yeshua appeared to two of his disciples as they were walking on the road but that the men didn't recognize him this isn't the first time this has happened since yeshua was resurrected in john 20 yeshua appears to marry magdalen when she goes to his tomb to grave when mary sees ishoa she doesn't recognize him and she assumes that he's the gardener until he reveals his identity to her then we read about the episode with peter on the fishing boat peter and a few of the other disciples are out fishing when yeshua comes to the shore and calls out to them but the disciples did not realize that it was yeshua both of these situations might be explained away as it being dark or yeshua being far away but then it happens again on the road to emmaus this time yeshua spends hours with his disciples talking about his recent arrest execution and disappearance of his body but through all of this the apostles don't realize it's yeshua that they're speaking with they are right up close to him they're speaking directly to him these are people who spent years with him have had long intimate talks with him but neither of them recognize him why on three separate occasions to the people closest to yeshua fail to recognize him before we begin please take a moment to like this video and subscribe to the channel down below over the years biblical commentators have come up with a number of possibilities some believe that it could just be confirmation bias the apostles think that yeshua is dead they have no reason to expect to see him walking around so when this man walks up to them they might think that he bears an uncanny resemblance to yeshua but it couldn't possibly be him others think that perhaps yeshua was unrecognizable because he bore the scars of his ordeal the episode with doubting thomas where yeshua shows his disciples the holes in his hands and the scars in his side confirms that yeshua was resurrected into his own body and that he had wounds from the nails and the spear perhaps these were not the only scars that he carried and that his face looked different from the beatings he received still others believed that they didn't recognize yeshua because he actually looked like a different person mark 16 says that yeshua appeared to the apostles in a different form most understand this to mean that he just appeared to them in a different way than he did to mary but some people interpret this as meaning that yeshua literally took on a different form but i think the best explanation comes from the text itself verse 16 says that their eyes were egretanto they were seized and restrained they were prevented from recognizing yeshua it's not the yeshua looks different it's that the apostles can't see him so unless interested in how the apostles didn't recognize yeshua i'm more interested in why why on three separate occasions does yeshua conceal his identity to his followers only to reveal it later we can understand the apostles failure to recognize yeshua if we look at it from the context of the entire story of the bible this isn't the first time someone in the bible disguised their identity in the book of genesis jacob dressed in hairy garments and pulled his father into thinking that he was his brother esau jacob himself is tricked when leia marries him while disguised as her sister rachel later joseph tricks his brothers in egypt by disguising his identity in order to test them three stories three failures to recognize who is standing right in front of them does that sound familiar how is it that these people were blind to the true identities of those closest it's the same as yeshua their eyes were equitant they were prevented from seeing in the book of isaiah god says to render the hearts of this people and sense of it their ears dull and their eyes dim otherwise they might see with their eyes hear with their ears understand with their hearts and return and be healed god sometimes works by closing the eyes of his people to the truth in order for something greater to be fulfilled by closing their eyes by preventing them from seeing the truth immediately god allowed our ancestors to see a greater truth when he opened them again when his eyes were opened isaac finally saw jacob as a son who deserved to be blessed jacob finally saw leia as a wife deserving of a husband who loved her and the sons of israel finally saw joseph as their true brother in each case the person who was disguised was seen for who they truly were it's the same for yeshua on the road to emmaus yeshua comes up to cleopas and asks them what they're talking about cleopas answers he was a prophet powerful in word indeed before god and all the people the chief priests and our rulers handed them over to be sentenced to death and they crucified them but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem israel right off the bat we see the cleopas has a problem here cleopas has this image in his head of who yeshua is supposed to be when he needs to be sure he sees this mighty prophet and miracle worker he sees someone who's going to overthrow the romans and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth and he's absolutely shocked when yeshua instead is arrested and put to death because that doesn't fit into his image of who yeshua is ultimately cleopas is disappointed in yeshua he's let down because yeshua did not meet his expectations no wonder he didn't recognize yeshua he never knew yeshua at all not who he really is and yeshua calls him out on it he says to them oh foolish ones so slow of heart to put your trust in all the prophets spoke was it not necessary for messiah to suffer these things and to enter into his glory how can you recognize me when in your heart you don't believe what the scriptures say about me yeshua spends the rest of the day teaching them about who he really is he defies their expectations and shows them the truth and when they finally get it in their hearts their eyes are opened up as well and they see yeshua for who he really is i don't think it's all that different for us have you ever felt like god didn't meet your expectations have you ever wanted something so badly it could be a job or a marriage or your health you pray for it every day you work so hard for it you do everything you can to make it happen and then it falls through your hopes get shattered and when that happens it's very easy to become disappointed in god and it feels like god isn't there that he has abandoned us and he doesn't love us anymore but yeshua teaches us that it is at those moments of greatest doubt of deepest disappointment when nothing is going right that is when yeshua is right beside us the times when god doesn't meet our expectations are the times that we struggle to recognize him but he is always there calling us to look deeper into his word and see the truth of who he really is shalom and thanks for watching if you like this video please subscribe and don't forget to visit simcaisro.org to learn more

Channel: Simchat Yisrael

Views: 2,707

Keywords: Messianic Judaism, Messianic, Yeshua, Simchat Yisrael, Jared Eaton, Emmaus, Luke 24

Id: wgDRU0QQ7QU

Length: 6min 4sec (364 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 08 2021