Who Do You See?

This week we are ending Luke and starting John’s gospel and as I’ve been reading through the chapters I have been amazed at how the same thread has come through time and time again.

After the resurrection we start with a wonderful story of the two men walking on the road to Emmaus and despite walking with the resurrected Jesus, whom they are chatting about, they have no idea that He is with them. They could be in the very presence of the risen Jesus and still have absolutely no realisation – how could this possibly be.

Well, I think that part of the answer lies in the response that the two men gave to Jesus when he asked them why they were so sad. Their reply is found in verse 19:

“He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people”.

Although the two men saw Jesus as an amazing person, they limited him to being a prophet who did great things and didn’t see him as the Lord, their Messiah.

They reduced Jesus in their own eyes and therefore couldn’t see Him when he appeared to them as He really was.

I find it amazing that the true revelation came when they broke bread (shared communion) together. This simple act that we do in remembrance of what Jesus did for us brought the revelation of who He is. Once their eyes were opened, He naturally disappeared from their physical sight but their outlook was now changed forever and they moved from being sad to being full of joy!

Seeing Jesus for who He is changes our perspective on life and changes how we feel about our circumstances.

As we move in to the first few chapters of John, we see that Jesus came to bring us light, the ability to see and in the context of this we get to his first miracle, turning the water into wine.

Even though Jesus said it wasn’t yet his time, Mary could see something about Jesus that everyone else wasn’t seeing. She knew that He was the answer to the party not failing. Isn’t it great to know that God wants us to enjoy life!

Mary gives one of the greatest instructions in the whole Bible: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2 v 5). If only we would all live like this!! Doing whatever Jesus tells us will unlock the miraculous power of God into our daily lives.

As you look at your life at the moment who do you see Jesus as and are you being obedient to doing what he has told you to do?

When we see Jesus as the risen Saviour who is the answer to everything we need, it is easy to obey Him and do what He says; our life circumstances can be changed, we can be filled with joy and we can continue to enjoy the party!