Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus . . . while they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself cam near and went with them . . . Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:13-35)

Easter is not just a day, or a season in the Church. Easter is a way of life. On the road to Emmaus, two guys, ordinary disciples like you and me, were going about their business, but were burdened knowing that their friend and teacher was gone. Then, when the resurrected Jesus joined them on their walk, they didn’t recognize him. That still happens today. How often does Jesus join us in our walk, or at our job, or in our classroom, or at the  club and we don’t even recognize him? How often does Jesus go with us to the mall, or sit in the living room with us as we watch TV?

To live as disciples of Jesus Christ we must walk in the reality of his resurrection. We must live in the world with our eyes wide open, expecting to recognize the risen Lord everywhere we are, and everywhere we go. That’s hard to do some days. When our minds are occupied with relationships and responsibilities and obligations, and we are struggling to meet deadlines, it’s hard to recognize Jesus. We are weighed down. No wonder we don’t see Jesus everywhere we go, our eyes are cast down considering each step, rather than looking up ahead at the path. Anne Lamott wrote, *“We’re Easter people in a Good Friday world.” We quickly forget that the beauty of life is found in resurrection, not in the Good Friday cross.

As Easter people, walking in the reality of the resurrection means there is no road we will go down that Jesus is not right beside us. There may be days when we feel like the disciples on the Emmaus road who didn’t realize Jesus was walking with them, and then when they did recognize him, he vanished from sight. But vanishing from sight does not mean he was no longer present. When we walk in the reality of the resurrection we will recognize Jesus at the meals we share, in the conversations we have, in the strangers we meet.

We know that because of God’s love for us, Christ’s vanishing and the vanishing of every human moment only draws attention to the pure preciousness of life. Walking in the reality of the resurrection simply makes more glorious the mystery of this precious life, and the hope we have in Jesus, who brings eternal life.

Pastor Sue