"When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him... " (Luke 24:30-31)
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me..." (Psalm 23:4)
"And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke 22:44)
"...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings..." (Philippians 3:10)
It seems from the above scriptures, there is something very significant about suffering.
Of course in this world...and often even in the church...suffering is avoided, downplayed, and even used - what a travesty - as evidence that one does not have enough faith.
That is not what is being told us in these scriptures.
As the two Emmaus travelers were leaving Jerusalem, where Jesus had just been severely mocked, beaten, and then brutally crucified on the cross for OUR Sin...so that WE could have a relationship with God again (Romans 5:10)...they talked (Luke 24:13-34). They talked and walked. And as they walked toward Emmaus, the risen Jesus joined them. But they did not recognize Him. They could not see that it was Him.
They did not see Him in the walking and talking. (verses 13-16)
They did not see Him in the instruction Jesus spoke to them. (verses 25-27)
They did not recognize Him through the informal invitation to their home. (verses 28-29)
It wasn't until he broke the bread...symbolic of the agony He went through on the cross...a representation of unimaginable suffering...that they saw Him...that they recognized Him...that they knew Him.
There's something about suffering that can bring us into a deeper fellowship with Jesus.
Granted we can certainly see Him "on the mountaintops"...during the free flowing times. Several of the disciples sure did - in ALL His glory - when they followed him up a literal mountain:
"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here...'" (Matthew 17:1-4)
Unfortunately, the radiance reflected from Jesus experienced while being with him during the good times - those that are less challenging and more defined by light-heartedness and laughter - can suddenly become a potent, all-consuming light that blinds us into thinking that it is the person or the experience which is bringing us the fulfillment (2 Corinthians 11:14)...that is casting the glow of glory...thus pulling us ever-so-subtly from the true Source, Jesus, to focus on the "good times," which were never meant to be that which completely satisfies (Hebrews 12:2). To be enjoyed by us, yes. To be thankful for, definitely. To fulfill us absolutely? Positively and absolutely: no (Deuteronomy 5:6-8).
In the harder times - those situations that rip at our minds (hmmm, sounds like what happened to Jesus's flesh when he was being flogged with spiked whips), tear at our hearts, and/or cause us to feel like we are dying (hmmm, like on a cross...?) - it is much more difficult to be deceived into praising and "worshiping" the external circumstances. Oh, we can be tricked into thinking other wrong things, such as that we are being unjustly punished or that God has abandoned us, but very rarely will someone look to his or her suffering and say, "YOU are what I worship, YOU are what completes me, YOU are my god...". Instead, other options arise. For those who have not yet known Jesus (and still for many of us who do: I'm speaking for myself!), there is avoidance of the suffering, downplaying it, escaping from it (goodness knows there are many ways to do that these days), cursing it, complaining about it (BINGO for me!)...and the list goes on. But for the two men on the road to Emmaus, and for countless Christians today, theirs is a glorious alternative:
In the midst of their suffering (or for the two on the road, through a symbol of suffering), they recognize Jesus...they truly "know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings...". And if it means anything to any lover-of-words and their original meanings (StudyLight.org): the original word (transliterated) for "recognize" ("epiginosko": Luke 24:31) and "know" ("ginosko": Philippians 3:10) both contain or are comprised of the Greek word "ginosko," which means to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly, and is even referred to as the Jewish idiom for intercourse between a man and a woman: something that was meant to be an amazing supernatural union between a husband and wife, and which is also a representation-of-love between Jesus the Messiah and His Bride, the Human Church (Ephesians 5:25-32). How far we have fallen...
Those men on the road to Emmaus were not given the opportunity to recognize Jesus...to have their eyes opened to Who He Was (and still Is) until He broke the bread...which is what He did prior to His crucifixion... which was a symbol of His own suffering.
Jesus can be known more deeply and intimately in our own suffering...if we let Him open our eyes to Him in it.
One more thing: how wonderful that even before considering above the relationship between husband and wife...Christ and His Bride... an amazing example of a real follower of Jesus, someone who had come to recognize (epiginosko) and truly know (ginosko) Jesus, and her response to impending, intense suffering came to mind. Please indulge yourselves (and me) by reading this one last thing:
"One of our workers in the Underground Church was a young girl. The Communist police discovered that she secretly spread Gospels and taught children about Christ. They decided to arrest her. But to make the arrest as agonizing and painful as they could, they decided to delay her arrest a few weeks, until the day she was to be married. On her wedding day, the girl was dressed as a bride - the most wonderful, joyous day in a girl's life! Suddenly, the door burst open and the secret police rushed in.
When the bride saw the secret police, she held out her arms toward them to be handcuffed. They roughly put the manacles on her wrists. She looked toward her beloved, then kissed the chains and said, 'I thank my heavenly Bridegroom for this jewel He has presented to me on my marriage day. I thank Him that I am worthy to suffer for Him.' She was dragged off, with weeping Christians and a weeping bridegroom left behind. They knew what happens to young Christian girls in the hands of Communist guards..." (Tortured for Christ, pp. 40-41).
...yet she knew that her suffering for Truth was because Truth Himself (John 14:6) suffered at the hands of those who did not yet recognize Him as God in the flesh (John 1:14), come down to restore the broken relationship with Him (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)...and she knew, because of that restoration, the One Who would be with her - intimately - in the midst of the torture...
...she KNEW...
Jesus can certainly be seen, by those who have been given eyes to see (and ears to hear: Isaiah 29:18-19; Matthew 15:31; Mark 4:8-10) in the glad and happy times. But in the midst of pain and suffering, if we surrender our natural desire to avoid...downplay... escape...curse...and complain about it to Him, He can use it as an opportunity for fellowship, and a way to share in a deeper understanding of that through which He walked on behalf of the Father...for our sakes. ...who for the joy set before Him endured the cross... (Hebrews 12:2). Yes, we can see His glow in the good times; but both naturally and supernaturally, light shines even brighter in the darkness.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light... (Ephesians 5:8)
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison... (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
(And for a multitude of examples of those in "real time" who knew Jesus clearly in their suffering, please, please bless yourselves with a free copy of Reverend Richard Wurmbrand's Tortured for Christ on this link - middle of the page).
May I now be empowered to live what I write...and may you who claim to know Jesus be enabled to do the same in the midst of your own suffering. God bless you.
In His Love,
Terri
