https://odb.org/2025/08/13/recognizing-jesus
Luke 24:25–35 (NIV): 25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
When I was young and living in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan, the year-end school holidays were usually time to chill and read. There was no schooling, and since my dad was a teacher, he also didn’t need to go to school. It was a time when the whole family was together at home. There are times when we will travel back to the West Coast, like pay a visit to my uncles in KL or go see my paternal grandmother and my maternal grandparents in Ipoh.
The weather was usually nice as it was rainy and without fail, the floods would come. It was the monsoon season, and thus, it would usually rain non-stop for one to two weeks, and the town would be flooded. It was just a matter of geography and physics as the ground could not disperse fast enough the heavy rainfall from the mountains to the sea.
One of the books I read during those times, besides fictional works on Perry Mason, was the dual language Malay-English bible, and the notable passages that caught my attention was why no one recognised Jesus after His resurrection? It was only after He opened their eyes that they knew. I only discovered the answer later, although I accepted Christ when I was 14.
The reason is likely that His appearance in His resurrected body had changed. He definitely did not resurrect in the form that He died as His body was badly wounded and afflicted on the cross. We could postulate that His resurrected form was probably His best form to the human eye. It was recognisably human, and yet He did not look exactly like He did when He was walking the earth preaching and performing miracles, signs, and wonders. If He did, He would have been easily recognised.
For me, the most important thing about Christ resurrected is that it gives us hope for our own resurrected body one day. Although our body could have been cremated or buried and left in bones or we could have died when young or badly disfigured by an accident or when we had been ravaged by old age or illness – when we are resurrected, our glorified body will be in our best possible form. It is likely that our glorified body will be our best form with all our earthly disabilities removed. We will all be beautiful because the glory of God will shine forth from our victorious, glorified bodies, clothe in white and shiny unblemished garments! As we will then be holy, righteous, and without sin! Amen!
Cling and hold on to Christ until the very end! He was resurrected from the dead to show us not only that He had defeated sin and death but also to give us a glimpse of who we would be one day, the glory that awaits each and every one of us if we had fought the good fight, finished the race and remained in the faith (2 Timothy 4:7)!
P/S: For those interested in the Gatacca movie scene referred to in my posting yesterday, please click on the link below: https://youtu.be/ll5qiWa6YDk?si=L6iZp4ocvxI5tNko
For those who missed my post yesterday, please see the link below: https://ronnielim.com/2025/08/12/distance-till-empty/.
Ronnie's Thoughts 