Recognising Jesus.
One of the questions that arises quite often, is why was Jesus not recognised after His resurrection?
Three accounts in scripture come to mind.
1. John 20: 14 – 18 Mary Magdalene in the garden the morning of Jesus resurrection.
2. Luke 24: 15, 16 The two walking on the road to Emmaus.
3. John 21: 4 The account of Jesus on the shore of the lake whilst His disciples were fishing.
Why did Mary not recognise Jesus the morning of His resurrection?
Logically speaking, it could be said that she did not expect to see Him alive. She thought His body had been removed.
Joh 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Joh 20:13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
Joh 20:14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Mary did not recognise Jesus until He spoke to her and she recognised His voice.
Joh 20:16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
Joh 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
A logical argument would say that she did not recognise Jesus because the light was not good, or He was so disfigured by the crucifixion, He was not recognisable. However the third reason is the most believable.
Her eyes were scaled so that she could not see Him
The second account was the two on the road to Emmaus.
Luk 24:13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
Luk 24:14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
Luk 24:15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
Luk 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
Jesus spent the next seven miles explaining things concerning Himself from the Old Testament.
At the end of their journey they invited Jesus in and it was only as He broke bread with them that they recognised Him.
Luk 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
Luk 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
Jesus already had His glorified body. He vanished.
So, again what was it that kept them from recognising Jesus on the road?
Again, logically speaking, one could say that His appearance was so mutilated that He was unrecognisable.
Also, some say that it was as He broke the bread that they would have seen the marks of the crucifixion.
However, the scripture reveals how they recognised Him.
Luk 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him;
Their eyes were scaled from seeing Him, Luk 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
NKJV But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
NASB But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.
ESV But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
The Greek word used is Krateo, Meaning Keep.
We read later in v 31 "Then their eyes were opened to see Him".
In the account in John 21:4, Jesus was on the shore.
Joh 21:4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
They did not perceive, (recognise) that it was Jesus.
What was it that caused them to recognise Him?
Joh 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
It was John himself that first recognised Jesus.
Joh 21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
Was it the voice of Jesus that was recognised? Was it the miracle of the fishes?
Joh 21:12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
Was it Jesus that revealed Himself to them?
What have all these accounts have in common?
Well! Jesus was not naturally recognisable.
Something about His appearance had changed. Was it His physical appearance that caused them not to recognise Him?
We know from scripture that Jesus was beaten so badly that He very likely was not recognisable.
A prophecy in Isaiah tells us that He would be beaten to an unrecognisable state.
Isa 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
Isa 50:6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
However is this the reason?
From the scriptural account of Luke, it is clear that the two on the road to Emmaus were stopped from seeing Him by the Spirit of God.
It is more likely that this is the reason why all of them could not see Him.
The text sheds some light on this when it says: Joh 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Jesus was to given a glorified body at His resurrection.
1 Cor 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
Could it be that there is something quite different about a glorified body than a physical body?
Jesus was unrecognisable in the way that His friends would have known Him before.
John tells us that we shall be changed at the resurrection.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Paul also tells us this in 1 Cor 15:51 -53 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52 in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.…
It is obvious from scripture that the glorified body is different to the natural body.
Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians:
1Co 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
The flower is completely different to the seed that was planted. You would not recognise the flower from the seed.
Is the glorified body so different that it is only recognisable to eyes that are opened by the Spirit of God?
No one can know the risen Christ unless God reveals Him to them.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples in the upper room in His glorified body.
Thomas was not with them the first time and would not believe. It was only later that Jesus appeared and Thomas saw the risen Christ and said “My Lord and my God”.
Jesus also took the scales from the eyes of Saul of Tarsus and He saw the risen Christ.
Are some of the arguments of Jesus not being recognised, valid? The arguments that there was not enough light, the change in His physical appearance and the fact that they did not expect Him to be alive after the crucifixion.
Yes, but is this the real reason.
Is it not that all men are blind to the risen Christ, until God by the Holy Spirit removes the scales from our eyes and reveals Him to us.
We walk by faith and not by sight.
John 20: 28,29 Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
It is difficult to believe that in just three days the Jesus that the disciples had lived with and walked and talked with was not recognisable to them.
No, something had changed.
The difference was a glorified body that was revealed by faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
