Luke 24:16

‘But their eyes were held that they should not know him.'

The two, however, did not recognise Him. We should note that this was not the only occasion when there was an indication of non-recognition (see Matthew 28:17; John 20:14; John 21:4). This would suggest that there was something about Him in His resurrection body that looked different so that recognition did not happen immediately. And for similar indications of a divine hand being involved in preventing understanding compare Luke 9:45; Luke 18:34. It is often argued by sceptical people that such a situation could not have happened. But there are in fact a number of factors to be taken into account here, quite apart from that of God's ability to prevent them from recognising Him if He wanted to.

· Firstly if they lived near Jerusalem then they would only see Jesus when He came up for the feasts. They would thus not know Him awfully well physically. It is one thing to see a preacher at arm's length, it is quite another to have daily contact with him. And it is quite possible that these two had not spent much time in close proximity with Him so as to know about His special characteristics. In such cases when a well known person is out of context people very often do not recognise them, even though in context they would recognise them instantly.

· Secondly, Jesus might well have been wearing different clothes from those in which they were used to seeing Him. A complete change in style of clothing can render someone a stranger for a while, even if we know them well. It would help to explain why they did not recognise Him immediately.

· Thirdly, the very last person that they had been expecting to meet was Jesus. Indeed they knew that they could not possibly meet Him. So even if they saw a resemblance to Him in this man, while it might have seemed intriguing, it would not necessarily have brought recognition. They would have dismissed such an idea as impossible. This would especially be so as He gave absolutely no hint of recognising them, and spoke as though He did not know what they were talking about, which would be partly what made the non-recognition continue. Whatever likenesses there were they would dismiss. So if they did notice a likeness they would no doubt have pushed it to the back of their minds and considered it just a coincidence, a little disturbing perhaps, but not unusual. For they knew that it could not be Jesus. Most people have their doubles, and beards can look very much like one another, and be very deceptive, especially if they are trimmed in the same way and if the head is covered. Furthermore Jesus may here have been deliberately much better groomed than He was when He was ‘on the road' or living in camp. He may have looked a very different person, even from that point of view.

· Fourthly we must remember that at the time they were in a grief stricken state and probably not taking too much notice of what was around them. They were totally absorbed in their own conversation and would probably not have given Him close scrutiny. In such a state people can be very unobservant. And if Jesus did not want to be known He could have spoken in a different voice and different accent from the one He had normally used.

· Fifthly, Jesus in His resurrection body would certainly have looked different from the man who had been preaching in the Temple a few days previously, and certainly as they would have expected to see Him now. They would quite reasonably have anticipated that if Jesus were to appear it would be as a hopeless cripple, not as this stranger who had been athletic enough to catch up with them and bore no marks of any disability. It is true that the Apostles did later recognise Him, but they had known Him intimately, and the circumstances of His appearance would have aided their recognition. And even then He had pointed to His hands and feet in order to make clear to them Who He was.

· Sixthly, while it is true that it was early light, and He might have been standing in the sun, we must remember that Mary Magdalene, who knew Him well, did not recognise Him at first, until He called her name (John 20:14).

I remember when moving into my present house that by coincidence a friend of my daughter's was living next door. She introduced me to her husband. He was the spitting image of Les Dennis, a well know British TV comedian. But I knew that he was not Les Dennis. Thus the thought of him being Les Dennis never crossed my mind, at least for a time. The point was that the situation proved that he was not Les Dennis, whatever his looks might have suggested to the contrary. But one day he had had his hair cut to a similar style to Les Dennis and he looked so much like him when he came out of his door that I had to say to him, ‘You are not Les Dennis, are you?' For a second I really was not sure whether Les Dennis had come to visit them.

So taking all these factors into consideration the failure of these two to recognise Jesus is not really as surprising as it first appears, and that is especially so given that it was God's intention that they should not recognise Him.