Can We Miss Jesus Too?

I recently led the discussion with the Men of Iron (my men’s online small group with Church of the Highlands). I had been thinking about how often people in The Bible failed to recognize Jesus, especially after His resurrection. Even those closest to Him did not immediately recognize Him. Because I thought this was such an interesting topic, I decided to share what I found. The following are my notes that I used to lead that discussion:

Many who knew Jesus personally did not immediately recognize Him after the resurrection. I’ve often wondered why. It seems that Jesus had to do or say something that triggered recognition. 

• Luke 24:13-35; Mark 16:12 – Cleopas and a friend walked with Jesus to Emmaus where He explained the prophesies about Himself going back to Moses. It wasn’t until He blessed the bread and broke it at dinner that they recognized Who He was (Luke 24:30-32). Was that because Jesus had a unique way of handling the bread or offering the blessing?
• John 20:3-9 – John and Peter ran to the tomb after Mary Magdalene told them Jesus’ body wasn’t there. When John looked inside the tomb and saw the grave linens, he believed (John 20:8). Was that because of the way the head linens were folded? Did Jesus have a unique way of folding cloth? 
• John 20:11-18; Mark 16:9-13 – Mary Magdalene saw Jesus outside the tomb but did not recognize Him until He called her by name (John 20:16). Was that because He had a unique way that He said her name? 
• John 21:3-14 – Peter went fishing along with several of the disciples and fished all night and caught nothing. When Jesus called to them from the shore, He told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Their catch was more than they could pull into the boat (similar to Luke 5:3-11). John recognized that it was Jesus and Peter jumped from the boat to swim the shore. As Jesus fed them some of the fish they caught along with some bread, the disciples recognize it was Jesus (John 21:12). Was that because Jesus had a unique way of preparing a meal? 
• Acts 9:3-9 – Saul had a well-known encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Since He did not believe Jesus was Messiah, he did not recognize Who was speaking to Him until Jesus identified Himself (Acts 9:5). Clearly, Jesus revealed Himself in a unique way to Saul. 

There were also instances where Jesus was immediately recognized for Who He was. 

• Matthew 8:28-29 – Two men in the region of Gadarenes who were possessed by demons begged Jesus to let them go into a herd of pigs. 
• Matthew 27:19 – Pilate’s wife warned Pilate to not judge Jesus because she had been tormented in a dream.   
• Mark 15:39 – The centurion couldn’t help but acknowledge Who Jesus was when he witnessed first-hand all that occurred when Jesus died. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

• Why do you think people fail to recognize Jesus in their life or environment? 
• Do you ever have something happen seemingly out if the blue when you immediately know it’s Jesus? 
• What recommendations would you give to stay open to recognizing Jesus’ interactions in our life? 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: 

Paul referred to Jesus as the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Based on that, one could infer that Jesus was seen a number of times in the Old Testament too and He wasn’t always immediately recognized for Who He is. 

• Genesis 18:1-3, 8-15 – God visited Abraham and Sarah to let them know Sarah would soon have a baby at about 90 years of age and to let Abraham know that He was going to destroy Sodom. 
• Exodus 3:2-6 – Moses was curious about a bush that was on fire but not burning up. Jesus called to him from the bush. 
• Numbers 22:21-31 – Balaam encountered Jesus when his donkey tried to save him and even spoke to Him. 
• Judges 6:11-23 – Gideon was approached by Jesus with instructions to deliver the Jewish people from the Midianites. 
• Judges 13:3-22 – Manoah & his wife (Samson’s parents) were told by Jesus about the birth of their son who would save the Jewish people from the Philistines. 
• Daniel 3:16-18, 22-25 – Nebuchadnezzar saw Jesus in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 

To me, the thieves crucified with Jesus provide the most obvious example if someone experiencing Jesus but having different responses. While they were experiencing the exact painful punishment as Jesus, they had the closest view of His sacrifice. Although they both failed to recognize Him as the Messiah at first, one of them comes to recognize there was something unique about the man on the cross between them. He changed his belief and put his trust in Who He recognized Jesus to be. All four Gospels mention the two thieves so it must be meaningful. 

• John 19:18 
• Mark 15:27, 32 
• Matthew 27:38, 44 
• Luke 23:32-33, 39-43 

The two thieves represent all of us. We each have to decide what we are going to believe about Jesus. Will we be like the thief who recognized Jesus and commit our life to Him while accepting the gift He offers us through His death on the cross? Or, will we be like the other thief and miss Jesus by choosing to reject the gift He offers each of us? Everyone has to make this decision. I hear some people say they can’t believe in a God that will send people to hell. I agree. The only beings God will send to hell are satan and his demons. Anyone else that ends up in hell chooses to be there. God is perfectly just and His wrath must be poured out on sin. His wrath was poured out on Jesus on the cross in our place and we can accept His substitution for us. We have that choice to let Jesus take on God’s wrath that we deserve. If we choose not to accept His substitution for us, that means we are choosing to take on God’s wrath ourself and that will never turn out well for us. Choose to accept the gift Jesus offers because that is the only good option. 

The following is some additional information I ran across that I found interesting. Bible scholars believe Jesus appeared pre-incarnate numerous times in the Old Testament (known as a Christophany). 

EXAMPLES AS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD 

1. Told Abraham his son would be born and that Sodom would be destroyed (Genesis 18 – also had 2 angels with Him) 
2. Wrestled with Jacob (Genesis 32:22-32) 
3. Appeared to Joshua as the Commander of the Army of the Lord (Joshua 5:13-15) 

EXAMPLES AS THE ANGEL OF YAHWEH 

1. Prophesied to Hagar (Genesis 16:7-14) 
2. Stopped Abraham from killing Isaac (Genesis 22:11-18) 
3. Appeared to Jacob in a dream (Genesis 28:13-22) 
4. Called to Moses from a burning bush (Exodus 3:2-6)