“And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.” (Luke 24:31)
Luke tells us that just as the disciples who were walking on the Emmaus Road recognized Jesus, the moment when things finally clicked, Jesus disappeared. We don’t know how; we only know that there was no lingering conversation, he was just gone.
I’ve been sitting with that and wondering why Jesus would reveal Himself so clearly, only to vanish? Maybe because the point was never the moment itself. Maybe it was more about who they were becoming because of the fact that they saw Jesus.
When I was a backpacking guide, we used to take the students on an early morning hike to a peak where we’d watch the sunrise together. After hiking for hours with our lungs and legs burning, we’d sit down and wait. It was always a sacred moment to see the sun pierce the dawn and climb over the horizon. Everything opened up. There were peaks for miles. Light would spill across the valleys. God seemed so close.
Every instinct in you says, “Stay here.” But you can’t. Eventually, daylight fully comes, and you have to hike down the mountain. The peak gives you vision, but the valley is where that vision is both lived and tested. I was always struck by how all the green vegetation and life lie in the valleys, not on the mountain peaks.
That’s what’s happening on the road to Emmaus. Jesus gives them a moment where their hearts are burning, their eyes are opened, and clarity floods in. And then he vanishes. Not to abandon them, but to send them. Because the true test wasn’t whether they could recognize him on the road, it was whether they would follow him back into the ordinary.
We love mountaintop moments with God. In those moments, Jesus seems so close, and everything finally makes sense. We intuitively quietly wish we could stay there, thinking we’d live better, love better, believe better if we could just hold onto that feeling. But those moments were never meant to be permanent. They are meant to make us something. They’re designed to shape our character, reorient our direction, and anchor something deep within us that we carry back down into the valley of everyday life.
So when the moment fades, keep walking. When the emotion settles, keep trusting. When Jesus feels hidden, remember that he has already revealed himself. And that was enough to change your direction forever.
Ryan Paulson
Lead Pastor