The Pattern

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

- Luke 24: 13-16

Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

- Luke 24: 35

The pattern of a disciple’s life: we do not see, and then we do.

We don’t get it. Then, light dawns in our hearts. We get it! But we can’t pause for long, glorying in our understanding. It is the job of the disciple to follow, so we have to keep moving. Of course we also busy ourselves with the necessary rhythms of life, as everyone must, and that leads to distraction, causing our inner light to start fading. Then, the cycle repeats: We do not see, and then we do.

The pattern of a disciple’s life.

As I tell my eighth-grade small group – this is why we go to church every week. This is why we participate in groups and Bible studies. This is why we engage in spiritual practices. If we are following, if we are seeking wisdom, we are moving, and eventually we move into a new level of understanding, but not before that time of unknowing. Of not seeing. Of casting about and not finding. Of standing still and looking sad (Luke 24: 17, paraphrased).

Peter did not see, and then he did. Mary Magdalene did not see, and then she did. The earliest disciples and the most recent disciples did not see, and then they did.

May God grant us light, sight, and the perseverance to keep following. Amen