Luke 24:34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

This whole story of the walk to Emmaus has much to love and meditate on. I find it significant the specific people Jesus appeared to after His resurrection. The first was of course Mary Magdalene, as we read yesterday. She was notable for two things: that she had been delivered from seven demons, (Luke 8:2) and that she was totally devoted to Jesus, following Him in His travels. The second seems to have been Simon Peter, as is mentioned here. He, of course, was the leader of the apostles, but during Jesus’ trial he denied three times that he even knew Jesus. And then we have the two disciples in this story, Cleopas, whose name is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible, and another disciple, whose name isn’t even mentioned here! In other words, these were totally ordinary, run-of-the-mill disciples, unknown to any but those closest to them, but certainly known to God. What comes out to me is another beautiful picture of God’s grace. He didn’t appear first to John, with whom He seemed to have a special relationship, but to those who might have been looked down on or discounted, even by themselves. As I have mentioned, I dearly love Don Francisco’s song, He Is Alive, that dramatizes Jesus’ post-resurrection encounter with Peter, but every one of these encounters was deeply significant. Jesus even made a personal appearance to a totally unnamed disciple! The thing is, He cares about us even when no one else does, and even when we don’t care about ourselves. We have only scratched the surface of God’s love for us! We don’t have words to express it, because we are incapable of such love ourselves. It is only when we open our hearts to receive His love that we discover that love flowing through us, even to a small extent, to those around us. Of course, we don’t have the mental, spiritual, or emotional “horsepower” to love all mankind the way He does, but even on our scale it is a glorious thing for His love to flow through us.

I had the enormous blessing of never having doubted my parents’ love for me, and as a result, I understood from a very young age that God indeed loved me too. I don’t think I’ve ever doubted that, even when circumstances were less than pleasant. I have long appreciated the exposition of God’s loving discipline in Hebrews 12, and as a parent myself, I understand loving my children even when I don’t love their actions or words. Recently I have been very aware of the Japanese distorted understanding of love, and that helps me understand God’s perfect love better. Many people are aware that the Japanese word for “cute” is kawai, but few even Japanese think about the fact that is written with characters that literally mean, “capable of being loved.” God loves us even when we aren’t cute! That’s just one of the challenges to presenting the Gospel in this culture! I am never to give up, but seek to be a consistent, undistorted channel for God’s love to flow through me, so that as many as possible may be drawn to repentance and faith, for their salvation and God’s glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for loving me, even though at times I seem completely unlovable. May I respond to Your love in complete obedience, so that You may be pleased with me. Thank You. Praise God!