Life can often be filled with unexpected disappointments and suffering, making it feel like a battlefield. However, there is a path to a fulfilled life when we know Jesus’ Truth and follow His way. This blog explores four ways God joins us on our journey and reveals His presence.

God in Disguise

How often have we staggered and fallen with crushed hopes and broken spirits because the unexpected occurred and brought disappointment when we thought life was headed in another direction? 

After such heartbreak, even if it was expected, the pains and disappointments of life distort our ability to see and receive. 

In our Scripture passage, that’s where we find our young heroes. Cleopas and another unnamed disciple walk the dusty, lonely footpath of life. They are disillusioned, despondent, and dispirited. Jesus, whom they thought would be the one to redeem Israel, ended like every other Messiah, dead. The hands of the religious establishment and the state had crucified him. 

As they walk their path of sadness, they are met by a stranger who joins them. Instead of being sympathetic, he bursts with impatience for their grief and contests that Jesus’ crucifixion was something to celebrate. Intrigued, the disciples ask this stranger to stay with them once they reach their village. 

They ask the stranger to bless their food, so he picks up the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and then passes it among the disciples. At that moment, they glimpse the Divine breaking into the ordinary. A crack between heaven and earth. They recognize that this is Jesus. 

Theologian Richard Foster said, “Their broken hearts became hearts that burned.” 

It is God’s way of coming to us in disguise. When storms rage, when fear is all-encompassing, when it’s at its bleakest, He comes through. In moments of darkness and despair, Christ reveals His true identity and uncovers His glory and presence. 

But I want you to ponder: What is our role in this great adventure of life with God?

Our role is to walk the path Christ has set out for us and look for Him where He has promised to meet us.

Embracing the Jesus Way

Several years ago, on a podcast, Dallas Willard was asked, “Why are so many people who claim to be Christian yet live such untransformed lives?” He thought about it briefly, then responded, “Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. People in churches know the truth. They know the stories and verses, but they don’t have God’s dynamic and powerful life.”

Why? Well, because they have not walked in the way of Christ. They have not done the things that Jesus did. When we walk in the way of Christ, just as clear purpose, the other disciples walk the path with Christ. Christ shows up in our lives in unexpected ways.

You receive the life God so desperately wants to give you when you marry the Jesus Truth with the Jesus Way. 

“God infinitely perfect and blessed and Himself in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in His own blessing in life. For this reason, at every time, and in every place, God draws close to man; he calls man to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him, with all his strength.” Roman Catholic Catechism

What a beautiful picture of our Father’s heart for us. He is a trinity that has existed in perfect communion with Himself for eternity. Before there was anything, including the stars, planets, trees, and our dogs, there was a family abounding with overflowing abundance. God created the heavens and the earth so that there might be more beings like Himself that could participate in and receive His life. 

What a beautiful picture of God’s heart for us. 

We were created in God’s image so that we might participate in the overflowing love and life of the Trinity. Cleopas and the other disciple had all the truths. They’d heard the woman’s testimony and the angel’s vision but were missing the overflowing life. It took walking the way of Jesus to encounter, participate, and be transformed by God’s life. 

Jesus Truth + Jesus Way = Jesus Life

I’m afraid that too many of us are not experiencing God’s life because we have not been walking the way with Jesus, which means doing things His way. This includes; 

• Praying

• Fasting

• Reading

• Meditating on Scriptures

• Seeking solitude with God

• Gathering in community

• Etc. 

In the Western world, we call the way of Jesus the means of grace. These are the ordinary channels by which God conveys His grace in our hearts and spirits. These are the places where Christ tells us He will be present, and when we do them, He shows up. 

However, does just walking in the way of Jesus earn our salvation? No. Does it merit God’s life? No. 

Salvation and grace are completely unmerited and are a free gift of God. A gift that by the merits of Christ we receive by faith. But! We are called to walk the road the way of Christ nonetheless because Jesus wants to meet us. He wants us to participate in His life. Walking in the way of Jesus places us in a position where something can be done to us so God can meet and transform us to take our broken hearts and make them into hearts that burn. 

The walk to Emmaus we saw in our passage shows us that we can meet and encounter Christ on our walks. It also shows how Christ comes to us in disguise offering His blessings, grace, and presence. 

How Does God Come to Us In Disguise? 

1) Christian Community

“…while they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself came near…” Luke 24:15

Jesus’ life was marked by discipleship and creating a community centered around Himself, so Jesus comes in disguise when we do the same when Christian brothers and sisters dwell in unity. 

Our Lord said in Matthew 18:24, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” There’s a reason why the church is called Christ’s body. It’s because when we gather in faith, He is truly present.

In my own life, I often meet Jesus in disguise through banded discipleship. It’s when I meet with three close friends regularly to confess sins and encourage one another. On my way to these meetings, I often feel burdened by my sin and failures. But after I uncloak my heart, it makes room for Christ’s light and presence to enter. I meet Jesus in disguise. 

Sometimes we need to hear the truth of Jesus spoken aloud in a real voice that is louder than the voices in our heads. Meetings under the banner of Christ provide an opportunity for the real you, not the false image of you, to encounter and be known by the real Jesus. 

The church gathering is the one place where this war-torn world is where Christ says, “I am present.” The Church is what God is doing to manifest His presence and glory. 

[READ MORE: How Do I Find Community]

2) Word of God

Being in God’s Word is the way of Jesus. When He was only 12, the teachers at the temple were amazed by His understanding of Scripture. Later, when the Devil tempted Him, He rebuked Satan with the words of God. Lastly, when He was on the cross and had no words to Himself, He turned to the Psalms, “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?” 

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27

Cleopas had all of the pieces to the puzzle, but he missed the picture Christ gave him. The whole of the story of God can be understood through the lens of His own suffering and death that made the way for glory. Jesus is the word beneath the Word that all Scriptures point to. 

When we read the Bible, we think we’re the active ones, but it is reading you. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

When we open Scripture, read, meditate, and delight in them, we encounter the Word beneath the Word. 

[READ MORE: How Do I Read the Bible]

3) Pilgrimage

He comes to us by stepping out of our comfort zone to adventure with God. 

Jesus’ story is marked by His long and painful pilgrimage from the throne of heaven, to the manger as a baby, to the cross as a man, and back to heaven in glory. Pilgrimage is the way of Jesus.

Like the Gospel, most of the great stories in our Western tradition are about pilgrimages. Dante’s Divine Comedy, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Huck Finn, and Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. These are stories where the characters are moved in change as they move and change location. The physical movement mirrors a spiritual movement. 

In our Scripture, Cleopas and the other disciple, as they walk with Christ, their hearts become strangely warmed to Christ’s presence to the point that when He is revealed, they exclaim in excitement. ,

“They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.” Luke 24:32-33

Cleopas was on fire and on a mission. That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem so they could share what happened. 

The physical movement of pilgrimages moves us. They get us out of the ordinary to warm our hearts to Christ’s presence, who is with us all along, even when we cannot see and feel Him. It breaks the mold of our everyday life to give us a new perspective and to make new ways for Christ to be present. 

A pilgrimage doesn’t have to be to Spain or the Holy Land. It can be as simple as going on a prayer walk through your neighborhood or registering for a men’s or women’s retreat at your church. It could be as simple as taking your family on a camping trip. The opportunity is all around us. There are so many places to step out of the familiar and go into the unfamiliar that Christ beckons you to follow.

4) Sacrament of Communion

“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.” Luke 24:30-31

Communion is a symbol, but it’s much more than that. It’s an outward and visible sign of a real inward and invisible grace. When received by faith, communion is where Christ is mysteriously present.

The ancient Roman church called baptism and communion sacraments. But their predecessors, the Greeks, called them Mysterion or mysteries in English. The thing about that Greek word Mysterion is that it’s not the mystery of a closed secret or a locked door that you cannot get into. It’s the mystery of an open secret. It is the wardrobe door into Narnia. You are invited to go into this mystery and participate in it.

The presence of Christ in the bread and wine is a mystery that we will never get to the bottom of. We could spend hours here debating all the theological understandings of how Christ is truly present in the bread and wine, but isn’t it wonderful that Christ does not say? He said, “Take and eat.”

Even if you can’t see or feel it, at the crack of the bread, there is a crack between heaven and earth where heavenly glory breaks into the Shadow Lands of this world and our hearts. 

[READ MORE: The Lord’s Supper: Understanding Jesus’ Sacrificial Love]

Moving Away from Brokenness

We’ve been designed to have infinite desires, yet in this finite world, we’ll never be able to satisfy them. That can only mean one thing: We are made for another world. We can never find fulfillment there because we were made for God—His life. 

Suppose you’ve never felt that before because you’re playing it safe. Perhaps your perspective of Christianity is that it’s just a set of principles and morals. Reality is it’s about encountering Jesus and walking with Him. Christ is knocking. Will you answer and step out onto the greatest adventure in your life? But you can choose not to or to miss it; many people do.

Perhaps you’re reading this, and your life is headed in the wrong direction. Maybe you have all the pieces on the table but can’t find a way to assemble them. Jesus offers something more. He offers forgiveness, adoption, and new creation. He offers a full picture of what your life can be. 

This invitation is an opportunity to turn away from your brokenness, move towards the truth, and away from a life overwhelmed with pain, guilt, shame, and failure. In return, Christ will provide a heart that glows with the radiance of His glory. [READ MORE: When God Visits]

The reason why we can partake in these means of grace is because Jesus walked them already. He’s gone down the hardest pathway for you already. He has walked through suffering and atonement. He has walked through loneliness and fear. He has walked away from the blood, sweat, and death on a cross so that you and I can walk the pathway of love, reconciliation, forgiveness, and hope and encounter Him and His Father now and forever. 

Want to take the next step? Read More: How Do I Come to God?

TL;DR

• Embracing the Jesus Way brings hope amidst life’s disappointments. 

• God comes to us in disguise during our darkest times. 

• Walking in Christ’s path and engaging in Christian community

• Reading the Word

• Going on pilgrimages

• Partaking in Communion 

• Embracing this grand adventure with God transforms our hearts and guides us with hope and purpose.

Related Reading

The God Honoring Way by Rev. Paul Lawler

From Isolation to Restoration by Rev. Paul Lawler

Restored Into God’s Image by Rev. Paul Lawler

How Does God’s Word Transform Us? by Rev. Paul Lawler