One of my favorite moments in the gospel features Christ making
a surprise appearance shortly after his resurrection. In the last chapter of
the book of Luke, Jesus appears to a couple of disciples walking to
Jerusalem. They were discussing the
recent crucifixion of Jeshua of Nazareth, and The Christ Himself asks them what
the heck they were talking about. Incredulously,
they recollect the rise and apparent fall of the supposed Christ, He who was to
be the King of the Jews. They walked all
the way home without recognizing Jesus, recounting the events and miracles of
the Messiah. As they sat down to dinner
Christ broke bread. It was at this
instant that they immediately recognized Him, and just as quickly he disappeared.
I like to think that he was purposefully messing with them
the whole time for fun.
It shows a temperament and humor to Christ. While Jesus in
pop culture is often oh-so-perfect and precise, people forget that His perfection
came from his lack of sin, not lack of humanity. He wasn’t some boring robot with nice things
to say, He had an attitude, He would get upset, angry, He would mourn and
scream just like anyone else. The
gospels show a Jesus who was patient with those who truly wanted to be better,
but would take no crap from those who were trying to trick Him. He’d sass and snap back at pretentious
scholars and tax collectors, often interrupting people and taking the podium to
speak His mind. He’d read out scripture
of the prophets and would finish by letting listeners know that He was the
prophecy come true. HE WAS A MASTER OF THE MIC DROP BEFORE IT WAS A THING.
This whole rant is to show that often both Christians and
non-Christians forget about Christ’s humanity in his divine actions, and then
wonder why it is that they have a hard time relating to the guy.
ALSO if I ever do my drama series/comic of Jesus’s life,
instead of a resurrection I want to keep the audience guessing until the last minute,
and then end with this scene.
