20th March 2024

I once was blind but now I see

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…..
Luke 24:30-31 (NIV)

Adam and Eve chose to disbelieve God and took from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once they did, as Genesis 3:7 tells us, ‘the eyes of both of them were opened’. And look what they saw. They had innocence, now they saw guilt. Now there was an invisible barrier in their relationships. They saw they had to hide from each other. Their solution – a covering of fig leaves – was neither adequate, nor durable. 

Their decision, inexorably, also manifested itself in the barrier between them and their Creator. They had been open and unafraid; now they saw they had to hide from God. And they could look back at what they had, and contrast it with what they had thought to gain, and say in their quiet moments of honesty – just look what we’ve got. 

Now let’s move to the day of the resurrection of Jesus. That afternoon two people are walking to Emmaus, when Jesus comes up beside them and gets into conversation with them. Their hopes have been shattered by his crucifixion, and they are in a state of confusion over the reports that he is alive. They are deliberately held from seeing who it is who walks with them as he explains to them what was written about himself in the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets. (Luke 24:13-27).

They are deeply affected by what he has been telling them and they urge him to stay with them as they reach their village. As they sit down for a meal, he is the one who takes charge. ‘…he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.’ (Luke 24:30).  And as he prays, they see. They see Jesus.

Adam and Eve chose to have their eyes opened – and look what they saw. Jesus, in his love and mercy, opened the eyes of the two who sat at supper with him – and look who they saw. They saw their resurrected Saviour. They were given the Way back to the paradise of God where they could walk with him, not just in the cool of the evening as Adam and Eve did, but all day and every day.

Maybe today we could especially thank God for opening our blind eyes, so that we too can see. 

Prayer
Father, we thank you that you have chosen us, and have opened our eyes to see Jesus,  and so to know him and all that he has done for us, in releasing us from the blindness in which we lived, and from the way of sin that we led. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Study by Hilary Buck

About the writer:
Hilary Buck is a minister and pastors the Lewes congregation of Grace Communion International.

Local congregation:
Grace Communion in Lewes
The House of Friendship
208 High Street
Lewes
BN7 2NS

Meeting time:
Sunday 11:00 am 

Local congregational contact:
Hilary Buck
Email:  lewes@gracecom.church

Like us on www.facebook.com/Grace Communion Lewes 

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church