Column: When God Is Hiding In Plain Sight

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By Drew Williams

As we remember the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am struck by Dr. King’s honest and vulnerable account of one particular night toward the end of January 1956. He had settled into bed late, after a strenuous day, when the telephone rang. An angry anonymous voice on the other end of the line issued violent threats against his life. He hung up, but found he couldn’t sleep. Of that night, he wrote in his memoirs, “It seemed that all of my fears had come down on me at once. I had reached the saturation point.” Finally, he went to the kitchen and, his cup of coffee untouched and growing cold before him, tried to think of a way to move out of the picture of the civil rights movement without appearing like a coward. He continued, “I had got to the point that I couldn’t take it any longer. I was weak… With my head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud.” The words he spoke to God that night are faithfully recorded: “Lord, I’m down here trying to do what’s right. I think I’m right. I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak now, I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage. Now, I am afraid. And I can’t let the people see me like this because if they see me weak and losing my courage, they will begin to get weak. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.”

As I read this account, I am reminded of the two disciples on the Emmaus road. Again, both of them at saturation point. All their fears had come down upon them at once. The one they thought had come to save them had been humiliated and crucified a few days earlier, and in their estimation, brutally defeated. To a stranger who has joined them on the road, they say, “We had hoped He was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). They do not recognize that this stranger is, in fact, Jesus.

Luke records, “…Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.” (Luke 24:15b-16). This is arguably very unkind! Isn’t this moment crying out for Jesus to say, “Hi, it’s me. I’m alive! All is well!” But Jesus does not do that. Instead, he asks them what they are talking about. “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad.” (Luke 24:17). They are incredulous. How is it possible that this stranger could have missed all that has taken place in Jerusalem the past few days? And now a new twist has emerged that morning. Jesus’ body was missing from the tomb. No statements had been issued from the Sanhedrin or the Romans on this. There were rumors of a resurrection. We read, “Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ And He [Jesus] said to them, ‘What things?’” (Luke 24:18-19a).

For Dr. King and these two broken disciples, Jesus appears, at least from their perspective, to have disappeared from sight. What is later apparent, however, is that on the Emmaus road and at Dr. King’s kitchen table, Jesus was hiding in plain sight. Jesus was, in fact, very much present and at work.

I can think of many times in my life when it appeared that Jesus had disappeared or was hiding. Looking back, I can now see that my heart was in such a ragged place that even if He had shown up and poured my tea, I would not have recognized Him. Seeing is not always necessarily believing. Jesus knows that very often we need to allow Him to heal our hearts before our eyes can be opened. This is why He calls the disciples, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe…” (Luke 24:25). In my heart, I hear Him speak these words with tenderness, not frustration or condemnation. Jesus knows full well that they have reached the end of their hope and that for them to see Him, to truly see Him, He must first attend to the eyes of their hearts.

As they continue the long walk to Emmaus, Jesus now begins the work of opening the eyes of their hearts. He chooses to do this by opening to them the Scriptures so as to reveal to them how all the Old Testament pointed to Him as its fulfillment. Maybe He pointed them to Deuteronomy 18:15, which says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to Him.” And from there to Isaiah 7:14, where God says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son and name Him Immanuel.” Jesus could have taken them to Isaiah 53:3: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we did not value Him.” Perhaps Jesus showed them what Isaiah 53:7 says: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep silent before His shearers, He did not open His mouth.” And He might have concluded with Isaiah 53:11: “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, My servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.” 

That was some Bible study! Jesus is saying that they should have understood that the death and resurrection of the Messiah was predicted and pictured and patterned throughout the Old Testament. And lest we think this is simply all about information, what is apparent is that it set their hearts ablaze. In the language of Augustine, what captivated their affections was an interpretation of Scripture that enabled them to see all that was accomplished on the Cross for all eternity.

At the ordinariness of his kitchen table, Dr. King records the moment where brokenheartedness turned to his heart burning within him. His testimony is that in the stillness of his kitchen he heard the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo, I will be with you. Even until the end of the world.” As a pastor and a theologian, he would have heard Jesus’ words many times: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b). But this time the eyes of his heart were opened. At the renewed assurance of this profound promise, he later wrote, “At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before. Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.”

Having had the eyes of their hearts opened, the disciples are now ready to face the risen Jesus. Luke tells us, “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.” (Luke 24:30-31b). They physically held the bread in their hands… and then their eyes were opened. They knew this man.

Why was that important? Our relationship with Jesus is not just a collection of Biblical truths. It is also substantive and experiential. Dr. King knew this. The Bible insists on using sensory language about the magnitude of God’s love: “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Psalm 34:8). You can touch it, feel it, taste it. The point is that we are invited not just to make some sort of mental assent to the notion that Jesus rose from the dead us but to experience Him personally — to really believe it with all our being; to touch it, see it, taste it; to be able to entirely trust in His risen presence.

We hear this new heart reality in the disciples’ testimony: “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?” (Luke 24:32). That very hour, dark as it was, late as it was, dangerous as the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus was, they walked the seven miles back to Jerusalem to report the incredible news to the other disciples. When they were at the end of themselves, Jesus had met them where they were, opened the eyes of their hearts to recognize Him as the true Messiah, the promised One, the Savior of the world…to glimpse Him in all His fullness, to behold His glory. And what followed was an immediate infusion of courage and hope

We don’t know where the actual town of Emmaus is located. Perhaps Jesus would seek to open us up to the possibility that “Emmaus” is everywhere. Dr. King would say that his Emmaus road encounter was at his kitchen table.

On April 3, 1968, Dr. King spoke at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee. His passionate words, spoken that night, witness to his encounter with Jesus at his kitchen table: “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” The following day, King was assassinated.

Where is your Emmaus road? Is it possible that in this season of coming to the end of our own strength, our own powers, where we have nothing left and we have come to the point where we can’t face it alone, that Jesus is, in fact, hiding in plain sight, opening the eyes of our heart to a deeper revelation of His love and presence? The promise Jesus made to Dr. King, He makes to each of us: “And behold, I am with you always…” As He opens our hearts to this profound truth, we too will know His infusion of courage and hope.

Drew Williams is Senior Pastor of Trinity Church. Visit trinitychurch.life

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