A message on Jesus’ Resurrection.
Written by RAHAB’s CEO, Jaime Blair
The first thing to enter my mind when I paused to think on the resurrection of Jesus was that those closest to Him did not recognize Him. He had changed form. He was unknown, unfamiliar, even scary to some of His friends. So, what happened that allowed them to see? Intimacy.
Mary thought she was in a conversation with a gardener near the tomb until Jesus said her name. “Mary.” As soon as she heard it, she recognized Him. It wasn’t the first word He said to her. It was the first word that expressed a knowing, a connection, a relationship. Doubtlessly, the way He said her name meant something to her.
“Touch me.” That was His invitation to Thomas. “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.”
For a half dozen of the disciples, He grilled fish on a charcoal fire and fed them when they hit the shore after a long night at sea. “Come and have breakfast,” Jesus told them. He served them bread and fish. And “none of the disciples asked who He was because they knew it was the Lord.”
For the two walking to a village called Emmaus, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. They had invited Him in when evening hit. He was reclining at the table with them when He took a familiar posture and served them. “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him.”
To those who didn’t see, didn’t know, didn’t understand, didn’t believe, Jesus invited intimacy—come close, hear me say your name, touch me, let’s have breakfast.
“Were not our hearts burning within us?” That was the reaction of the two who had been walking with Him. They felt Him before they recognized Him or believed He was alive. Something happened in His presence. Their hearts were burning. But the revelation came in the intimacy of reclining together around the dinner table and being served.
This is our constant invitation at RAHAB Ministries. In strip clubs, at our youth mentoring centers, in our Drop-In Homes: come close, let us serve you, let’s eat together!
Resurrection may be hard to believe. Encountering life where there has been death ushers in the unknown, the unfamiliar, the scary. Yet, countless times, we have witnessed eyes opening when loving arms embrace them and warm hands serve them. We understand that before they believe Him, through our invitations to intimacy, it’s quite possible they will feel Him and come to know Him.