Where Are You, Jesus?

The Bible is about Jesus. No, duh, you might be thinking. But what I mean is the whole Bible is about Jesus, not just the gospels and the rest of the New Testament. The whole thing from Genesis to Revelation, including all the Old Testament stories and all the prophets, are all about Jesus. It’s not just history. It’s History. But when we ponder Jesus, it’s only natural that we gravitate to those parts in the Bible where He was either in bodily form on the earth or being discussed by those who knew Him personally or knew of Him back then. So, if we know it’s all about Him, why has the Old Testament been approached so differently? For it is almost as if it’s been read like it was before Jesus existed. Of course, we all know that’s not true. For Jesus has always existed. He has been, is now, and always will be. He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. But when we study the Old Testament, do we not usually see it as the story of God, the Creator of the universe? Do we not see the Old Testament as being about the story of mankind leading up to Jesus? While that is true, it is but a limited view. To view it with a wider lens, let’s look at a passage from the gospel of Luke, chapter 24. Jesus had already gone to the cross. He had already died. He had already been buried. And then, amazingly, He had been seen again, alive, by Mary Magdalene and the other women. Then starting at verse 13 and ending with verse 27, we read the famous account known as the road to Emmaus. There, on that road, two men were walking. They were rather dejectedly talking of all the recent events concerning Jesus because they had not yet heard He was risen from the grave. These two were joined by another, the Jesus, Himself, but His identity was hidden from them. Jesus, after catching up on the news, then began to tell them all about Himself. He began to share His testimony, His story, with the other two, but not from the perspective of the last few days, weeks, or even years. No, He did it like this. And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling/ But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.