Is This Mardi Gras?

Having grown up in New Orleans and going to 11 Mardi Gras celebrations, I saw many people who I did not recognize. People dress up as anything their imagination can conceive of and they usually wear some kind of mask to hide their identity.

In Luke 24:13-17 there is the story of 2 guys walking on a road from Jerusalem to Emmaus who are discouraged about life now that Jesus is out of the picture or so they think. Jesus shows up on the road and walks with them but they don't recognize him for whatever reason. He even talks with them and they still are so focused on their discouragement they do not know who is talking with them. Maybe Jesus is wearing a mask.


If we were on this road and Jesus came up and started talking with us, we would certainly recognize him wouldn't we? There are times in our life or our day when we get into a funk like these guys and we conclude the whole thing sucks. And to make it worse, Jesus shows up in some way but we do not see him at all. It may be in a kid who is laughing and having a great day or a sunrise that is so filled with orange and red colors that it is hard to describe. Maybe it was a song that attempted to stir your spirit. Maybe a homeless guy held out his hand as we walked along.


It is easy to miss Jesus. Sometimes we won't open the Bible and Jesus is there ready to speak to us but we have to get on with life and we will spend some time looking at it later. But later never opens the door.


Look around and listen. Jesus is here...now.