Luke 24:25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Lord Jesus as I come this morning I confess that like these disciples on the road to Emmaus I am foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. It is not that I don’t believe at all, it is just that I don’t believe all. In particular I have a hard time believing that you are not only the culmination of the story for these Jews, but that you are the culmination of my story. As I read the pages of my life, I so often want to see myself and the things that I am involved in as being the most important. Like the disciples, I fail to believe that I can experience your presence today. I treat you as dead, even though it has been testified that you are alive. And I certainly fail to believe that suffering and glory are linked. I have bought into this worlds wisdom that glory comes in the absence of suffering.

O God, open my eyes! Help me to see you present both in the pages of my life and in my day to day experience. Expand my vision that I may see clearly. Restore my step that I may not walk dejectedly through this world, but rather with joy and enthusiasm I might share with all that I come in contact with. Today Lord, allow me to see you in word and sacrament, even as Cleopas and his companion saw you.