Wal-Mart is still probably one of the the world’s largest corporations. It wasn’t always so. The founder and driving force was a man from Bentonville, Arkansas named Mr. Sam Walton. To make a long story short, he found a way to build a better mousetrap. The ways and means of running a small business grew and grew into what is now a multibillion dollar enterprise that has worldwide supplies and the most modern methods of tracking sales, inventory, and customer preferences. Mr. Walton hired only the best talent and he expected results. He was famous for personally inspecting his stores and looking for ways to be better and more competitive.
Among the Wal-Mart crowd, Mr. Sam Walton was instantly recognizable. While inspecting a store one day, he questioned why the store manager had priced milk at a certain price. The response was that the price reflected good value and the customers were going to buy milk anyway. Mr. Walton decided to go next door to a competitor and see what they were selling milk for. When told that he would be recognized, Mr. Walton informed them that he intended to go investigate “incognito”. He was going in disguise! What Mr. Watson did next was rather surprising, he put on a baseball cap and in so doing he blended in with everybody else. After looking at the competition, he returned and decided the store manager should price his milk one cent lower that the competitor and keep it that way for at least a year! He did and business grew even bigger!
Another man started off small and grew. Jesus didn’t get a very propitious start. Luke records that he was born and placed in a manger. In a manger! For you purists, that’s a feeding trough! A feeding trough where there’s animal snot and slobber, abundant germs, diseases, bacteria and abhorrent smells not to mention the filthy flies and insects that flourished there. Growing up Jesus never pretended to be incognito. He was proud to be the son of Joseph and Mary. He was proud to be who he was. The Jews expected the coming Messiah to be a powerful military leader, not a meek humble carpenter. Jesus never disguised himself! What people saw was the real deal—24/7—365 in every dispensation!
Let’s examine the Emmaus road encounter. Why do you think the two disciples didn’t recognize Jesus? I’d like to think it’s because he had a newly resurrected body. There seems to be a bit of irony in their desperate search for truth, as The Truth Himself walked beside them. And doesn’t He always walk with us, yet, we are unaware? Often we desire an “answer” when His desire is we have “the answer”—Himself! What an example we have in that walk to Emmaus… where two or more are gathered, there He is in their midst. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we have struggles, trouble, despair, trials, confusion, doubt, and persecutions. Still 1 Peter 1:6-9 is a clear passage to realize the depth of truth of Jesus’ words in John 20:29: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proven genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul.”
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