The Stranger Right in Front of You
Dear Friends,
A few years ago on “The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon,” former New York Mets’ pitcher Matt Harvey walked the streets of Manhattan asking Mets’ fans what they thought about… Matt Harvey. Only, he wasn’t wearing his baseball uniform. Because he was in civvies, no one recognized him. It was as if he had been transformed. Ordinary and anonymous Matt Harvey asked his interviewees if they thought baseball star Matt Harvey was any good. Did they think he was getting lucky, or did he have what it took to become a real star?
Watching the skit is a real joy for the in-the-know viewer. We see die-hard fans talking smack about a person that is right in front of them. None of them recognized All-Star until, after they began to walk away, he revealed his true identity. The red-faced awkward result is a wicked delight.
This sketch reminded me of the “Road to Emmaus” story in the Gospel of Luke. In it, the resurrected Jesus approached two of his followers, and they didn’t recognize him. Why? We aren’t told. They’re on a walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. A long one, about seven miles in total, so there was a lot of time to talk. What were they discussing? Their dashed hopes about Jesus, of course. While they were walking, Jesus overhears their conversation and asks, “What are you two talking about?” Jesus, the one whom they loved and followed — upon whom all their hopes were placed — was right in front of them and they did not recognize him.
In his grief, one said, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days? The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was condemned to death and crucified. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”
Reading this recently, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Mets’ fan who told Matt Harvey that Matt Harvey was an “overrated bum.” There he is, so close — right in front of him — but he couldn’t see him.
“How can you stand next to the truth and not see it?” Bono once sang.
And yet, when my delight in the blushed reaction had run its course, I got to thinking: how often have I been blind to the truth that was right in front of me? How many times have I been unable to read signs that in hindsight were all around? No, I’m not talking about regret over not putting enough money in Bitcoin last March, I’m talking about how often I’ve been oblivious to Christ and his work in the world.
Most of the time, I need someone to state the obvious — to completely ruin the joke — and oftentimes that doesn’t even work. Sometimes I need Kafka’s ice-axe to break the stupor in me.
And the axe is exactly what fell upon these traveling disciples. Only, not in the form of wrath or fire from heaven, but in the proclamation of Scripture and the breaking of bread. In these ordinary means of bread, wine, and story-telling, the disciples were able to see the stranger right in front of them. And this, my friends, is the same way that old stranger is revealed to you and me.
See you Sunday,
Ben
