What's your appraisal?

Okay, Sunday night before Mass, I sat down at home to watch some Antiques Roadshow.  Sometimes I like practicing to be an old man.  Actually, I think the show is fascinating with what's worth lots of money and what isn't.  It can keep you guessing as to if the item is a reproduction, whether it be one of quality or a knock-off.

The Gospel that day was from Luke 24:13-35, which many of us know as the Road to Emmaus.  So pretty much Jesus meets two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus and they're downcast.  So, Jesus, although they don't know it's Him, asks them what's got them so down? They're shocked, and are like, "What's up with that?!" They're shocked that He does not know what's gone on recently in Jerusalem, so they tell Him.  So, Jesus is like, "What's up with that?!"  Although, hey, it's not out of shock as to the events, it's out of the fact that they're His disciples and yet they've remained completely ignorant.  So, He explains to them the Scriptures that refer to Him.    So, after that, He infers that He's going on past the village;  the disciples ask Him to stay with them.  So, He sits at table with them, says the blessing, breaks the bread, and gives it to them.  Then their eyes are opened and they recognize Him, then He vanishes.  Then they realize that their hearts were burning within them while He was speaking.

The disciples had been afraid that Jesus Christ had been a reproduction, a particularly good reproduction, but still not the real thing.  So, when Jesus appears to them on the road, they bring to Him their "item."  So, Jesus, is the appraiser, and He tells them the story behind the events in Jerusalem, and then comes the big reveal: Jesus Christ is not a reproduction, high-quality or low; rather, He is the most precious item they could have ever come across.  Not only that, but after He vanishes, they realized that they were in His presence that whole time and they ask themselves why they didn't realize it.

It's kind of easy for us to see here, at least part of the puzzle.  They didn't realize it because of their fear and they thought it was too good to be true.  I can relate, because there have been times that I let my fear and skepticism control me; yet Jesus, "the appraiser and the precious item" always comes through for me.  We need to realize that Jesus is the best gift we can ever get.  Pray that we don't let our cynicism and fear keep us from God.