As many as 2.5 percent of people suffer from prosopagnosia, or face blindness. Someone with prosopagnosia might not be able to recognize his or her spouse, long-time colleagues, or his or her own children.
For example, author Heather Sellers once tried to kiss the wrong man at the airport—she thought she recognized her husband’s distinctive gait.
On another occasion, Sellers introduced herself to a new professor at the university where she taught, only to find that he’d been working across the hall from her for 15 years. People with prosopagnosia often work very hard to recognize people based on their clothing, hair color, body shape, voice, and other characteristics.
It seems that quite a few Bible characters had momentary face blindness when first meeting Jesus after His resurrection. Mary Magdalene met Jesus at the tomb but didn’t recognize Him until He spoke her name John 20:14. The disciples saw Him on the shore while they were fishing and didn’t know it was Him until their nets were miraculously filled with fish John 21:4. And the two disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognize Him until they saw Him break the bread. What was it about that simple act of breaking bread that opened their eyes?
Let’s consider the story closely. Jesus reached out for the bread, took it in His hands, broke it into pieces, and then handed it to each disciple. As they took the bread, the disciples must have taken a second look at His hands … and the scars from the nails of His crucifixion. Perhaps they knew Him when they saw His scars.
Then and for all eternity, Jesus’ scars are a reminder of what He suffered for our sake.
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."Isaiah 53:5
-doug batchelor
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