I once was blind but now I see

And their eyes were opened and they knew… (Genesis 3:7 & Luke 24:31).

Many of my early blog posts could probably have been filed under the category “bible study”. Nowadays my posts are normally a little more topical as I have shared my thoughts on various topics. This post will be similar to those older ones though as a friend of mine pointed out some wonderful similarities between Genesis 3 and Luke 24 which I thought I would share.

They are two stories that we are all very familiar with. In Genesis 3, we read the story of how the first man and woman were deceived by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. After eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil their eyes were “opened” (verse 7). The chapter ends with the couple leaving Eden for the wilderness. Our second story is the one of the two dejected followers of Jesus who, after his death, were heading from Jerusalem toward Emmaus. Jesus joined them on the road but they did not recognize him. It was only once they reached the village and sat down with their Lord and broke bread with him that they realized exactly who he was.

Consider some of the similarities in the two stories:-

- In Genesis 3 we see the first recorded meal in the bible. It results in mans eyes been “opened”. In actual fact, man was blinded, Paul comments in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers…” Notice how in the book of Luke it is in the breaking of bread that the disciple’s eyes were opened. Genesis 3 was the first meal of the fallen creation while Luke 24 was the first meal of the new creation.

- In both stories, there are two people involved; some have suggested that Cleopas’s companion on the road would have been his wife as John 19:25 places her at the cross when Jesus was crucified meaning that she would have been in the same vicinity as her husband at the time of these events.

- In both cases a supernatural being offers food which results in a new perception of spiritual reality.

- After eating the fruit Adam and Eve leave the garden, the place of Gods special residence. In the case of Cleopas and his companion, after eating the bread they immediately returned to the place of Gods special residence (Jerusalem) and testified “how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke bread” (Luke 24:35).

There is an old saying that Jesus can be found on every page of the bible. Still it never ceases to amaze me when new parallels are revealed. He is the husband in Genesis 2, the Passover lamb of Exodus 12, the guilt offering of Leviticus 5 and on and on. We can say with confidence, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him, he anointed him to preach good news to the poor…and recovery of sight to the blind. – Luke 4:18