The Emmaus road

“As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising Him.” Luke 24:15-16
What I’m about to share is not one of those essential doctrines that we must all agree on. If you think differently, that’s fine. But this is a passage of Scripture that raises questions for many people, and those questions are worth answering.
There are two explanations that are usually given as to why the disciples did not recognise Jesus. The first is that they didn’t recognise Him at first because of the facial scarring, due to His beard being ripped out (Isa. 50:6). Then, when He broke the bread, they saw the scars in His wrists from the nails, and realised it was Jesus.
The second is that it is a spiritual veiling. This is the view that I agree with, and let me give the reasons why. First and most trivially, I find it hard to believe that they didn’t notice His hands until He broke the bread. Mary recognised Jesus from His voice (John 20:15-16), and He had talked with these disciples for most of the day. But more importantly, is the wording that is used that describes the veiling and unveiling: “but they were kept from recognising Him” (Luke 24:16), “then their eyes were opened and they recognised Him” (Luke 24:31). This speaks to me of a deliberate, spiritual veiling and unveiling, recognised by the disciples themselves as they said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32). Similar examples can be found elsewhere in the Scriptures (1 Kin. 14:1-6, 2 Kin. 6:15-17, 2 Kin. 6:18-20).
As I said, this isn’t a doctrine that should divide us. But feel free to leave a comment if you want to...