We’ve done it. Easter has come and gone. And while many were enjoying time with family, having Easter egg hunts, a nice meal, and watching sports, every person who works in the world of Church was working overtime. Easter is one of the biggest days for the Church worldwide; it is the day we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead, the main conviction of our Christian faith. But guess what? It doesn’t end there. In fact, for followers of Jesus who live in the shadow of this resurrection, we should be living every single day as if it were Easter–because it is.

I love the story in Luke 24:13-34; the Road to Emmaus. Jesus has been arrested, crucified, put in a tomb, locked shut over the weekend, busts out, and decides to make the rounds. While doing so, he comes across a couple people walking to a village outside Jerusalem called Emmaus. On the way, Jesus imposes himself into their conversation and asks what they’re talking about. They were talking about him, of course, rising from the dead and all. Here’s the kicker though: they didn’t recognize him. All of that talk, all of their knowledge of the Scriptures, and yes, even knowledge of Jesus himself! But now, they didn’t recognize him. I think there are at least two things we can take away from this story:

1. There is a difference between knowing the story and living it.

Again, these folks were Jewish. They knew their Bibles well; they had to. And they knew what Jesus said about himself using those same Bibles, in fact, he taught it to them on the spot apparently. But it wasn’t until they actually sat down and ate with him, after they invited him into their homes, that “their eyes were opened.” Simply knowing the story and knowing what happened wasn’t enough. How can that translate into our lives today? Are we simply learning about Jesus? Or, are we walking with Jesus, eating with Jesus, and so on and so forth?

2. The story isn’t over

Like I said, Easter isn’t just a holiday for Christians. Easter is a way of life. Resurrection is a way of life and something we not only look forward to in the future but also try to live in the present. Jesus rising from the dead isn’t the end of the story; it is only the beginning. And today, we have the opportunity to continue to write that story. As Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 13:16-17, “…blessed are your eyes because they see; and your ears because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, and didn’t hear it.”

Our eyes need to be opened as well, to all the ways in which Jesus might already be walking among us, but we just haven’t noticed yet. That’s how the story continues.