Recently there have been news reports of a sighting of Jesus on the back of a receipt from Wal-Mart. The first thing that many ask is why Jesus would shop at Wal-Mart with its corporate policy being so detrimental to the little guy, mom and pop store owners. Of course, it isn't that Simmons and Sutherland ran into him on the way out and had him autograph the receipt, but the easiest, first thing to think is that Jesus was hanging out giving free samples of fish and bread. That is not what I found interesting. The thing I found most interesting about it is that they looked at the receipt and "see" the face as Jesus. It reminded me of the time that Jesus took Peter and John up on the mountain and they saw Elijah and Moses. Neither Simmons nor his fiance Sutherland have physically met Jesus (presumably), yet they recognized him. Likewise Peter and John recognized Elijah and Moses. In that day and age there were no pictures to compare to. I never heard of Moses sitting for a portrait, and Elijah never had a daguerotype done of him. The two didn't have on nametags, and there are not even any written descriptions of the two anywhere in the Old Testament (all they had for a Bible at the time). John didn't elbow Peter and tell him to use his iPhone to pull up a Facebook page to confirm who they were looking at. The two of them knew, just knew, who they were. Instinctively they knew, instinctively and correctly they knew who the two very important figures were.

These two were initimate friends of Jesus. They knew his mannerisms, the way he looked, the way he carried himself. The kink of his hair, the mole on his arm, distinguishing features that would be used to describe him, these guys knew him. As did the other 10 disciples. When you travel with someone for years, you learn all about them. They knew the way Jesus walked, the way Jesus talked, the way Jesus sat down to eat. They were intimately familiar with how Jesus was.

Despite all that, they did not recognize him post-Resurrection. Even with the holes in his hands or wrists, and in his side, these men walked and talked with him, even knowing what had happened to his body during the cruxifiction did not help them to recognize him until He was ready for them to recognize.

Is it Jesus' picture on the reciept from Wal-Mart? We will only know if he wants us to.

• Couple Finds Image of Jesus in Walmart Receipt (Phil Cooke) http://bit.ly/rpP8Qr