There are many instances when Christ appears post-resurrection to His followers and yet remains unveiled. While the true intentions of the Savior's appearances to His followers are known completely only by Him, these appearances do show remarkable similarity and suggest a common purpose. They occur when those involved not only are deeply moved by their recent and poignant experiences with the Savior, but when they are also focused on a more temporal aspect of His life or influence, and are followed by experiences that lead to deepened, or truer, conversion. Christ's allowance for recognition to return, only to be coupled with further teaching that when applied will change the lives of the hearers, demonstrates a pattern in which Christ operates in our lives.
When Christ appeared to the people the Americas after His ascension into heaven, there was somewhat a commotion happening among them about both the "great and marvelous change which had taken place" in the land and also about the sign that had been given concerning His death. In order to hear His voice, they had to consciously "open their ears" to understand the voice of the Lord (3 Nephi 11). The teaching and healings that took place following the people's astonishment was comparable to other events in the Savior's ministry and in many ways arguably more celestial (3 Nephi 17). Little before, Christ had also appeared unto a Mary that was reasonably filled with sorrow over the displacement of His (now-glorified) body. It may be that in addition to His infinite compassion for she who had "chosen that good part, which [would] not be taken away from her" Christ wanted to reassure her of the true nature of life after death with "[his] Father, and [her] Father; and [His] God, and [Her] God" (Luke 10:42, John 20:17). Further, Christ appeared to two disciples when "they talked together of all these things which had happened" and chose to "expound unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:14, 27). When the Savior did allow for recognition, and when they would have perhaps been anxious to ask many questions of Him, He disappeared- giving them precious time along the journey back to Jerusalem to ponder the "burning" in their heart. When the Savior again appeared to the 12, He both comforted them of the "thoughts" that had "[arisen] in [their] hearts" and continued to teach about the fulfillment of the law and the need to spread the gospel in His name and by his authority (Luke 24: 38, 44-53). A similar experience happened with Peter along the sea of Tiberias. Recognizing the Savior outright in all of these experiences would have surely been a glorious experience, but may have done little to change existing understanding. Instead, the thoughts foremost in the mind (most likely concerning the miraculous events that had taken place that they had witnessed) came to be forgotten by the Savior's prompting. They were replaced with hope for things to come, for life beyond the veil, and for a new way to be. Allowing them again the choice to listen and to change their perceptions about the world, the Savior as the Master teacher inspired powerful changes in each individual personally and encouraged immense changes in the respective societies where he had been. The Savior's manifestation to Moses teaches that in our mortal state we are not yet ready to behold all the glory of the Father and Son (Moses 1:4). A direct manifestation of their power and light, while impressive, fades over time and the patterns of thought that were previously ours we find to have remained. I believe the Savior is doing perfectly well His work of "[bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", which He has chosen to do mostly by quiet promptings of the Holy Ghost in our lives (Moses 1:39; D&C 8:2-3). The choice to sincerely love God as manifest by our faith in little things increases our light until the perfect day, until we are endowed with God's power: so "that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (D&C 50:24; Moroni 7:48).
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