Help with Questions to The Odyssey: In book 16, Odysseus and Telemachus finally meet

In book 16, Odysseus and Telemachus finally meet. How does this scene, the long-awaited moment, work as drama? Why does Athena make the recognition harder for Telemachus by making Odysseus appear to be god-like? Is this just a dramatic delaying device, Athena’s whim, or is there some symbolic or emotional truth bound up in the illusion?