He Opened Their Understanding...
The Aftermath • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome back to our latest series I’m calling the Aftermath. And in this series we are looking at the events following the resurrection of our Lord. And what we’ve seen so far is that the disciples, the ones closest to the Lord, the ones who should have been the first to believe; they have the hardest time accepting the resurrection. I mean they definitely flunk this exam. Even after multiple reports, in fact, even with Jesus standing in the room with them, they still have doubts about the resurrection. In this mornings text, we are going to see Jesus appear to the disciples and they are terrified because they think He is a ghost.
Now, I will admit they have some pretty good reasons for thinking He’s a ghost because He appears out of thin air. But not only that, He appears in the middle of a room where the disciples are hiding for fear of the Jews. In fact, let’s look a verse in John that proves this.
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Now first thing I want you to notice is that apparently Jesus in His resurrected state doesn’t need to use the door. I think this is why John includes the detail, “when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled”. And I don’t think the doors are just shut. I think the doors are locked. Notice John adds they are behind closed doors “for fear of the Jews.” These men are scared, and with good reason. They are thinking they might be next on the chopping block. So, as these men are assembled together, basically in hiding, Jesus just appears in the middle of the room. And Luke let’s us know that this terrifies the disciples. As I mentioned a moment ago, they think that Jesus is a ghost. Again, these men are having a tough, tough time putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Now the next thing we need to look in this verse is the when. John says, it was evening on the first day of the week. Here is the point. The Scripture we are gong to cover today occurs on Sunday evening. And here is a good spot to review a little bit. Obviously, we know that the Lord was resurrected early Sunday morning. He appears first to Mary Magdalene, and she runs and tells the disciples, but they don’t believe. Then, later that morning Jesus appears to another group of women and instructs them to go back and tell the disciples. Which they do, but guess what? The disciples don’t believe them either.
Then on Sunday afternoon Jesus travels with two discipleships on the road to Emmaus. And as Jesus walks with these disciples, He explains from the OT Scriptures all the things concerning Himself. In other words, Jesus conducts a seven mile Bible study beginning at Moses, and according to Luke, Jesus took them through all the prophets. And it is in this Bible study that Jesus explains (from the Scriptures) that the Messiah needed to suffer and die before He enters into His glory.
And as we also learned, for whatever reason these two disciples don’t recognize Jesus. They don’t recognize Jesus, but they convince the Lord to come have dinner with them when they reach their destination. So, they still don’t recognize the Lord, but they are so impressed with His teaching that they convince the Lord to stay for dinner.
In fact, let’s read a couple of these verses to finish up our review.
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
So, verse 30 says, “He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them”. And right as He gives them the bread it says, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him”.
Now the text doesn’t say this, but I’m of the opinion that when Jesus passes them the bread that they see His hands and when they see His hands, they see the nail prints. And when they see those nail prints, it dawns on them. They are having dinner with the risen Lord. They just had a seven mile Bible study with the risen Lord. Man, I swear that gets me fired up every time I read it. And they realize it after the fact, They say, did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
Church, the Scriptures truly are amazing. Through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, God opens His Word to us. God reveals Himself to us through His Word. All we have to do is open up this Book — pray, and study — and God Himself meets us there.” Don’t neglect this privilege that we’ve been given. Amen.
In effect, we can have the Emmaus road experience every time we open the Scriptures. We have that kind of access to God. Do not take it for granted. Don’t let this world pull you away from God with activities, and hobbies, and pleasures, and… and… etc. This world system is designed to pull you away from God. And it doesn’t always pull us away with sinful things. The world pulls us away from God with good things too. You see, we take good things and we make idols out of them. Do not let the culture of the world pull you away from God.
So, we are ready to get into our text for this morning so let’s pray for the Lord to open up the scriptures to us.
Ok, well we just read verse 32, let’s just keep right on rolling. Picking up at verse 33.
33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
And so, after these two disciples recognize Jesus they immediately run back to Jerusalem and tell the disciples. Now think about this for a moment. Remember Jesus met these disciples as they are leaving Jerusalem to go Emmaus. Luke says it was a seven mile journey. Now, out of curiosity I asked AI how long it would have taken to get to Emmaus. And apparently, at a normal walking pace, it would have taken roughly 3 hours.
So, they get all the way to Emmaus and invite Jesus in for dinner. Well, after they recognize Jesus and He vanishes it says, “they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. “ Now, I don’t think this means that they finished their meal and then left. I think the indication is that they got up right then and raced back to Jerusalem. One commentator I was reading said, it means they left “straight away” rather than “within the hour”.
Here is the point. This was a lot of traveling for one day, roughly six hour worth. And remember it was already dinner time, and these disciples have another seven mile journey back to Jerusalem so that they can tell the others. But that is exactly what they do. Verse 33 says, they “returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were with them”.
And man I bet they made that journey back to Jerusalem a lot faster than the trip to Emmaus. I mean after what just happened to them, I bet they made that trip in record time. They had just encountered the risen Lord, plus He had explained the Scriptures to them. They held the pieces of the puzzle that the other disciples lacked. You see, Jesus had opened the scriptures to them so they could understand that the Messiah was always destined to suffer, die, and be resurrected. And there is a wonderful discipleship lesson tucked into these verses.
As disciples we need to share what we are learning.
As disciples we need to share what we are learning.
We need to imitate these two disciples. We need to do exactly what these two disciples did. They encounter the Lord, they are given all of this wonderful knowledge of the Scriptures and what do they do? They immediately get up and go share the news! This is exactly what we need to be doing. We need to be sharing what we are learning.
You know, over the past few weeks, I guess starting with Good Friday, I’ve been going back to the OT and connecting these passages with Jesus. We’ve done Psalm 22, Numbers 21, and even the book of Leviticus. And since, I’ve been doing this I’ve had several people come up to me and say, “William I’ve read these passages my entire life and I’ve never connected the dots. This is amazing.” And first of all, I can’t tell you how encouraging those comments are to me. Truly, they add fuel to my ministry fire. One of the toughest things about getting up here week after week is wondering if what I’m teaching is getting through. And it is like that for all the people that are teaching you. So, if you get something out of a Sunday School lesson. Tell the teacher. It is encouraging to them, and we need to be encouraging one another.
But, here is the main point I want to make. If you hear a sermon, or a Bible lesson that just blows you a way. Or if you learn something from a lesson that you never knew before. Tell somebody! Back to the point on the slide, “As disciples we need to share what we are learning”. And yes, you will have to do a little prep work to be able to comminate it to somebody, but that just helps you learn the material even better. Share it with you kids, coworkers, maybe family members who don’t go to church regularly. Be like these two disciples in this passage. Get up and run tell people what you’ve learned.
33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
And so now the disciples have all kinds of eye witness accounts coming back to them. When the Emmaus disciples get back to Jerusalem, they find another group of witnesses “who were with them gathered together”. So, there is another group besides the eleven there. And this other group has their own testimony, and they that Jesus has “appeared to Simon (Peter)”.
And so we learn here that Jesus had already appeared to Peter, and this must have been a private, one‑on‑one moment between the Lord and Peter—most likely to restore Peter after his repeated denials the night before the crucifixion. And this is the report the Emmaus disciples hear as they arrive in Jerusalem. Now Luke gives us their testimony.
35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
Now, the two disciples from Emmaus are telling the eleven and the others that were gathered “about the things that had happened on the road and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread”. And can you imagine that conversation as these two disciples went over the details. “We didn’t even recognize Him on the road, but He explained about how Moses and all the prophets foretold of the Messiah’s suffering before He would enter His glory. And it wasn’t until He was breaking the bread and we saw the nail prints that we recognized Him and then He vanished in thin air”.
And listen to what happens next.
36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.
And so even after multiple reports of Jesus’ resurrection, even after they are looking at Him face to face, they still don’t believe the resurrection. In their minds, a better explanation of what is happening is He’s a ghost. And again, we read John’s account earlier, which makes it pretty clear that Jesus appears out of thin air, but the disciples should have gotten the picture by now.
You see, these men are so overwhelmed and so locked into their fear and confusion that the most reasonable explanation they can come up with is, “We’re seeing a spirit.” They have eyewitness reports. They have Jesus standing right in front of them. And still, in their minds they cannot make sense of it. The resurrection was so far outside their expectations that they default to the only category they think fits—"it must be a ghost”.
38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
Now, before we go any further, I want us to turn to Mark’s Gospel. Mark gives us another angle on this same encounter. In fact, Mark gives us a detail that Luke doesn’t. Mark tells us that Jesus actually rebukes the disciples for their unbelief. So let’s flip over to the book of Mark and read a few verses, because Mark gives us a helpful summary of the very events we’ve been studying.
10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
Mark is speaking about Mary Magdalene telling the disciples and notice, “they did not believe.”
12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
Here Mark records a summary of the Emmaus road disciples. It says Jesus “appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.” But look what Mark adds at the end of verse 13, “but they did not believe them either”. So, just like we’ve been reading in Luke, the Emmaus disciples come barging in and tell their amazing story, but the disciples didn’t believe them. Mark makes that clear. And listen to what Mark writes next.
14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Mark records that “later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And so Mark gives us a nice tidy summary of the events, and Luke gives us all the details. So, just to make sure you are connecting the dots, Mark 16:14, this verse on the screen is a one sentence summary of the account we are reading about in Luke. However, Luke doesn’t include the rebuke that Mark records. And this is one of the reasons it’s such a gift to have four Gospels—each writer captures Jesus’ life and ministry from a different angle. When we study them together, we get a fuller picture of what happened and how each moment unfolded.
And so we know during this appearance the Lord rebukes the disciples for their unbelief, now let’s turn back to Luke.
38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.
And here is what is truly mind-boggling about what we just read. Jesus has showed them His hands and feet. John adds the detail that Jesus showed them His side as well. But look what verse 41 says. “But while they still did not believe for joy”. Apparently, the disciples are thinking that this news was just too good to be true. They still couldn’t wrap their minds around it so Jesus offers more proof. He asks for something to eat, and it says, “they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb”. Jesus eats in their presence to offer them further proof that He wasn’t a ghost. Man, talk about slow of heart to believe.
Now from our vantage point, we read these accounts and we think, “man, how could they not be getting the picture by now. I mean they’ve got eyewitnesses coming to them, they have Jesus standing in the room with them, He just ate a piece of fish, He shows them the scars of the crucifixion, and they still doubted”.
How could they not have believed? Well, I’ll tell you the answer that keeps hitting me in the face as I keep meditating on these Scriptures. Their problem was not understanding what the scriptures said about the suffering and death of the Messiah. You see, we have the benefit of years of studying the Scriptures regarding Jesus’ death and resurrection. In other words, the foundation of everything that we believe as Christians is the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But that wasn’t the case for these disciples. Just like we do, these men had deep seeded religious convictions about the coming Messiah. Their entire worldview was shaped by the belief that the Messiah was coming to reign in power and glory. Their theology had no place for a suffering Messiah that was going to die. And so when Jesus is crucified these men’s entire belief system is shattered to pieces. Their faith is shattered.
And for those pieces to be put back together in a way that is going to make belief in the resurrection possible, Jesus has to open their understanding so that they can comprehend the Scriptures. And this is exactly what Jesus is getting ready to do. Jesus is now going to do the same thing that we saw Him do for the other disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus is going to open their understanding so that they can comprehend the Scriptures. Let’s read on.
44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”
Pay attention to the first thing Jesus says to them. “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you”. If you were with us for our study of Mark’s Gospel, this verse should make sense to you. Three different times in Mark Gospel Jesus teaches these disciples that He was going to be betrayed by the religious leaders. Three different times Jesus tells them He was going to die, and three different times Jesus tells them He was going to rise on the third day.
In other words Jesus is saying, “Guys, I told you this was going to happen. While I was still with you, I told you that I was going to die and rise again. But that is not the only thing Jesus says, He says, “that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me”. Now, the Hebrew Bible is divided into three major sections. The Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. So, in other words. Jesus is saying, all the things written in the entire OT concerning me had to be fulfilled.
And now listen to what Luke records in the very next verse.
45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
Pay attention here because I’m working my way to the main takeaway for this morning. Jesus opened, their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. You see, the disciples were given proof after proof after proof that Jesus was alive. They had the testimonies from eye witnesses, they had Jesus Himself standing in front of Him. The felt the scars and they watched Him eat, and they were still doubting.
You see, what they were lacking was a clear understanding of the Scriptures, and until the Lord fixed their broken theology these men couldn’t get their acts together. They needed to understand the Word of God to restore their faith. And this is a absolute fact for all of us. Let me put it this way. To be effective servants of Jesus Christ we need repeated, continous exposure to the word of God, and there is no short cut. There is no lighting bolt from heaven that is going to strike you and make you a super Christian. There is no revival meeting that you are going to walk into to have some experience that is going to make you instantly mature.
And unfortunately, that is where most people are looking for God. They want the one time miraculous experience. But Church, the Lord abides with those who seek Him day after day after day. The Lord abides with those who are willing to walk with Him in the slow, steady, day‑after‑day rhythm of Scripture and obedience. He meets the believer who keeps showing up with an open Bible and an open heart. He strengthens the Christian who keeps returning to His Word when no one is watching, when no one is applauding, when the emotions aren’t high and the feelings aren’t dramatic.
This is how God forms disciples. This is how He restores faith. This is how He matures His people. Not through one‑time spiritual fireworks, but through a lifetime of steady exposure to His truth. There is no shortcut.
And this is exactly what Jesus is doing with these disciples. He is grounding them—not in experiences, not in emotions, not in the spectacular—but in the Scriptures. He opens their minds so they can finally understand what God had been saying all along. And it is the word of God that restores these men’s faith.
Let me give you an example from my own life as I work to close. Most people know my testimony in here. Let’s just say, the first 30 something years of life, I wasn’t on the pastoral track. I walked away from God in my teenage years and lived like the world. I mean sure I picked up my Bible from time to time and went to church on occasion. But I was ruled by my flesh and it led to alcoholism and drug addiction.
Well, one day I had a moment of clarity and it dawned on me that I had a completely unbiblical mindset. I realized that I believed all kinds of things that weren’t Biblical. The major thing I believed was that I couldn’t live a normal life. In other words, I believed I needed chemical substances to get through my days. Simply put, I thought I could never life without drugs and alcohol. Well, in this moment of clarity I realized that this was completely unbiblical thought pattern. I mean I believed in Jesus for eternal life, but I believed that it was impossible to get off drugs. You see, I had a majority kink in my theology. I had embraced a lie, and I was believing a lie, and that is what happens when we persist in sin. It completely distorted our minds.
That is when I started to wake up and think, man I’ve wondered off into the spiritual far country. I’m in bondage to sin. And so I got down on my hands and knees and said God, “if you can fix me, you can have me”. Because I can’t do this anymore. And then, I committed to studying the Bible. And believe me in those early days, I felt awful. But I would force myself to sit down and study the Bible. And guess what. I just never stopped. I never stopped studying my Bible. And the rest as they say is history. God restored my mindset. He restored my faith. He literally transformed the way I think. And that is what the Word of God does. It renews our minds every time we dive in, and that leads to Godly, Biblical thought patterns, which leads to Godly, Biblical behavior. The battlefield is in the mind.
And here is one more point and I’m going to start wrapping up. In the Christian life, we never get to a place where we don’t need the word of God. It’s not like we can say, “oh well I needed to study the Bible for those first 10 years, but now I’m good.” No. Our minds are either being renewed and transformed by the Word of God and Holy Spirit, or our mindsets are being conformed to the world. If you put down your Bible, those old fleshly thought patterns and behaviors will start to rear their ugly head again. It is guaranteed. Amen.
So, let me see if I can bring this all together. The disciples walk of faith was shattered. These are defeated men. They are living in fear and in unbelief. This happens to them because of their lack of understanding of the Word of God. And guess what restores their faith? It was Jesus opening their understanding so they could comprehend the Scriptures.
45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
That is the title of today’s lesson, and it is the main point. The disciples didn’t get back on track until the understood the scriptures. The Emmaus road disciples had the same experience. Look back at verse 32.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
The disciples were living in fear, confusion, and unbelief—not because they lacked evidence, but because they lacked understanding. Their faith wasn’t restored until Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And the same is true for us. Victory in the Christian life doesn’t come through moments, emotions, or one‑time experiences. It comes through a steady, daily walk with Christ as He opens His Word to us. Our minds are renewed, our faith is strengthened, and our lives are transformed when we meet Him in the Scriptures day after day. If you want to walk in fellowship with Christ, stay on that Emmaus road—open your Bible, let Him speak, and let His Word shape your life.
