The Emmaus Road
Introduction
The story of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus is the first of three resurrection appearances reported in Luke and is unique to his Gospel
The Recognition of Hopes Gone
They had hoped that Jesus would redeem Israel (Luke 24:21), but their hopes had been shattered. We get the impression that these men were discouraged and disappointed because God did not do what they wanted Him to do. They saw the glory of the kingdom, but they failed to understand the suffering.
Jesus graciously walked with them and listened to their “animated heated conversation” (Luke 24:17, WUEST). No doubt they were quoting various Old Testament prophecies and trying to remember what Jesus had taught, but they were unable to put it all together and come up with an explanation that made sense. Was He a failure or a success? Why did He have to die? Was there a future for the nation?
The passive “were kept from recognizing” is a divine passive, i.e., God kept them from recognizing Jesus. This lack of recognition allowed Jesus to teach the necessity of his death and resurrection and to show how this was the fulfillment of Scripture
“It is vain,” writes Dr. Westcott, “to give any simply natural explanation of the failure of the disciples to recognize Christ. After the Resurrection he was known as he pleased, and not necessarily at once.… Till they who gazed on him were placed in something of spiritual harmony with the Lord, they could not recognize him.” The
The risen Christ will surely fulfil his own words, “The pure in heart, they shall see God”—but only the pure in heart
(1) the ensuing conversation in which one disciple, Cleopas, explains to the stranger about Jesus’ death at the hands of the Jewish leadership; (2) the women’s report concerning the empty tomb, which had been confirmed by others; and (3) the report of the angelic visit to the women.
Cleopas is not the Clopas of John 19:25, for Cleopas is a shortened form of the Greek name Cleopatros (masculine form of Cleopatria), whereas Clopas is a Hebrew/Aramaic name. Some have suggested that perhaps Cleopas was known to Luke’s readers in the same way that Alexander and Rufus were known to Mark’s (cf. Mark 15:21).
And we who were his friends and followers, we thought we had found in him the Redeemer of Israel, King Messiah! Think! the Redeemer crucified! Although
The Recognition of the Scriptures Speaking
“See,” he seems to say, “in the pages of our prophets all this, over which you now so bitterly mourn, is plainly predicted: yon must be blind and deaf not to have seen and heard this story of agony and patient suffering in those well-known, well-loved pages! When those great prophets spoke of the coming of Messiah, how came it about that you missed seeing that they pointed to days of suffering and death to be endured by him before his time of sovereignty and triumph could be entered on?”
What was their basic problem? They did not believe all that the prophets had written about the Messiah. That was the problem with most of the Jews in that day: they saw Messiah as a conquering Redeemer, but they did not see Him as a Suffering Servant. As they read the Old Testament, they saw the glory but not the suffering, the crown but not the cross.
Understanding Bible knowledge can lead to a “big head” (1 Cor. 8:1), but receiving Bible truth and walking with the Saviour will lead to a burning heart.
The Recognition of Their Savior’s Presence
Now they knew for themselves that Jesus was alive. They had the evidence of the open tomb, the angels, the witnesses, the Scriptures and now their own personal experience with the Lord. The fact that Jesus vanished did not mean that He abandoned them, for He was with them even though they could not see Him; and they would see Him again.
