By Diane Barstow
Every time I read through this text, I had more questions. Why were they headed to this town (it had a warm springs)? Was it one of their hometowns? Why was only one disciple named, who was the other person? Why did they not recognize Him? Why did they not remember what He said about being crucified and rising from the dead? Why were they not expecting resurrection? Why did Jesus start with Moses? What was the essence of His post-resurrection body? Some of these questions I will try to answer, some will just have to wait until we see Him face to face for explanation.
As a prologue - I love this quote from Barkley. “This is another of the immortal short stories of the world. First, it tells of two men who are walking toward the sunset. Secondly, it tells us of the ability of Jesus to make sense of things. There is all the poignant, wistful, bewildered regret in the world in their sorrowing world words, We were hoping He was the one who was going to rescue Israel. They were the words of men whose hopes were dead and buried. Then Jesus came and talked to them, and the meaning of life became clear and darkness became light. Thirdly, it tells us of the courtesy of Jesus. He would not force Himself upon them; He awaited their invitation to come in. God gave to men the greatest and the most perilous gift in the world, the gift of free-will; we can use it to invite Christ to enter our lives or to allow him to pass on.”
Before we begin - I’ll give you my 2 crucial applicational challenges.
1/ Are you expecting resurrection, and 2/ Does the Word cause your heart to burn?
It is important to remember the context. This is Luke’s summary of the life of The Christ for a gentile new believer! In these 23 verses we have the account of the 4th post-resurrection appearance of Jesus. Previously, we had the account of Mary Magdalene, the other women returning from the tomb, and an unspecified appearance to Simon Peter in Jerusalem. I did a deep dive into the post-resurrection order of appearances of Jesus. I can give you a list with references if you like. Remember, this is still the very same day!! The wound is fresh so to speak - their heart-wrenching grief and bitter disappointment oozes from the narrative!! Cleopas & Mr. Unnamed are heading home? Have they given up following a dead leader?
I’m going to read our text, then talk about what stuck out to me.
13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about 7 miles from Jerusalem.
14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place.
15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.
I can imagine that as He joined them as they were walking that He was listening to their conversation. The nature of their conversation was one of heated volleying of comments back and forth. Each sharing a memory of Jesus, bouncing ideas off each other, comparing disappointment. “When He said … what do you suppose He meant? We can be certain that they were speaking ABOUT JESUS!
16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.
Let’s talk about the words ‘their eyes were prevented.’ The word prevented in the Greek is KRATEO - which means to hold in check, restrain. A decisive grasp that either restraints, protects, or preserves. God holding back their recognition of Christ by controlling their eyes. In Acts 10:40-41 Peter said, “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.” We can also look at a vision in the same way - God supernaturally controlling what the eyes see. Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus is a good example. The others with him saw nothing and only heard the voice.
17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad.
Have you ever been so shocked by something someone said that you were gob smacked? That it ‘stopped you in your tracks’? Their grief and utter disappointment came to the surface.
18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem, and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?
In Acts 10:39 Peter said that even the Gentiles in Caesarea had heard all about Jesus - how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
19 And He said to them, “What things?”
I’ll insert here that perhaps Jesus wanted to assess their understanding of events?
And they said to Him, The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God, and all the people,
20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death and crucified Him.
21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.
In his commentary on Luke ,“Be Courageous”, Warren Wiersbe said, “The longer Cleopas talked, the more he indicted himself and his friend for their unbelief. What more evidence could they want? Witnesses (including apostles) had seen the tomb empty. Angels had announced that Jesus was alive. Witnesses had seen Him alive and heard Him speak. The proof was there.”
Jesus unambiguously predicted His death and resurrection in Matthew 16, Mark 8, and Luke 9 after He had fed the multitudes. Again, in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9 shortly after the transfiguration. And a third time in Matthew 20, Mark 10, and Luke 18. He spoke to His disciples as they were heading up towards Jerusalem for Passover, and He told them how He would be mocked, scourged, crucified, and then rise again. On this occasion also the disciples did not understand Jesus’ saying because the meaning was hidden from them. They would soon learn what Jesus meant in the events of Good Friday and following. Jesus, many times, also referred to His death metaphorically. Did they just not understand, or did they forget what He had been saying? This reminded me of an instruction in James 1:22, (ironically) that we should be ‘not forgetful hearers!’ As Jesus’ brother, he did his share of forgetful hearing!!
Accurate definitions matter! I heard this great illustration this morning. A Muslim man said, “Water is water! “Now the Christian man said, “If you are in the desert and dying of thirst, and I give you seawater, it will kill you! But if I give you freshwater, you will live!” The point being not all water is the same! It’s critical that you and I know exactly Who He is! EVERY other religion devalues, mischaracterizes, and misidentifies Jesus. They reduce Him to a prophet, a great teacher, a good moral man!
Matthew 16:13-16, “Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus also disclosed that the Holy Spirit that revealed this to Peter supernaturally. In a previous lesson, Judy quoted 1 Corinthians 12:3 - but it bears repeating. “Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus is accursed’; and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
These disciples revealed that they had come to the wrong conclusion about Jesus in verses 19-21. They said He was a prophet mighty in deed and word, and that they were hoping that He was going to redeem Israel. Just a mighty prophet and not the Son of God (even the demons knew that!), a political figure, someone to lead them to freedom from their Roman torturers?
22 But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning,
23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.
24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; (empty) but Him they did not see.
This won’t be the last time 1/ the men didn’t believe the testimony of the women, 2/ they didn’t even believe the testimony of the other disciples!
FIRST CHALLENGE - was ANYONE expecting resurrection? Not the women who went to the tomb with spices to anoint His body, not Peter and John who ran to look in the tomb, not the 10 disciples who were hiding in the upper room! Are we expecting resurrection? Are you actively looking for resurrection in your life? Do you want dead and dying things to regain life and power? Do we claim the resurrection grade power that is promised to us in:
Ephesians 1:19-20, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places,”
25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
Here Jesus makes a critical point - you are foolish and slow of heart to believe, not just what He had said, but what was clearly spoken in the Scriptures. The word foolish here means ‘not understanding or unwise.’ And the term ‘slow of heart’ means negligent or sluggish which insinuates a choice in the matter. In this case they were negligent or sluggish to believe. Their unbelief of the reports of His resurrection is evidenced by their flight from Jerusalem.
26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?
Focus on the words ‘necessary and glory’ here. “He shows them that the sufferings of Christ were really the appointed way to His glory, but the cross of Christ was that to which they could not reconcile themselves.”
27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
“Beginning at Moses, the first inspired writer of the Old Testament, Jesus expounded to them the things concerning Himself.” (Matthew Henry) I love the description ‘first inspired writer’. ‘Moses’ includes the account of the first sin in Genesis through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph and Egypt - which leads us all the way to Moses himself! Not just the Law, not just the 10 Commandments.
Chuck Smith had famously said that he will never forgive Cleopas for not writing down what Jesus told them on the road! Oh, to be a bird in a tree, or a beast of burden, listening to the “Author and finisher of our faith” dissect the Old Testament! I have three pages, front and back, of Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled. You’re welcome to request a copy so you can get a taste of what Cleopas and friend learned that day. I’ll give the next study a glancing blow, when I say the seven disciples in Galilee probably heard the very same exegesis of the Old Testament prophecies.
28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. (Remember how this highlights the courtesy of Jesus!)
29 But they urged Him, saying, stay with us for it is getting toward evening and the day is now nearly over. So, He went in to stay with them.
30 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them.
Again, I’ll quote Matthew Henry, “This He did with His usual authority and affection, with the same manner, perhaps with the same words.”
31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.
In What the Bible Teaches RA Torrey proposes that “Jesus Christ’s resurrection body was of such a character that He could appear in a room where the doors were shut and could vanish from the sight of men. It was not subject to some of the limitations under which ordinary earthly bodies exist, and act.”
32 They said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?
“Those scriptures, which speak of Christ, will warm the hearts of His true disciples.”
The word ‘burning’ is in the present tense and means set on fire, glowing, greatly moved. And the word ‘explain/explaining’ means to unfold the meaning of what is said. So, His unfolding of the meaning of the prophecies kindled a fire in their hearts - it moved them!
2ND CHALLENGE - do the words of Jesus kindle a fire in your heart, are you moved by them? Jeremiah 23:29 says, “Is not My word like fire? declares the Lord. “And like a hammer which shatters a rock?” Do you, as in Hebrews 4:2 ‘add faith to what you read’ for maximum benefit? Will you allow His words burn off the chaff in your heart, purifying your heart and mind? When fire fails - does His word shatter the rock-harness of your heart like a hammer?
33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the 11 and those who were with them,
34 (they were) saying, The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon!
35 They (Cleopas & companion) began to relate to their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of bread.”
Hilariously, according to Mark’s gospel, (16:12-13) they were not believed!
Later in this chapter He again encouraged them that He was not an unembodied spirit - but glorified flesh and bones! He fixed them breakfast according to John’s gospel, and it’s implied that He ate with them.
MY CONCLUSION
I don’t believe any detail is irrelevant, nor is anything left out of the Word. Prior to His death Jesus was not done instructing His followers - He spent the next 40 days equipping them for their ‘great commission’! In John 14:26 Jesus promises that when He’s gone the Holy Spirit will teach them, bring His words to their remembrance, and in the next verse, give them peace. John 16:7 says, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” We’ll see this in action when we get to Acts!