On the Road with Jesus

Greetings.

 We are nearing the end of Luke, and in today's post we see the resurrected Jesus take a journey with two disciples.  Here is my translation of Luke 24:13-27: 

13 That day, two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.  14 They were talking to each other about all of the things that had happened. 15 As they were discussing these matters, Jesus came near them and walked with them.  16 However, they were kept from recognizing him. 17  Jesus asked, “What are these things that the two of you are talking about as you walk along? Then they just stood there in despair. 

18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered Jesus, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened over these last few days?” 

19 Jesus responded, “What has happened?”

They told him, “This all concerns Jesus of Nazareth. This man was a prophet, mighty in word and in action, both in the sight of God and all the people.  20 Our chief priests and leaders handed him over to a death sentence and he was crucified. 21 We had hoped that he was the One who had come to set Israel free.  22 On top of that, it has been three days since all of that took place, 22 and some of our women have amazed us.  They went early in the morning to the tomb, 23 and they did not find his body.  Then they came and told us about a vision in which they saw angels, who claimed that Jesus was alive.  24 So some of our number went to the tomb and they found things just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25 Then Jesus said to them, “Oh, how foolish and slow your hearts are to believe everything that is spoken by the prophets. 26 Did the Messiah not have to suffer all of these things, and then enter into his glory?” 27  Then, beginning with Moses, he explained everything that the Scriptures said about him. 

The scene of our story shifts from the empty tomb to two disciples taking a seven mile journey from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. One of the travelers is identified as Cleopas in verse 18.  The other traveler is not identified.  The two are engaged in a discussion of the recent events in Jerusalem, namely, the crucifixion and the story told by the women of the angelic at the tomb.  It seems that Cleopas and his companion are having a hard time believing that Jesus had risen from the dead, as they are dejected when Jesus approaches them. 

Jesus approaches the travelers as a stranger.  Verse 16 states that they were kept from recognizing Jesus.  So, these two were apparently at least acquaintances of Jesus.  Verse 13 does call them disciples.  We can assume that had they not been blocked from recognizing Jesus, they would have recognized him immediately.  What caused this inability to see clearly?  But for whatever reason, God was using this uncertainty to teach them.  Eventually they would see clearly. 

As Jesus approaches them and asks them what they were discussing, verse 17 says that they just stood in despair.  Cleopas then asks Jesus, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened over these last few days?”  Apparently knowledge of the crucifixion had filled Jerusalem.  So much so, that the two disciples have a hard time believing that someone could walk out of Jerusalem without knowing about it.  The two were so dejected that, even though they are aware of the story of the women that Jesus had risen, they do not appear to believe it. 

Jesus feigns ignorance when they ask whether he is the only one in Jerusalem who is unaware of what has happened.  He asks them, “What has happened?” 

Their response is about Jesus and how they had hoped he was the Messiah.  They give a pretty accurate description of Jesus, describing him like this:

• A prophet.
• Mighty in word and deed.
• Mighty in God’s sight.
• Mighty in the sight of the people.  

That added that they had hoped that he would set Israel free.  Jesus did indded det people free, but not in the way that they were expecting. 

They also told Jesus of the crucifixion and the story of the women who had gone to the tomb and found it empty, about the angels and about the claim that Jesus was now alive, and about how some of their number, presumably Peter and John, had gone to the tomb and also found it empty.  These two disciples share both despair and amazement.  

Undoubtedly, when Jesus hung on the Cross, dead, and was then buried in a tomb, they likely gave up hope.  They state clearly that they had hoped that Jesus was the one who would set Israel free.  This hope was crushed.  Of course, we understand that Jesus, the Messiah, had not come to break Israel free of Rome’s power.  He had actually come to set anyone and everyone free from an even stronger power, the power of Satan and sin.  

Jesus teaches them the truth that he had been trying to teach his disciples for some time.  Finally it seems that some understanding dawns on Cleopas and his companion.  Jesus expresses great disappointment with Cleopas and his companion.  He says to them, “Oh, how foolish and slow your hearts are to believe everything that is spoken by the prophets.”  Jesus had been telling his disciples for some time that he would be killed and be raised from the dead, but they have been slow to understand it and slow to believe it. Their failure to grasp this, according to Jesus, is foolishness.  Their options were foolishness or faith.  They didn’t really understand the vast body teaching in the Old Testament that testified to Jesus.  Understanding took them toward faith..  

Jesus starts with Moses and explains everything that the Scriptures said about the Messiah. He explains why he had to suffer and die, then he would enter his glory.  The suffering and death had to come first.  Then Jesus would be glorified.  He used the Old Testament to explain all of this to Cleopas and his companion, but in truth it was something that he had been saying to his disciples for some time.  This time, it appears that they finally understand.  

Did it take the crucifixion and resurrection for the disciples to understand what Jesus had been saying plainly to them?  Now that it has happened, perhaps Jesus is finally able to put into a perspective that they can understand.

One note here is that the Messianic current in Judea at the time did not involve anything like suffering or dying.  The Messiah was supposed to liberate Israel from the clutches of the evil Romans.  Dying on a cross at the hands of the Romans would, therefore, not be a part of the plan.     

Jesus uses the Greek word δόξαν (doxan), which means glory.  He had to suffer first, then enter his glory.  He used the OT to explain this.  Suffering first, then glory. It is possible that the beginning point of Jesus' trip through the OT was Deut. 18:15 where God promises to raise up a prophet among the Israelites. Jesus would then use the OT and his own life to show that he is indeed that Prophet. Of course, this is only speculation, but it does seem the story here. 

So, where are we?  Jesus has risen from the dead and has appeared in desguise to Cleopas and an unnamed traveling companion.  They are dejected about the death of Jesus, but he helps them to see things more clearly, taking them from foolishness (faithlessness) to faith.