Luke 24:13-21
On the Way From Jerusalem to Emmaus
What is needed to come to the conviction of the truth of God’s Word is that the Lord Himself touches our hearts. We see that in the next history that we only find in this Gospel written by Luke. “That very day”, that is the day of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, two of His disciples are going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Jerusalem has nothing more to offer them. Everything is over. They also leave the company of the believers. To them it no longer makes sense. Just like Peter, they go away, home. Their thoughts are still full of all that has happened. It all made a deep impression. It is beautiful as followers of the Lord to share the things we have experienced. It is even more beautiful if the basis for this is Scripture and not just feelings.The Lord Jesus Joins Them
Because their hearts are busy with the good things, the most beautiful thing happens: the Lord Jesus approaches them and travels with them. He has a resurrection body that is of a different nature than the body of His humiliation. Yet He is the same Person. We too may be concerned with the Lord’s things, but that in our thinking we are not on the right path. Then He wants to come to us to get our thinking back on the right path. In this case, He makes sure that the two disciples do not recognize Him. This is necessary so that they may pour out their whole heart before Him. He invites them to say what concerns them. The disciples stand still, astonished and with sad faces. How can anyone be so ignorant about things that are so significant to them! They are so deeply involved in the events that they cannot imagine that there is anyone who knows nothing about it. They do not exchange the latest news in a neutral way. They are intensely grieved because of what has happened. It has touched them and keeps them occupied. One of the two, of whom Luke gives the name, while keeping the name of the other hidden, does not understand why this Stranger asks about the events. Is He not aware of everything that has happened in Jerusalem in the last few days? Surely that cannot be true, can it? Everyone knows about it and talks about it.The Report of Events
With a friendly question “what things?” the Lord invites them to tell Him what may have happened. Immediately they talk to Him about “Jesus the Nazarene”, the Man of Nazareth. Their hearts are still full of Him. They have been impressed by Him as a Prophet. What He has shown and told makes it clear that God has been present and working in Him for the benefit of His people. They have become convinced of that. Apparently, their faith did not go any further. They have not yet seen in Him the Son of God about Whom death has no power to hold Him. For them, therefore, His death means the end of His history and thus of their hope. They tell what “the chief priests and our rulers“ have done to Him and how that has shattered all their hopes for the redemption of Israel. They do not blame the Romans for His death, although they are certainly partly to blame. They didn’t think this was possible. They do not understand how God could have allowed their leaders to assault Christ and kill Him. They have hoped, just like their leaders, for a glory without suffering; but unlike their leaders they have seen the Messiah in the Lord Jesus. But their expectations that He went to Jerusalem to sit down there on the throne of His father David, have no ground in Scripture. Such unfounded expectations, which do not come true, have led several people to turn their backs on faith and return to the world. This can happen if Christian work does not deliver what we expected of it or if the preaching of the gospel does not deliver result, or if the community of believers disappoints us. Christ meets all disappointment by presenting Himself to us. If we see Him as the center of God’s counsel, we will be saved from putting something else at the center. The latter always leads to disappointment. They focus on Israel and their own importance. With us it can be something else. And it’s already the third day since it happened and still they can’t understand that it ended like this. With all their questions about the course of events, which was so disappointing for them, they tell about another shocking event. Some women “among us” have caused this, women from among the disciples, in other words women they know and who also love the Lord. Those women were early at the tomb. When they came to the tomb, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Something else happened, at least so they stated. They said that they had seen a vision of angels and those angels had said that He is alive. That was very special news. Also, some “of those who were with us“ – these are Peter and John (Jn 20:3-8) – went to the tomb immediately after these words. And it was exactly as the women had said. But Him they did not see. So the mystery is not solved. A gap has really been made in their expectations. First by His rejection and then by the announcement that He would live anyway, but whereof there is no evidence to be found.
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