Luk 24:13-35 | KingComments | STEP | 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.

‏ Luke 24:13-35

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.

Reproof and Teaching of the Lord

After these expressions of their deep disappointment, the Lord takes the floor. From His words, we learn that disappointed expectations in our perceptions of His actions arise from not reading or not reading well and believing what Scripture says. He reproves them for this with the words “foolish men and slow of heart to believe”.

A foolish person is one who does not use his mind and therefore does not grasp things he should understand. So Paul also speaks to the Galatians who, against their better judgment, wanted to reintroduce the law (Gal 3:1 ; 3). However, it is not only a question of the mind, but also of the heart. Their heart is slow, almost unwilling, to believe. They have read in the prophets what they have all said, but it has not entered in their heart. That is because they read the prophets only in view of the glorious time for Israel. They read selectively, but only the passages that pleased them came through to them.

If they had believed “all” that the Scripture says, they would have known that the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus are the foundation of His future glory. He Himself has time and again clearly foretold that He first had to suffer and that He in that way will enter into His glory. Suffering must necessarily precede glory. The Lord puts it as a question to make it clear to their minds and hearts.

Then the two disciples receive the most brilliant teaching they have ever received on earth from the Scripture. The Lord Himself begins to explain to them what is written about Him in all the Scriptures. He does so in the order of Scripture itself. He begins with the books of Moses, then continues with all the prophets. With this, the Lord gives an example for all explanation of the Scriptures.

Explanation of the Scripture only deserves that name when is explained what is written about Him in the Scriptures. He is the center of the Scripture. Everything relates to Him or is in connection with Him. Let us also remember that the Lord has explained the Old Testament. It is a stimulus for us to also occupy with that part of God’s Word in order to discover the glory of the Lord Jesus there.

The Lord Makes Himself Known

Walking and speaking they approached the village where they are on their way to. Time will have flown by. The Lord is about to bid farewell. He does not insist, but tests whether there is a desire to invite Him. This appears to be the case with Cleopas and his companion. They urge Him to stay with them. They express their wish in those wonderful words that the Savior would also like to hear from us: “Stay with us”, and to which He likes to respond.

By the way, it is also getting toward evening, the day is nearly over. When there is a meeting with the Lord, the day is nearly over. The world around them becomes darker and darker as the light in their heart and home is enlightened by His presence. The Lord goes in with them. He does not seek shelter just for one night, but He seeks them. He wants to stay with them to never leave again. And they seek Him, for they would like to hear more of this Stranger about Him Who, despite His disappearance, has become more dear to them because by what He has told them.

As soon as the Lord has accepted the invitation and entered with them, He does not take the place of Guest, but of Host. What normally is done by him who invites, the Lord does of His own accord, without asking permission. He takes the bread for dinner, He blesses, He breaks it, and He distributes it to those who have invited Him and with whom He is a Guest.

This is not the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, because that happens when the church comes together, i.e. in church context. The Lord also says nothing about thinking of Him, doing in remembrance of Him. He simply breaks the bread for the meal. Yet it is not an ordinary act, but His act. He breaks the bread to make Himself known to His disciples, because His breaking of the bread here means He has surrendered Himself into death.

The moment He breaks the bread and gives it to them, the covering of their eyes is taken away, and they see Who He is. Their eyes are opened and they recognize Him. At the same time He vanishes from their sight. With this He indicates that their relationship with Him has now come on another basis. Namely, He has become the object of faith (2Cor 5:7). It is no longer a visible Messiah, but for faith He is as real as if He were physically, visibly, present. How real is our faith? Wouldn’t it really make any difference in practice if He were physically present?

The two disciples are not surprised that the Lord is suddenly invisible. They now understand the situation because they have understood His teaching. He spoke to their heart that first was so slow. He has made it burning for Him. That’s what they say to each other.

When he spoke to them on the road, he addressed their heart [literally: “our heart”, singular], which is in the same mind, when He opened the Scriptures to them. This is more than just opening and reading the Bible. It is to explain the Scriptures and to give them their true meaning. The teaching of Scripture has the consequence that we understand Scripture. That will do a work in our heart. By listening together to the teaching from God’s Word in which things are connected to the Lord Jesus, the hearts of all are melted together into one heart.

Back to Jerusalem

After this wonderful discovery and experience, their whole disappointment has turned into great joy. They have to share this with the other disciples. They no longer think of Him as the One of Whom they hoped He would redeem Israel. There is still a long way to go before the redemption of Israel has actually come. In that respect, nothing had changed.

However, they have seen the resurrected Lord and through the teaching of God’s Word they have understood that the Lord’s way to glory had to go through suffering. As a result their faith and hope have become alive and sound and they go to tell the disciples about it. They want to share this. With us it is the same. Everything we have seen in the Word of the Lord Jesus will have an effect on our life. It will make us witnesses, this is inevitable.

When they have arrived in Jerusalem they find the eleven apostles gathered together with a number of others. Before the two from Emmaus can give their enthusiastic testimony, the others already call that the Lord has risen. For it is already known to them through Peter, for the Lord has appeared to him.

We see how quickly the testimonies of the Lord’s resurrection multiply. We hear, as it were, a song from the one answered by others and vise versa on the theme of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus in which the personal encounters with Him are sung. How beautiful it would be if this aspect were to be discussed frequently in the Christian meetings. This may literally happen by singing songs; it may also happen in personal testimonies.

After the warm welcome, the two also tell of their meeting with the Lord and how He is recognized by them in that action that has spoken to their heart. He spoke to them in a different way and revealed Himself to them. With them it is the act that speaks of His death. They share that with the others.