Luke 24:13-34

Two Disciples Meet Jesus on the Road To Emmaus (24:13-34).

The women having been brought to believe, Jesus now brings two ‘unknown' disciples to belief. It may be that by these means He was hoping to bring most of the Apostles to belief before He appeared to them physically, so that they would have the greater blessing (John 20:29), and would obey Him by going to meet Him in Galilee (Mark 16:7), without Him having to appear to them in Jerusalem. But if so the hopes to some extent failed to materialise. Or it may be that the aim was to establish the fact that both women and unknown disciples were important parts of the Kingly Rule of God, a reminder to His Apostles that they themselves must be servants and not masters to the flock.

Either way this appearance is of great importance, both as providing further witnesses to the resurrection, and because of the content of what Jesus said to the two.

Analysis.

a Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem. And they spoke heart to heart with each other of all these things which had happened (Luke 24:13).

b And it came about that while they communed and questioned together, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them (Luke 24:15).

c But their eyes were held that they should not know Him. And He said to them, “What are these things that you are talking to each other about with one with another, as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad (Luke 24:16).

d And one of them, named Cleopas, answering said to Him, “Do you alone stay for a time in Jerusalem and not know the things which are come about there in these days?” (Luke 24:18).

e ‘And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19).

f “And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we hoped that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things came about” (Luke 24:20).

g “Moreover certain women of our company amazed us, having been early at the tomb, and when they did not find his body” (Luke 24:22 a).

h “They came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive” (Luke 24:23 b).

g “And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it to be even as the women had said, but Him they saw not” (Luke 24:24).

f And He said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Did it not behove the Christ (the Messiah) to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25)

e And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).

d And they drew near to the village, to which they were going, and He made as though He would go further, and they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent.” And He went in to stay with them (Luke 24:28).

c And it came about that when He had sat down with them to a meal, He took the bread and blessed, and breaking it He gave to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight (Luke 24:30).

b And they said one to another, “Was our heart not burning within us, while He spoke to us in the way, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).

a And they rose up that very hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.” And they rehearsed the things that happened in the way, and how He was known of them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:33).

Note how in ‘a' they were discussing together what had happened, and in the parallel they meet with the other disciples and discuss what has happened. In ‘b' they walked with Jesus in the way, and in the parallel they spoke of how their hearts had burned within them while they walked with Jesus in the way. In ‘c' their eyes were ‘held' so that they did not know Him, and in the parallel their eyes are opened so that they did know Him. In ‘d' Cleopas speaks of Jesus as staying in Jerusalem and being in ignorance, and in the parallel they invite Him to stay with them in ignorance of Who He is. In ‘e' they speak of Jesus as a prophet mighty in word and deed, and in the parallel Jesus expounds to them from the prophets the things concerning Himself. In ‘f' they describe how He had been put to death and how it had been their hope that He would redeem Israel, and in the parallel Jesus asks them whether in fact the prophets had not said that He would suffer, and then enter into His glory. In ‘g' the women had been to the tomb, but had not found His body, and in the parallel others had been to the tomb, and they had not seen Him. And centrally in ‘h' the angels had informed the women that Jesus was alive.