And behold, two of them were going on the same day to a village distant sixty stadia from Jerusalem, called Emmaus;
Jesus had risen that morning. Yet two of His followers spent that day walking away from Jerusalem, and Luke names only one of them.
Luke measures the trip rather than describing the place.
A village about sixty furlongs from Jerusalem — that is, about 7 miles. The two disciples were travelling there on the day of the resurrection, and the Lord made Himself known to them. Some identify it with ruins at Khamaseh, about 8 miles south-west of Jerusalem; others with el Kubeibeh, about 7½ miles north-west. But there is nothing to settle which.
Luke names Cleopas and leaves his companion unnamed. Guesses about the second traveller run into a detail later in the chapter. When the two get back to Jerusalem, the eleven are already there without them.
It is of no consequence who the unnamed one may have been. They were disciples shaken by the crucifixion of the Messiah. Grace would comfort them, founding their faith on the Word, and giving the saints to see the unseen Jesus — the One they did not know while they looked with natural eyes. Some have supposed that the companion of Cleopas was Nathanael; others have been sure he was Peter. We may rest assured that they were mistaken, and that he could not have been an apostle. When the two returned to Jerusalem, they found "the eleven" among those gathered together (verse 33). The great point is the Lord's grace. He led them out of human thoughts to Himself as the Object of all the Scriptures — the One who first suffers and then enters His glory.
They are not walking toward something; they are walking away. One writer reads that departure as a break with more than a city.
Two disciples were travelling to Emmaus (possibly meaning "in earnest longing"), away from Jerusalem and the temple. Luke 24:13 suggests that when they left Jerusalem, they also left the whole man-made Judaic system. God gave that system at first, but it had become a human religion. By rejecting their own Messiah it shut out the very God who had given it. On paper the two disciples were still in Judaism. But when they came back (v. 33), they stood on different ground with the other disciples. The risen Lord taught them, so they might be a testimony to Jews and Gentiles (v. 47).
Commentators differ here. Others read the walk as plain discouragement — "not lack of interest, but rather lack of faith," as Samuel Ridout puts it.
Their sadness was real, but it grew out of an expectation the Scriptures had never promised them.
They had very strong expectations centred on the Messiah, and they believed they had found Him in Jesus... They did think that "he was the one to redeem Israel," but to them that meant redeeming them by power from all their national foes, rather than redeeming them to God by His blood. His death had shattered their hopes of this redemption by power and by glory. Their disappointment grew out of hopes they had cherished which the Word of God never supported. They expected the glory without the sufferings.
Their disappointment had a root, and it went deeper than grief.
They were occupied with their own thoughts about Christ rather than God's thoughts. Their minds were full of human thoughts, so they could not grasp divine thoughts — they were "slow of heart to believe" all that the prophets have spoken. Unbelief was at the back of their disappointment. Unbelief turned their feet away from the Lord's people; unbelief set their tongues reasoning, filled their hearts with sadness, and held their eyes fast closed so that they could not discern the Lord.
The next verses show how the Lord deals with disciples who walk away.
He sends no messenger to call these straying saints back to His presence. When all goes well with His people, angels, apostles, prophets and others may carry out His commands, as we know from many fine scenes recorded in the Word. But is there a wandering sheep — dejected and disappointed? Then look: "JESUS HIMSELF" will draw near to restore... How different, sadly, is the way we often take with one another. Does a brother wander away from us? How quick we are to draw away from him. But on the day the Emmaus disciples drew away, Jesus Himself drew near. What a Saviour! When we were far away He came near, and when we draw away He draws near.
- Seven miles. Two disciples walked the seven miles to Emmaus on resurrection day itself, to a village no one can now locate.
- Away. Their backs were to the city. One reading takes that departure as a break with the whole religious system they had grown up in.
- Why. They expected the glory without the sufferings. The Word of God had never promised the hopes they built.
- Beneath it. Unbelief was the root. Their own thoughts about Christ crowded out God's and closed their eyes to Him.
- Who follows. He sends no messenger. When they draw away, Jesus Himself draws near, leading them out of their own thoughts to Himself as the subject of all the Scriptures.
and they conversed with one another about all these things which had taken place.
Two followers of Jesus leave Jerusalem on the day He rose. All they have just seen — the trial, the cross, the empty tomb — fills their talk. Luke tells us what they were discussing before he tells us who joined them on the road.
Luke does not just say they were talking. He tells us what filled their words.
Their hearts were deeply interested in Christ. God has been careful to tell us what they were speaking about. They could think of nothing else, though I do not doubt they were bewildered by what had happened to the One they loved.
When the Lord later asked what they were talking about, their answer named Him.
When He asked them what they were talking about, they said, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth." They were disappointed, yet the topic of their conversation was Jesus.
Their talk was also reasoning, and it left them sad. Commentators trace both to one root.
They dwelt on their own thoughts about Christ instead of God's thoughts. Their minds were full of human thoughts, so they could not take in God's thoughts. They were "slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Unbelief lay behind their disappointment. Unbelief turned their feet away from the Lord's people. Unbelief set their tongues reasoning, filled their hearts with sadness, and held their eyes shut so that they could not recognise the Lord. And what was the unbelieving thought that filled their minds? Simply this: they wanted to bring Christ back into their own circumstances, for glory now, and for ease and blessing on earth.
How much of this was their own fault? One writer answers carefully.
Their minds were full of the things that had happened. Their intellect was at work, and they reasoned. There seems to be no self-will or stubbornness in the way they acted. But they were very sad at heart, and deeply puzzled.
While the two talked, someone was hearing every word. One writer links this road to a scene in Malachi.
Malachi 3:16 speaks of those who fear the Lord talking often with one another, while the Lord listens and hears. Later these two could have said how blessed that was, but their blessing was greater. For the Lord came near, talked with them, and walked with them. What joy it must have been to Him to watch these two taken up with Him!
Their feet were carrying them away from the city and the other believers. Their talk was still full of Christ.
Remember, they belonged to the company at Jerusalem, but they were not in their place. They were walking away, as if it was all over and lost. Things had turned out very differently from what they expected, and they were disappointed. Is this not a picture of many today?… Did the Lord forget these two wanderers, as they talked together of all these things that had happened? No. It was while they talked and reasoned like this that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
The answer to their talk was not a message about the Lord. It was the Lord Himself.
He sends no messenger to call these straying believers back to His presence… But if there is a wandering sheep — downcast and disappointed — look, "JESUS HIMSELF" will draw near to restore… Sadly, the way we often take with one another is very different. Does a fellow believer wander away from us? How quick we are to draw away from him. But on the day these two drew away, Jesus Himself drew near. What a Saviour! When we were far away He came near, and when we draw away He draws near.
The Lord's first words to them asked what they were discussing. That makes this verse a test of our own talk.
"Slow of heart" and unbelieving — yes, indeed. The glory of that lowly Man as the Christ of God, the subject of all the Scriptures, had not lit up their beings. But they were speaking together of Him… How should we answer the question, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other?" If our minds and hearts were firmly fixed on our Lord, and on the glories of His person which He has shown us, we would speak less of the failures and divisions among His people, except in secret prayer and confession. We would speak more of Himself and His interests.
- Subject — Luke records what the two were discussing. It was Christ. Their hearts held on to Him even while they walked away.
- Flaw — the same talk was reasoning. Their own thoughts about Christ crowded out God's thoughts, and left them slow to believe and sad.
- Listener — as in Malachi 3:16, the Lord hears those who speak of Him together. Here He does more. He draws near and walks with them.
- Person — He sends no messenger to fetch the wanderers back. Jesus Himself comes near at the very moment they draw away.
- Test — His question to them is the question to ask of our own talk. Is Christ our subject, or the failures of His people?
And it came to pass as they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus himself drawing nigh, went with them;
Two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem. They are going over the collapse of everything they had hoped for. Then a stranger falls into step beside them. Who is He, and why does He come this way instead of announcing Himself?
One writer points to the small word Himself. It keeps coming back through the rest of the chapter.
Now I ask you to notice that little word "himself." I think the great point of Luke 24 is "himself." Soon you will find, "He explained to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). A little later we find, "Jesus himself stood among them" (Luke 24:36). And then again, "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself" (Luke 24:39). The great point is a risen Man, the same Jesus, but risen. That is undoubtedly the point of the evangelist in this chapter.
He sends no one in His place. He comes Himself, and He comes to people who are walking the wrong way.
No messenger is sent to call these straying saints back to His presence. When all goes well with His people, angels, apostles, prophets and others may carry out His orders. We know this well from many a fine scene recorded in the Word. But is there a wandering sheep — dejected and disappointed? Then look, "JESUS HIMSELF" will draw near to restore. No stranger can share in the work that goes on between a wandering saint and "Jesus Himself." … But on the day the Emmaus saints drew away, Jesus Himself drew near. What a Saviour! When we were far away He came near, and when we draw away He draws near.
They were talking and reasoning as they walked. One writer notes that we are told what filled their minds.
Their hearts were deeply interested in Christ. God has been careful to tell us what they were speaking about. They could think of nothing else, though I have no doubt they were bewildered by what had happened to the One they loved.
Another writer sees their walk as a picture repeated today.
Let us remember that they belonged to the company at Jerusalem, but they were not in their place. They were walking away, as if everything were over and lost. Things turned out very differently from what they expected, and they were deeply disappointed. Is this not a picture of many today? They belong to the church of God, the assembly. They are members of the body of Christ. But as to their position they are so sad, from reasoning about the things that have happened, that although they belong to it — "two of them" — they are walking with their backs to the assembly and their faces towards Emmaus.
He drew near close enough to hear every word.
We have examples in the New Testament of His close acquaintance with the thoughts and conversation of His people. He gave Ananias a commission about Saul of Tarsus. He repeated to doubting Thomas the words Thomas had spoken to his fellow disciples. Both show that our words never escape His ears. And the journey of the two disciples to Emmaus, when He Himself drew near and walked with them, tells us how interested He is in everything that concerns His own — yes, even in their doubts and fears.
He could have gone anywhere that day. He went to two people who had lost heart.
He might have gone to Jerusalem and convinced the leaders of the people that He was indeed the Christ. He might have gone to Pilate and convinced him that he had crucified an innocent Person. But He did neither. There were those two discouraged disciples who had lost their faith. They were turning their backs on the place where He would meet His own. His heart went out in sympathy and pity towards them, so He joins Himself to their company. Are you sad? Are you full of anxiety? The Lord knows that. He wants to make His presence a great reality to you.
He knew everything already. Yet He begins with questions instead of telling them who He is.
He Himself knew all their thoughts and the cause of their trouble. Yet by His questions He draws out what was in their minds. In other words, He led them to empty their hearts before He speaks a single word. He might have said at once, "Here I am, risen from the dead." But He first sought to bring their souls into a right state to grasp the truth of His resurrection.
- He draws near Himself. No messenger, no substitute: as the two walk away, He closes the distance.
- He draws near as the risen Man. Himself is the keyword of the chapter — the same Jesus, now risen, seen and known.
- He draws near listening. Their subject was Him, and He was near enough to hear it — interested even in their doubts and fears.
- He draws near unhurried. He could have gone to Jerusalem or Pilate. He chose two discouraged people going the wrong way.
- He draws near questioning. He lets them empty their hearts first. Then He brings them to where they can grasp the resurrection.
but their eyes were holden so as not to know him.
Two disciples walk beside the risen Christ and never once know who He is — Luke says their eyes were kept from it. Was that veil God's kindness or their own failure, and what did He give them while it lasted?
Recognition withheld was not recognition denied. One writer explains what was at stake. Knowing Him too soon would have propped up their old hopes.
Now you see the purpose of their eyes being held until this moment. Suppose they had recognised Him, known Him, and accepted Him earlier. That would have confirmed all the Jewish thoughts and hopes that were so alive in their souls. They are to know Him as the One who died, the One who passed through death.
Their eyes stayed shut, so the Lord reached them another way. He opened the Scriptures to them — and that is how believers are meant to live.
The holding of the disciples' eyes was of importance. In the state they were in, to recognise Jesus would have satisfied their own thoughts. Instead the Lord won their hearts with all that God had said of Him, and gave them understanding of the Scriptures. Then, in an act of close friendship that recalled the great truth of His death, He brought His great deliverance to mind. "We walk by faith, not by sight."
Not everyone traces the blindness to God's plan alone. One writer looks at the two men and finds the fault in them.
It is plain they had failed in faith. The Lord's words were a rebuke; His slowness to give them what they asked was a greater rebuke still.
Another writer traces it to disappointment. They had left the place where they belonged.
They were of the company at Jerusalem, but not in their place. They were walking away, as if everything were over and lost. Things had turned out very differently from what they expected. They were sadly disappointed.
Whatever held their eyes, it did not hold Him back. They moved away from Him. He moved towards them.
Is there a wandering sheep — dejected and disappointed? Then look: "Jesus Himself" will draw near to restore… But in the day that the Emmaus saints drew away, Jesus Himself drew near. What a Saviour! When we were far away He came near, and when we draw away He draws near.
He could have proved who He was to the men in power. He went instead to two men who had given up.
He might have gone to Jerusalem and convinced the leaders of the people that He was indeed the Christ. He might have gone to Pilate and convinced him that he had crucified an innocent Person. But He did neither. Instead there were those two disheartened disciples who had lost their faith. They had turned their backs on the place where He would meet His own. His heart went out to them in sympathy and pity.
Why could they not tell it was Him? One writer suggests the risen Christ was on ground only faith can reach — and that failing to recognise Him says nothing about whether He is there.
He appears to them, as Mark says, "in another form"… The suggestion is that in resurrection He was not on the same plane as before, but on a higher one, where then and now faith alone can grasp Him… In Matthew He promises, "behold, I am with you always." Is that not an assurance that He is with His people in person, even if our eyes are held so that we do not recognise Him — our blessed, risen Lord?
Their eyes did not stay held. Verse 31 says they were opened. One writer asks what made the difference.
Have you ever noticed that their eyes were "held" in verse 16, and their eyes were "opened" in Luke 24:31? Now, dear friends, why was that? Many things are allowed to come in and hinder the soul… I tell you what will open the eyes — a burning heart. When your affection is right you will very soon see things.
- Held. Their eyes were kept shut on purpose, so that they would not take back their old hopes instead of knowing the One who died.
- Drawn near. While they walked away, He walked with them; when we draw away, He draws near.
- Taught. He held back sight and gave them the Scriptures instead — the school of walking by faith, not by sight.
- Present. Recognised or not, He is with His people — the risen Lord on ground that faith alone reaches.
- Opened. The burning heart comes before the open eye — and even now, unrecognised never means absent.
And he said to them, What discourses are these which pass between you as ye walk, and are downcast?
The risen Jesus catches up with two disciples walking away from Jerusalem. He does not announce Himself. Instead He asks about their conversation and their heavy faces. Why does He ask what He already knows — and why were followers of Christ sad on the very morning of His resurrection?
The verse ends with the two travellers halting in the road. That detail links them to the mood of the whole group of disciples that morning.
Here, in Mark, the disciples' unwillingness to believe Mary's testimony is given prominence, and also their unwillingness to believe the two who had travelled that day to Emmaus... The state of the disciples when Mary came to them we also learn only here. "They mourned and wept" (v. 10). This fits perfectly with the behaviour of Cleopas and his companion, who, when a Man they took for a stranger spoke to them, "stood still, looking sad."
Their direction of travel said as much as their faces. They were leaving the very place where the mystery would have been cleared up.
Their backs were toward Jerusalem. They had satisfied themselves that His body was not in the tomb. Their faces were toward Emmaus. It was the third day, and it was all over. No wonder their hearts were sad.
So what lay underneath the sadness?
What was the root of the disappointment of the Emmaus disciples? This — they were occupied with their own thoughts about Christ rather than God's thoughts. Their minds were filled with human thoughts, so they could not grasp divine thoughts. They were "slow of heart to believe" all that the prophets have spoken. Unbelief was behind their disappointment. Unbelief turned their feet away from the Lord's people. Unbelief set their tongues reasoning. It filled their hearts with sadness. It held their eyes shut, so that they could not recognise the Lord.
The problem was not that they had aimed too high in what they hoped from Jesus.
They had decided between themselves that it was no longer any use trying to stand for the One they had followed. Everything had failed. The One they supposed was to redeem Israel had been crucified like the worst of criminals. They thought that was the end, and so they had lost hope. But it was not that they had expected too much of the Lord Jesus — they did not expect enough.
He does not open with proof. He asks a question, and lets them speak first.
Notice the way the Lord deals with these two erring saints. It should be a great help to all who seek to shepherd the Lord's people, and to those who are pastors by a divine gift. He Himself knew all their thoughts and the cause of their trouble. Yet by His questions He draws out what was in their minds. In other words, He led them to empty their hearts before He speaks a single word. He might have said at once, "Here am I, risen from the dead." But first He sought to bring them into a right state of soul, so that they could take in the truth of His resurrection.
Even His follow-up, "What things?", is deliberate.
He replies, "What things?" How skilful His love is in drawing out their hearts! Well He knew, but there is nothing so skilful in this world as love, nothing.
He meets their sadness in person, not by sending word. And He comes while they are walking the wrong way.
He sends no messenger to call these straying saints back to His presence... Is there a wandering sheep — dejected and disappointed? Look: "JESUS HIMSELF" will draw near to restore... How different, sadly, is the way we often treat one another. Does a brother wander away from us? How quick we are to draw away from him. But on the day the Emmaus saints drew away, Jesus Himself drew near. What a Saviour! When we were far away He came near, and when we draw away He draws near.
Their sadness read the events wrongly. Even so, it was honest, and He valued that.
The Lord delights in reality, in truthfulness of heart. These disciples, as they walked, were sad. That sadness was real; it was the feeling that matched their circumstances, as they judged them to be... And Jesus loves that reality. Jesus loves that everything about us should have the stamp of truth in the inward parts. And He joins Himself to these sad ones. He shows them that the things which had happened at Jerusalem, as they were saying, were really for them, and not against them. He makes what was shaking their faith confirm it.
He meets their sorrow by opening the Scriptures to them.
This use of the Scriptures by our Lord is very significant. The word of God is the truest, deepest, weightiest testimony. That is so even though the risen Jesus Himself was there, the living demonstration of it in person... The word of God — here the Old Testament interpreted by Jesus — is the most valuable means for finding out the mind of God.
- Sad — They stood still, looking sad, their backs to Jerusalem. Their faces matched their feet.
- Cause — They held their own thoughts about Christ instead of God's. Unbelief set them reasoning and kept their eyes shut.
- Question — He knew everything already, yet He asked. They emptied their hearts before He spoke a word of truth.
- Nearness — He sent no messenger. On the day they drew away, Jesus Himself drew near.
- Cure — He met honest grief with the Scriptures. They are the surest testimony to the mind of God, even with the risen Christ standing there in person.
And one [of them], named Cleopas, answering said to him, Thou sojournest alone in Jerusalem, and dost not know what has taken place in it in these days?
On the day Jesus rose, two friends were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were going over the events that had shattered them. A stranger falls in beside them and asks what they are discussing. Cleopas is amazed. He assumes this man must be the only person in the city who has not heard.
The Gospel names the speaker but tells us little else about him. One reference work gives the bare facts and a possible link to another name:
He was one of the two disciples walking to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection, when the Lord drew near and talked with them. He is thought to be the same person as Cleophas (or Clopas in the Greek), mentioned in John 19:25.
Before Cleopas spoke, the Lord had asked why the two were downcast. One writer traces both the sadness and the reasoning back to a single root:
He remarked on that sadness as He asked what they had been talking about. Sadly, unbelief was the cause of both. If only they had believed what they had so often heard, they would have escaped all of it — the reasoning, the sadness, and the weary walk.
Jesus answers Cleopas with two words: "What things?" Yet He knew those things better than anyone alive. Some have taken such questions as proof that He was ignorant of the answers. One writer rejects that, and points to this very exchange:
So Scripture gives no ground at all for the claim that when He "asked for information, it was because He wanted it" — that is, because He did not know. You do not need to study Socrates to know that a question can be put for the sake of the person questioned. Luke 24:18-19 shows it clearly. The Lord's "What things?" did not come from ignorance of His own recent sufferings. He asked only to teach the two disciples.
He questioned them to open their hearts before He gave them the truth:
He Himself knew all their thoughts and the cause of their trouble. Yet He used His questions to draw out what was in their minds. In other words, He led them to empty their hearts before He speaks a single word. He might have said at once, "Here am I, risen from the dead." But He sought first to bring them into a right state of soul, ready to take in the truth of His resurrection.
What drew Jesus on that road was not how much they understood, but how genuine they were:
The Lord sometimes puts Himself in our company so that we may learn just where we are in the history of our souls. He likes us to be real and genuine... And what does He find here? I have no doubt this was very attractive to His heart: a sad couple who understood little, yet a couple deeply interested in Him and in His things.
Cleopas could not imagine that anyone in the city had missed these events. He was speaking to the one Man who knew them from the inside:
Little did Cleopas know how deeply acquainted this "Stranger" was with these things. What follows shows it. Their hearts burned as the unknown speaker drew them like a magnet to the Scriptures they had overlooked in unbelief.
Where the ESV has "visitor," older translations read "stranger." The word was truer than Cleopas knew:
He truly was a "Stranger in Jerusalem." The city refused her rightful Lord, rejected Him, crucified Him. He, for whom there was no room in the inn, and who had nowhere to lay His head, was pushed aside for Barabbas the robber. For His love He received hatred... Yet He who is a stranger in Jerusalem seeks to be a resident in the hearts of His people.
Having drawn out their story, Jesus did not settle the matter by simply revealing Himself. He opened the Old Testament instead:
The accuracy and light of the Scriptures showed where men, and even believers, had overlooked much. The Jews had been content with the general testimony to the nation's hopes and the glory of the kingdom. But, as the Lord showed them, they had passed by what was deeper and now most essential — the sufferings of Christ. He drew the evidence from the written Word of the Old Testament, rather than resting on present facts alone or on His own fresh revelations.
- Stranger: Cleopas thought this man knew least about the events. He knew them best. He had lived them.
- Sadness: their downcast walk and endless reasoning had one cause. They did not believe what they had already been told.
- Questions: the Lord asked what He already knew. A question can serve the person answering it. He empties the heart before He fills it.
- Honesty: what drew Him was not their understanding but their honesty. They were sad and confused, yet still deeply interested in Him.
- Residence: the One treated as a stranger in His own city asks to be no visitor but a permanent dweller in the heart.
And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, The things concerning Jesus the Nazaraean, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
A stranger joins two travellers on the road to Emmaus and asks what they have been discussing. Their answer sums up all they knew about Jesus — and all they thought they had lost. What they say about Him is true. But it stops far short of the whole truth.
The Lord already knew the whole story. He asked anyway. One writer sees a purpose in that: He wanted them to speak their sorrow out loud before He answered it.
Everyone who seeks to care for the Lord's people, and everyone who is a pastor by a gift from God, should find great help in watching how the Lord dealt with these two straying believers. He knew all their thoughts and the cause of their trouble, yet He used questions to draw out what was in their minds. In other words, He led them to empty their hearts before He spoke a single word. He could have said at once, "Here am I, risen from the dead." But He first wanted to bring their souls into the right state to understand the truth of His resurrection.
Another writer hears love in the same question.
He answers, "What things?" How skilful His love is at drawing out their hearts! He knew well enough, but there is nothing in this world so skilful as love, nothing… Now you can see how much they knew, and what their hearts were tied to concerning His Person.
Scripture gives a plain test of a true prophet, and Jesus met it in full.
What abundant testimony we have in Scripture that the Christ was the Prophet (see Luke 24:19; John 3:2; 4:19; 6:14; 9:17; 7:40; Acts 2:22; 3:22). Now, a prophet was known by two things — what he said, and what he did. No one ever spoke like Christ. He spoke as one who had authority, and His word was always with power. No one ever did such miracles as He did.
They do not only report what the crowds thought. They add God's own estimate of Him, and then they name who was to blame for His death.
They simply stated the facts about Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet mighty in deed and word, not only in the eyes of the people, but "before God" — something no honest mind could fail to see. They also knew that the chief priests and rulers were fully responsible for handing Him over to be condemned, and for crucifying Him. They did not mention Rome or Pilate.
Their confession was true. It was also too small to carry them through His death.
To them Jesus of Nazareth was "a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people," and there their faith stopped. They did not yet see in Him the Son of God whom death could not hold. So to them His death was the sad end of His story… Their disappointment grew out of hopes they had cherished that the Word of God never gave them. They expected the glory without the sufferings.
They had hoped for rescue by power. He was about to teach them a redemption of another kind.
He drew out their thoughts to lead them into the truth. The sorrows of His rejection seemed to them impossible to explain, and quite against what they expected. He wanted them to see that the Word of God required those very sorrows. Then those sorrows would confirm their faith instead of endangering it. They had looked for redemption by power. Now, in His suffering to the very end, the Just for the unjust, they learn redemption by blood — and not only that, but a new life out of death, and greater than death.
The problem was not that they had no thoughts about Christ. It was whose thoughts they were.
But what was the root of the disappointment of the Emmaus disciples? This — their minds were full of their own thoughts about Christ instead of God's thoughts… Unbelief turned their feet away from the Lord's people. Unbelief set their tongues reasoning, filled their hearts with sadness, and held their eyes shut, so that they could not recognise the Lord.
- Question — He knew every detail, yet He asked. He wanted them to empty their hearts before He filled them.
- Confession — A prophet was known by what he said and what he did. No one ever matched Him in either.
- Ceiling — Their faith stopped at "prophet". They had not yet seen the Son of God whom death could not hold, so the cross looked to them like the end.
- Correction — They looked for redemption by power. He taught them redemption by blood, the Just for the unjust.
- Cause — Under the sadness lay their own thoughts about Christ in place of God's. That unbelief kept their eyes shut.
and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to [the] judgment of death and crucified him.
Two followers of Jesus are walking to the village of Emmaus. They are telling a stranger the news from Jerusalem, and this verse is the heart of their report: their own religious leaders had handed Jesus over to be sentenced and killed. Every fact is true. Yet the story has left them heartbroken. What were they missing?
The two men name names. They do not blame Rome or its governor. They point to the chief priests and to their own rulers.
They saw how fully the chief priests and rulers were responsible for handing Him over to be condemned, and for crucifying Him. They did not mention either Rome or Pilate.
That does not clear Rome. The word "delivered" means a handover: the leaders passed Jesus on to the civil power. One writer traces the guilt on both sides:
Jesus had to be condemned by man in every role — religious and civil. The Jews, acting in the name of religion, carried the chief guilt. They stirred up the civil authorities and pressed them to give in against their own conscience, as we see in the mock trial before Pilate. So we see He was "despised and rejected by men." Not by one class of men only, but by every class.
They can give a correct account of the trial, the sentence and the cross. What they cannot do is believe it means anything good.
His crucifixion, death and burial fill their whole conversation as they walk along, sad. Their love for Him is strong, and as deep as it is real. But faith is missing, so they are cast down and full of sorrow. Their minds fret and their spirits are wounded by what He suffered at the hands of sinful men.
Jesus had told them in advance that this would happen. His words had not stayed with them.
Their hearts had been leaky jars for those words. His words had dripped through those poor leaky jars and were gone; they had forgotten them. The Lord had often spoken of it. There was plenty of testimony to the fact that He would be killed by men, by His own people, and raised up again the third day. But they had forgotten it all.
The same blind spot ran through their reading of the prophets. Some texts they loved. Others they never took in:
They had their favourite texts, and those texts spoke of the great power of the Messiah — power that would crush their enemies and make them the head of the nations. These they read and cherished and loved. But the texts that spoke of His sorrows, how well He knew grief, His humiliation, rejection and death — these they had neither understood nor believed.
They had hoped for a rescue by force. The condemnation and the cross taught them a different rescue altogether.
But He drew out their thoughts to lead them into the truth. The sorrows of His rejection seemed impossible to explain, and the opposite of all they expected. He wanted them to see that God's Word itself called for those sorrows, so that the cross would confirm their faith instead of endangering it. They had looked for redemption by power. Now, in His suffering to the uttermost, the Just for the unjust, they learn redemption by blood. And not only this: in Him God shows us a new life out of death, a life greater than death, and makes it ours.
They are walking away from Jerusalem and away from the other believers.
No messenger is sent to call these straying believers back to His presence. When all goes well with His people, angels, apostles, prophets and others may carry out His orders, as we know well from many a fine scene in the Word. But is there a wandering sheep — downcast and disappointed? Then "JESUS HIMSELF" will draw near to restore… In the day that the Emmaus believers drew away, Jesus Himself drew near. What a Saviour! When we were far away He came near, and when we draw away He draws near.
- Delivered. The two blame the chief priests and their own rulers, not Rome or Pilate. The chief guilt lay with those who acted in the name of religion.
- Facts. Their report is accurate. Facts about the cross, held without faith, produced only sadness.
- Forgotten. Jesus had often said He would be killed and raised the third day. Their hearts were leaky jars, and the words ran out.
- Redemption. They expected redemption by power. The cross taught them redemption by blood — the Just for the unjust.
- Drawn near. They walked away from Jerusalem and Jesus Himself walked beside them. When His people draw away, He draws near.
But *we* had hoped that *he* was [the one] who is about to redeem Israel. But then, besides all these things, it is now, to-day, the third day since these things took place.
Two followers of Jesus walk away from Jerusalem on the third day, and a stranger asks what they are discussing. Their answer holds faith and collapse at once, and everything turns on what "redeem Israel" meant to them and to God.
They speak in the past tense because a whole picture of the future had just collapsed.
We can hardly imagine the expectations stirred in them by the coming of Israel's Messiah. Visions filled their eyes: freedom from the Roman yoke, a national revival, glory and splendour under David's Son. They expected a large share in it themselves. "We had hoped," they said, "that He was the one to redeem Israel." Now that vision lay shattered. He did not take David's throne and overthrow Caesar. Instead, Caesar's soldiers lifted Him up on a cross, and the whole people fastened Caesar's yoke on their own necks more firmly than ever. They said openly, "We have no king but Caesar." Sick at heart, and unable to solve the riddle of His claims, which they accepted, and of His sudden and dramatic disappearance, Cleopas and his companion were on the point of giving up their discipleship and going home.
For them "redeem" meant one thing: rescue by power.
Their thought was the redemption of Israel by power. They had no idea of a new and heavenly life, though of course they had it. Even for the Christ, death had to come in, so that God would be vindicated and man really blessed. Moses and all the prophets had taught this.
They blamed the cross for ending redemption. The cross is what secured it.
The blood of His cross made peace in God's mind. To their minds it was still bitter anguish and cruel disappointment. His words had fallen on ears still deaf to the meaning of His death. They did not know the Scripture that He must suffer in this way, so that they, or anyone, might have redemption. On the resurrection day the downcast pair on the way to Emmaus showed the state of them all. They said to Him, "We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel." Yet that was the very thing for which He had laid the effective and everlasting basis!
They felt like orphans, and they read the calendar the same way.
To their own thoughts they were thrown on the world, friendless and fatherless, orphans indeed. The third day had brought them almost nothing of the light of His resurrection morning. They only mention the day to Him as the measure of how far His death had left them deserted. "It is now the third day since these things happened."
Their sentence sounds like failure. One writer finds faith and love inside it.
They give their account, showing at once their faith and how their whole souls were taken up with the Lord. It must have refreshed His blessed heart to hear them speak like this. Despite their ignorance and disappointment, and despite the weakness of their faith, love to Him was there. "We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel" tells not of a dead hope, but a sleeping one.
One writer treats Cleopas as a case study for every disappointed believer.
Disappointed people have some little "Israel" of their own that fills their thoughts, just as Cleopas did. If Israel had been redeemed just as Cleopas expected, he would have been overjoyed. It was not so, and he lost his enthusiasm and interest. He had to learn that although Israel stood right at the centre of the bright little picture his imagination had painted, it was not at the centre of God's picture. God's picture is the real one, and its centre is Christ risen from the dead. Jesus joined them, drew out their thoughts and won their confidence. Then He opened up to them not things concerning Israel, but "things concerning HIMSELF." The sure cure for disappointment is to have Christ filling every picture our minds hold — not work, not even Christian work, not fellow believers, nor even the church, not self in any of its many forms, but Christ.
- Hope. They believed the right Person but expected the wrong thing: freedom from Rome, David's throne, national glory. The cross flattened all of it.
- Redemption. They wanted Israel freed by power. God's way ran through death, which alone vindicated God and brought man real blessing.
- Irony. They mourned the cross as the end of redemption. It is the everlasting basis on which redemption rests.
- Timing. The third day carried the light of His rising. They read it as the measure of how far His death had left them deserted.
- Cure. Their hope was sleeping, not dead. Jesus woke it by moving the centre of the picture from their small "Israel" to Himself.