Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus: To Two on the Road to Emmaus

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were walking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him…And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself…When He was at table with them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. And He vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” –Luke 24:13-16; 27, 30-32 (ESV, Read Luke 24:13-35).

On the first day of the week, Sunday—later in the day on the very day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, “two of them”—meaning two followers, one unnamed [some scholars hold it was Luke himself] and one named Cleopas—were on their way to Emmaus, a village about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. As they talked of all the events that had transpired in the last few days, they were joined by Jesus, but they did not recognize him. Luke gives a lengthy account of this post-resurrection appearance of Jesus, showing its importance. Notice that Jesus asks them “What things?” He was asking not for information, because He had been involved first-hand in the events they were discussing. His omniscience allowed Him to know, as well. To help them, He wanted to hear how they viewed the events and their reaction to them. Jesus got to the heart of their confusion when He said: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all lthat he prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25-26). These two men needed spiritual understanding. They could relate the events, even to the resurrected Christ having been seen by the women and some of the disciples seeing the empty tomb. But their hearts had not accepted what their minds had received. They had not yet grasped the implications of the sufferings of the Messiah as being a fulfillment of prophecy.

On that road to Emmaus Jesus the Teacher opened the minds and understanding of the two disciples. Beginning with the writings of Moses and the Prophets, He gave them lessons from God’s Word on the prophecies about Messiah and their fulfillment, teaching them things concerning Himself. He may have included Abraham’s offering his son Isaac on the altar (Genesis 22), a foreshadowing of the Messiah’s death as a ransom; the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53; the anguish expressed in Psalm 22 as a description of the Savior’s agony, and many more prophetic references to Messiah. My son, the Rev. Keith Jones, says of Jesus’s appearance to the two on the road to Emmaus, that it is the first recorded Sunday School in the Bible and the Teacher is the Lord Himself! Arriving at the house where they were staying in Emmaus, they invited the stranger (for they had not yet recognized Jesus) in as a guest. Their hearts had been so strangely moved by His teachings that they were reluctant to end the fellowship. They wanted to hear more. When He took bread, blessed and broke it, they recognized Him as Jesus. Did they think of His feeding the 5,000? The Last Supper? “Their hearts burned within them!” He opened to them the Scriptures and gave them hope of the resurrection. He changed their perspective from an earthly Messiah-Conqueror-King to a living, risen Savior. They had received the Word of God with understanding and their hearts were aflame. They hurried back to Jerusalem, found the eleven disciples and those gathered with them, and told them about walking with Jesus in the road and breaking bread with Him. They also heard that Simon Peter had seen the risen Jesus. Meeting Jesus makes a difference. An encounter with Him makes us want to share the good news with others.

If we are discouraged, dejected and dead-in-spirit, is it because we fail to see, meet and understand that He is in our everyday walk—with us on our roads to Emmaus? In our daily encounters, let us be aware of the living Lord and what He is directing us to be and to do.