Luke 24:13-18 - On the road to Emmaus

24:13-16

The appearance on the road to Emmaus is one of the most famous resurrection appearances. Two disciples were walking along the road to Emmaus. Emmaus was about seven miles from Jerusalem. We are only told who one of the disciples is, but they were talking with each other about the recent events. In fact the Greek word used can be used of debating, so their discussion was perhaps quite intense. As they were doing this Jesus came up and walked along side them. “But they were kept from recognising Him”. Why was this? There are two aspects to this question. First, why could they not recognise Him? We don’t know for sure, but several things can be said. One is that they were definitely not expecting to see Jesus, as far as they were concerned He was dead. In normal life if you see someone you know but in a context in which you never expect to see them there is sometimes doubt over who we are seeing. Next Jesus is not exactly the same, He has been raised from the dead, so there would be some differences as well. Then it says they were “kept from recognising Him”, so there may be a supernatural element to it as well. So there is then the second aspect of the question, why did God keep them from recognising Jesus. The reason for this will unfold. God wanted to take them from where they were in their (lack of) understanding, to a new level of understanding. Sometimes the journey is as important as the destination.

24:17,18

Jesus asked them what they were discussing. Of course, He knew what they were discussing. God knows all that we are thinking, He knows what we need. Yet He still asks us questions and wants us to pray. Why? Because He wants a relationship with us, and knowing ourselves is an important point in knowing God. Even though we read later that they had heard the report of the women at the tomb, it had not had much impact on them, for they were both downcast. Cleopas asked Jesus if He was the only one who didn’t know anything about what had happened in Jerusalem. Of course, Jesus is in fact the only One who did know what had really happened! It is interesting that Luke names Cleopas. Why did he do this, since nothing else is known about him? Perhaps it is because he was still alive and could be called on to testify to these events.