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Luke 24:13-35 CEB On that same day, two disciples were traveling to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking to each other about everything that had happened. While they were discussing these things, Jesus himself arrived and joined them on their journey. They were prevented from recognizing him. He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk along?” They stopped, their faces downcast. The one named Cleopas replied, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who is unaware of the things that have taken place there over the last few days?” He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth. Because of his powerful deeds and words, he was recognized by God and all the people as a prophet. But our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the one who would redeem Israel. All these things happened three days ago. But there’s more: Some women from our group have left us stunned. They went to the tomb early this morning and didn’t find his body. They came to us saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who told them he is alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women said. They didn’t see him.” Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! Your dull minds keep you from believing all that the prophets talked about. Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then he interpreted for them the things written about himself in all the scriptures, starting with Moses and going through all the Prophets. When they came to Emmaus, he acted as if he was going on ahead. But they urged him, saying, “Stay with us. It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?” They got up right then and returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying to each other, “The Lord really has risen! He appeared to Simon!” Then the two disciples described what had happened along the road and how Jesus was made known to them as he broke the bread. Have you ever had one of those awkward moments where you didn’t recognize someone when they were out of context? Like, you were used to seeing them as the cashier in the store, the delivery driver dropping your package off, or the nurse taking your blood pressure at the doctor’s office, but then you see them out and about at the park or walking past them on the street and it's only much later that your brain catches up and says to you, “Wasn’t that…?” I imagine this was part of it for the disciples on the road to Emmaus that day. They were hotly debating everything that had happened, but I don’t think they were mentally or emotionally prepared to see Jesus up and about, certainly not there on the road beside them journeying along the way. What catches me every time I read this story is that despite all of Jesus’ words and reasoning, it is not until he sits down to dinner with them, breaking and blessing bread in their presence that they finally see Jesus for who he is and understand everything finally. Luke tries to tell us something important about how the resurrection has relevance in our day and age, how it is found in relationships rather than in simply words.
On the same day as the women discover the empty tomb, we find ourselves joining a couple of the disciples on a road out of Jerusalem. We are not told why they are headed to Emmaus, “a little-noted town,”[1] but perhaps it was a kind of escape for them, a place away from the death of Jesus and the broken hopes left in the wake of the cross. There was nothing special about the destination and nothing special about the road they were on, but it was “in the ordinary places and experiences”[2] that Jesus met these two travelers. They do not recognize him, and in fact, we are told “They were prevented from recognizing him.” We are never told why they cannot see Jesus, but we are given clues in the conversation that follows. When Jesus catches up, he asks them what they are talking about, they stop, and one of them, a man named Cleopas, answers Jesus and tells him a story about this man from Nazareth. Cleopas describes him as a “prophet” and the one they hoped “would redeem Israel,” and they share the news that the women discovered an empty tomb, but even this was not enough to keep these two from leaving town. You see, they thought that Jesus was going to fulfill the scriptures by liberating Israel from the hands of their oppressors. At first, when the crowds were “shouting ‘Hosanna’ and waving palm branches,” “the world had felt so different,” but now those hopes had been dashed.[3] What they thought and what they expected did not come to pass. Now Jesus could have revealed himself here, but instead, he walks with them awhile, speaking to them about the scriptures, arguing the case for why the Christ had to die. They still don’t see it, they still don’t see him. Their minds are still too wrapped up in the reality they think they know– Jesus is dead and no redemption is coming. Finally, when they get to Emmaus, Jesus makes as if to head off ahead. I love this part! Jesus could have invited himself to their dinner, he could have invited them to come join him for dinner, but he gives them the chance to make the first move. “Jesus does not presume that he will be invited to stay with the disciples,”[4] but instead gives the opportunity for the invitation. When it comes, he joins them at the table, not to argue more but instead, he takes bread, blesses it, and breaks it. The same kind of blessing and breaking he did at their final supper together in the upper room, and the same kind of blessing and breaking of bread before feeding over five thousand people. Jesus, out of context for so long in this story, shifts back into focus for these two disciples and they see him. Their vision had been clouded by expectations, expectations of who Jesus was and what he was supposed to do. It is through another act, a familiar but still unexpected act that Jesus becomes Jesus again, and the relationship thought lost is restored. We know this moment matters because when these two rush back to the other disciples and apostles, it is not just Jesus' words but this breaking of bread they share. It was an action that opened their eyes in Luke 24:31 and caused them to finally perceive. No, it was more than an action, it was a reminder of the relationship they had with Christ, not with the “one who would redeem Israel” that they spoke about on the road, but with the man who fed them when they were hungry. This is Jesus that they had a relationship with, and it is this relationship that allows them to understand who Jesus truly is and what the good news is actually all about. Now, you can’t force a relationship with Jesus. You are not the Son of God, but sometimes we can act like we are the other Son of God in the room like we and Jesus are co-parents trying to have a relationship with a rebellious teenager, those other non-Christians out there. Jesus pursues but ultimately does not force, instead inviting them to have a relationship. Meanwhile, we step in saying, “No way! You don’t have a choice! We’re going to have a relationship whether you like it or not!” Maybe, just maybe, this is part of why Christianity is struggling in the modern age, as many in the world today have pulled away, so we have reacted by trying to force our way into their lives, insisting that our religion be there in schools, in government, in social media, and everything they watch and read and consume. That has never been Christ’s way, so why is it our method of choice? Look again at this scene on the Emmaus road, these two disciples are getting a scripture lesson straight from Jesus, and still, they do not see, they do not yet quite understand. Jesus can’t argue his way to their understanding. He can’t force it down their throats. They are running away, believing everything has been lost, that because of the cross and the grave, Jesus has no more relevance in their lives, so they might as well get back to their lives before– their fishing boats perhaps– and fade into the background, slipping back under Rome’s radar. It is they who have to invite Jesus. Jesus pursues, but Jesus does not push. He pulls ahead and away, giving them room to make up their mind. When they do, when they share the table and break bread with this man– whom they still see as a stranger mind you– it is then and only then that they see him as their friend and Savior. It is the act of something as simple as sharing a meal that is the key to seeing and understanding. Somewhere along the way, we got lost. We ended up thinking that our job as Christians was to convert people, to save people from sin. We tried our best to make the resurrection of Jesus, this whole Easter thing, logical and rational. We tried to argue our way to others believing and accepting Jesus. I am shocked that no heavenly voice has spoken out from the clouds to reprimand us for our ego! We are called to share the gospel, good news! Jesus calls us witnesses at the end of Luke, witness to the power of good news! What is this good news? Is it found in facts or just the words we use? Well, Jesus tells us what the good news looks like in Luke, way back in Luke 4:18-19 when he defines it using the words of the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (CEB) He reads this from the scroll of Isaiah and says “‘Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it’” (Luke 4:21b CEB). What is good news to the poor other than release to prisoners, restoration of sight to the blind, liberation for the oppressed, and that this is the time of Jubilee where debts are forgiven and relationships are restored! The rest of Luke’s gospel is Jesus doing these things for the people he encounters. In other words, do you want to give people the gospel? Do you want people to know the good news? Do these things too! We are not the ones who save, convert, or convince. If we want to be witnesses we have to live out the good news, and so we become like the prophets of old, our whole lives become object lessons for the good news we carry, the relationship with Jesus we hold dear. Ezekiel, one of those ancient prophets, once received instruction from the LORD to dig a hole in the side of a wall with his bare hands while people watched. Ezekiel never said a word about what he was doing until the people asked “‘What are you doing?’” (Ezekiel 12:9 CEB). It is only then that he shares, and even then what he shares are only words! It will be God who does the planting and tending! It will be God that does the growing and the harvesting! We instead are called to live into this resurrection relationship, to live out our lives in a relationship with Jesus, letting the strangeness of it provoke curiosity. When people see us loving our neighbor, not as they deserve but as God loves, won’t people find that strange? When we forgive the harms and wrongs done to us, won’t others find that shocking? When we prioritize life, liberation, and wholeness, won’t the world, so used to death, find this odd? We can talk all we want, but it will be our lives that move people from shock to something deeper and different. It will be there when they join us at the table, God’s table, and suddenly what seemed so strange becomes familiar, the kind of familiar that answers the deep ache in our bones that we did not know was there. Resurrection returns the dead to life after all, so of course, for the still dead, life will look strange until they taste the bread of life for themselves. Amen. [1] R. Alan Culpepper, “Luke 24:13-35, The Appearance on the Road to Emmaus” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX, Leander E. Keck, ed. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 474-483. [2] Ibid., 482. [3] Cynthia M.Campell and Christine Coy Fohr, Meeting Jesus at the Table: A Lenten Study (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2023),113. [4] Robert C. Tannehill, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Luke, ed. Victor Paul Furnish (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 357.
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