'And, behold, two of them went that same day to a
village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about
threescore furlongs. 14. And they talked together of
all these things which had happened. 15. And it came
to pass, that, while they communed together and
reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them.
16. But their eyes were holden that they should not
know Him. 17. And He said unto them, What manner of
communications are these that ye have one to another,
as ye walk, and are sad? 18. And the one of them,
whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto Him, Art
Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known
the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19. And He said unto them, What things? And they said
unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a
prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the
people: 20. And how the chief priests and our rulers
delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have
crucified Him. 21. But we trusted that it had been He
which should have redeemed Israel: and besides all
this, to-day is the third day since these things were
done. 22. Yea, and certain women also of our company
made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23. And when they found not His body, they came,
saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that He was alive. 24. And certain of them
which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it
even so as the women had said: but Him they saw not.
26. Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26. Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter
into His glory? 27. And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning Himself. 28. And they drew nigh
unto the village, whither they went: and He made as
though He would have gone further. 29. But they
constrained Him, saying, Abide with us: for it is
toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went
in to tarry with them. 30. And it came to pass, as He
sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it,
and brake, and gave to them. 31. And their eyes were
opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of
their sight. 32 And they said one to another, Did not
our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by
the way and while He opened to us the scriptures?'
--LUKE xxiv. 13-32.
These two disciples had left their companions after Peter's return
from the sepulchre and before Mary Magdalene hurried in with her
tidings that she had seen Jesus. Their coming away at such a crisis,
like Thomas's absence that day, shows that the scattering of the
sheep was beginning to follow the smiting of the shepherd. The
magnet withdrawn, the attracted particles fall apart. What arrested
that process? Why did not the spokes fall asunder when the centre
was removed? John's disciples crumbled away after his death. When
Theudas fell, all his followers 'were dispersed' and came to nought.
The Church was knit more closely together after the death that,
according to all analogy, should have scattered it. Only the fact
of the Resurrection explains the anomaly. No reasonable men would
have held together unless they had known that their Messianic hopes
had not been buried in Christ's grave. We see the beginnings of the
Resurrection of these hopes in this sweet story.
I. We have first the two sad travellers and the third who joins
them. Probably the former had left the group of disciples on purpose
to relieve the tension of anxiety and sorrow by walking, and to get
a quiet time to bring their thoughts into some order. They were like
men who had lived through an earthquake; they were stunned, and
physical exertion, the morning quiet of the country, and the absence
of other people, would help to calm their nerves, and enable them to
realise their position. Their tone of mind will come out more
distinctly presently. Here it is enough to note that the 'things
which had come to pass' filled their minds and conversation. That
being so, they were not left to grope in the dark. 'Jesus Himself
drew near, and went with them.' Honest occupation of mind with the
truth concerning Him, and a real desire to know it, are not left
unhelped. We draw Him to our sides when we wish and try to grasp the
real facts concerning Him, whether they coincide with our
prepossessions or not.
It is profoundly interesting and instructive to note the
characteristics of the favoured ones who first saw the risen Lord.
They were Mary, whose heart was an altar of flaming and fragrant
love; Peter, the penitent denier; and these two, absorbed in
meditation on the facts of the death and burial. What attracts
Jesus? Love, penitence, study of His truth. He comes to these with
the appropriate gifts for them, as truly--yea, more closely--as of
old. Perhaps the very doubting that troubled them brought Him to
their help. He saw that they especially needed Him, for their faith
was sorely wounded. Necessity is as potent a spell to bring Jesus as
desert. He comes to reward fixed and fervent love, and He comes,
too, to revive it when tremulous and cold.
'Their eyes were holden,' says Luke; and similarly 'their eyes were
opened' (ver. 31). He makes the reason for His not being recognised
a subjective one, and his narrative affords no support to the theory
of a change in our Lord's resurrection body. How often does Jesus
still come to us, and we discern Him not! Our paths would be less
lonely, and our thoughts less sad, if we realised more fully and
constantly our individual share in the promise,' I am with you
always.'
II. We have next the conversation (vs. 17-28). The unknown new-comer
strikes into the dialogue with a question which, on some lips, would
have been intrusive curiosity, and would have provoked rude retorts.
But there was something in His voice and manner which unlocked
hearts. Does He not still come close to burdened souls, and with a
smile of love on His face and a promise of help in His tones, ask us
to tell Him all that is in our hearts? 'Communications' told to Him
cease to sadden. Those that we cannot tell to Him we should not
speak to ourselves.
Cleopas naively wonders that there should be found a single man in
Jerusalem ignorant of the things which had come to pass. He forgot
that the stranger might know these, and not know that they were
talking about them. Like the rest of us, he fancied that what was
great to him was as great to everybody. What _could_ be the
subject of their talk but the one theme? The stranger assumes
ignorance, in order to win to a full outpouring. Jesus wishes us to
put all fears and doubts and shattered hopes into plain words to
Him. Speech to Christ cleanses our bosoms of much perilous stuff.
Before He speaks in answer we are lightened.
Very true to nature is the eager answer of the two. The silence once
broken, out flows a torrent of speech, in which love and grief,
disciples' pride in their Master, and shattered hopes, incredulous
bewilderment and questioning wonder, are blended.
That long speech (vs. 19-24) gives a lively conception of the two
disciples' state of mind. Probably it fairly represented the thought
of all. We note in it the limited conception of Jesus as but a
prophet, the witness to His miracles and teaching (the former being
set first, as having more impressed their minds), the assertion of
His universal appreciation by the 'people,' the charging of the
guilt of Christ's death on 'our rulers,' the sad contrast between
the officials' condemnation of Him and their own fond Messianic
hopes, and the despairing acknowledgment that these were shattered.
The reference to 'the third day' seems to imply that the two had
been discussing the meaning of our Lord's frequent prophecy about
it. The connection in which they introduce it looks as if they were
beginning to understand the prophecy, and to cherish a germ of hope
in His Resurrection, or, at all events, were tossed about with
uncertainty as to whether they dared to cherish it. They are chary
of allowing that the women's story was true; naively they attach
more importance to its confirmation by men. 'But Him they saw not,'
and, so long as He did not appear, they could not believe even
angels saying 'that He was alive.'
The whole speech shows how complete was the collapse of the
disciples' Messianic hopes, how slowly their minds opened to admit
the possibility of Resurrection, and how exacting they were in the
matter of evidence for it, even to the point of hesitating to accept
angelic announcements. Such a state of mind is not the soil in which
hallucinations spring up. Nothing but the actual appearance of the
risen Lord could have changed these sad, cautious unbelievers to
lifelong confessors. What else could have set light to these rolling
smoke-clouds of doubt, and made them flame heaven-high and world-wide?
'The ingenuous disclosure of their bewilderment appealed to their
Companion's heart, as it ever does. Jesus is not repelled by doubts
and perplexities, if they are freely spoken to Him. To put our
confused thoughts into plain words tends to clear them, and to bring
Him as our Teacher. His reproach has no anger in it, and inflicts no
pain, but puts us on the right track for arriving at the truth. If
these two had listened to the 'prophets,' they would have understood
their Master, and known that a divine 'must' wrought itself out in
His Death and Resurrection. How often, like them, do we torture
ourselves with problems of belief and conduct of which the solution
lies close beside us, if we would use it?
Jesus claimed 'all the prophets' as His witnesses. He teaches us to
find the highest purpose of the Old Testament in its preparation for
Himself, and to look for foreshadowings of His Death and
Resurrection there. What gigantic delusion of self-importance that
was, if it was not the self-attestation of the Incarnate Word, to
whom all the written word pointed! He will still, to docile souls,
be the Interpreter of Scripture. They who see Him in it all are
nearer its true appreciation than those who see in the Old Testament
everything but Him.
III. We have finally the disclosure and disappearance of the Lord.
The little group must have travelled slowly, with many a pause on
the road, while Jesus opened the Scriptures; for they left the city
in the morning, and evening was near before they had finished their
'threescore furlongs' (between seven and eight miles). His presence
makes the day's march seem short.
'He made as though He would have gone further,' not therein assuming
the appearance of a design which He did not really entertain, but
beginning a movement which He would have carried out if the
disciples' urgency had not detained Him. Jesus forces His company on
no man. He 'would have gone further' if they had not said 'Abide
with us.' He will leave us if we do not keep Him. But He delights to
be held by beseeching hands, and our wishes 'constrain' Him. Happy
are they who, having felt the sweetness of walking with Him on the
weary road, seek Him to bless their leisure and to add a more
blissful depth of repose to their rest!
The humble table where Christ is invited to sit, becomes a sacred
place of revelation. He hallows common life, and turns the meals
over which He presides into holy things. His disciples' tables
should be such that they dare ask their Lord to sit at them. But
how often He would be driven away by luxury, gross appetite, trivial
or malicious talk! We shall all be the better for asking ourselves
whether we should like to invite Jesus to our tables. He is there,
spectator and judge, whether invited or not.
Where Jesus is welcomed as guest He becomes host. Perhaps something
in gesture or tone, as He blessed and brake the bread, recalled the
loved Master to the disciples' minds, and, with a flash, the glad
'It is He!' illuminated their souls. That was enough. His bodily
presence was no longer necessary when the conviction of His risen
life was firmly fixed in them. Therefore He disappeared. The old
unbroken companionship was not to be resumed. Occasional
appearances, separated by intervals of absence, prepared the
disciples gradually for doing without His visible presence.
If we are sure that He has risen and lives for ever, we have a
better presence than that. He is gone from our sight that He may be
seen by our faith. That 'now we see Him not' is advance on the
position of His first disciples, not retrogression. Let us strive to
possess the blessing of 'those who have not seen, and yet have
believed.'