(Full disclosure, Sermon Central has accepted and posted a message of mine on this text called “After Easter: On the Road to Emmaus” but this is a different message, not merely a copy and paste of the original message.)
Introduction: After Jesus was crucified, He rose from the dead on Resurrection Day. The four Gospels each have information about what happened that day, beginning at sunrise. Later in the day, two of the disciples left Jerusalem but met Someone special on the way.
1 Two disciples walked alone
Text, Luke 24:13-14, NASV: 13 And behold, on that very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. 14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place.
--These two had been in Jerusalem for Passover. Each and every male Jew was required to come to the place the LORD had designated (Deuteronomy 16:16, e.g.)
--They were disciples of Jesus; Luke says these were “two of them”. Besides the Twelve, there were a number of women and other secret disciples.
--They were walking back to Emmaus, 60 stadia (furlongs, KJV) or about seven miles away. Whether this was their actual place of residence, or only staying there while traveling to Jerusalem is not known.
--As they walked, they talked about what they had seen. There was plenty, from seeing Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the colt a few days before to seeing Him executed like public enemy #1 on a cross. Of note, it was said of John Bunyan, author of “Pilgrim’s Progress”, that he heard two women, unknown to him, talking about spiritual things. These exchanges led him to become a believer in Jesus Christ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bunyan)!
--But these two wouldn’t be walking alone for long
2 These disciples walked along or accompanied
Text, Luke 24:15-27, NASV: 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. 17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they came to a stop, looking sad. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You possibly the only one living near Jerusalem who does not know about the things that happened here in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What sort of things?” And they said to Him, “Those about Jesus the Nazarene, who proved to be a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 But also some women among us left us bewildered. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. 24 And so some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” 25 And then He said to them, “You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures.
--Jesus Himself came near to these two and walked along with them. How long He was there and listened before joining the conversation is not known.
--Note the pattern, so to speak, of the three-exchange conversation here. Person A says something, and Person B replies. A then follows up, as does B, and then each makes what might be called a closing statement. Another example: John 3 where Nicodemus and Jesus speak in this type of pattern or exchange.
-Exchange 1; Jesus asks an open-ended question: “What are you two talking about?” He knew but was trying to get these two speaking to Him, is my opinion. They replied, maybe stunned, that this Guest didn’t know what was going on.
-Exchange 2; Jesus follows up with “What things about Jesus?” Now He is trying to gauge what they really thought or believed about Him. One of these disciples gives a brief yet comprehensive six-verse summary of Passion Week, from “Hallelujah” to “Crucify Him!” to “We didn’t find His body anywhere even though several people saw the empty tomb.”
--Exchange 3; Jesus begins a literal Bible study, showing these two, from the Old Testament, everything about Him. Someone once remarked how wonderful it was to hear the Living Word explaining the written Word!
3 They joined in communion with Jesus
Text, Luke 15:28-32, NASV: 28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He gave the impression that He was going farther. 29 And so they strongly urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. 30 And it came about, when He had reclined at the table with them, that He took the bread and blessed it, and He broke it and began giving it to them. 31 And then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 They said to one another, “Were our hearts not burning within us when He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”
--There were two “evenings” in the Jewish day, according to Dake’s Annotated Bible and other resources. The sun of course would be high in the sky by noon (here I gave an example of the noon time glare of the overhead sun ruining a lot of my pictures!) and would stay up till about 3 in the afternoon—evening 1. The other evening would be close to twilight, or close to sundown.
--After a seven-mile walk, at an unknown speed, it was probably close to second evening or twilight so the two invited Jesus to join them. He had acted as if He would continue on the way but accepted their invitation to join them.
--Even though He was the Guest, He assumed the role of Host by taking the bread, blessing it and breaking it, then giving it to the pair. No wine is mentioned here.
--Another proof that the Body of Jesus was the same, yet different: they had no idea just Who had been walking and talking with them, but when their eyes were opened, they recognized Him!
--Still another change is that Christ’s Body was able to appear and disappear at will. Jesus vanished out of their sight!
--This led these two to exclaim, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us as He talked with us, explaining the Scriptures?”
--Even though it was late in the day, they made another decision.
Conclusion: they returned to Jerusalem to share the good news!
Text, Luke 24:33-35 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, 34 saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon!” 35 They began to relate their experiences on the road, and how He was recognized by them at the breaking of the bread.
--Though late in the day, these two went back to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven (Judas was dead, and Thomas wasn’t there, but still considered an Apostle) and exclaimed, “The Lord is really risen!”
--They also related what they had seen and heard while walking on the road, and what had taken place at the house.
The story doesn’t stop here; rather, this is just the beginning. Like the two disciples, we can share the good news of Jesus anywhere and everywhere as He gives opportunity.
Feel free to close the message as the Lord leads.
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV)
