Study Format:
1. What did you hear Jesus offering to you? To us? To the world?
2. What kind of resistance to Jesus did you hear?
3. What will you have to learn to resist or renounce in order to receive what Jesus is offering?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• The story of the appearance by Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus seeks to address the same question addressed by the appearance to Thomas in the Gospel of John: How can later believers come to faith in the risen Christ without the opportunity to see Jesus? Luke’s response through this story is that experience transcends seeing. The disciples saw Jesus, but did not recognize him until they experienced him in the breaking of the bread.
• Almost like an episode of the TV show 24, Luke contains the entirety of the resurrected Jesus’ time before ascension into one single day.
• V. 16, “their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” The passive voice could be suggesting that God prevented them from recognizing him. What is ironic is they are discussing what happened to Jesus when Jesus came to them. The verb translated “to recognize” or “to perceive” (epiginosko) appears often in Luke’s Gospel (1:4, “so you that you may know the truth…”, also 1:22; 5:22; 7:37; 23:7). This is balanced by the same word in v. 31, where “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him”).
• Who the two disciples were is never made clear, though we know one of them is named Cleopas (v. 18). Probably the two were among the extended group of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem. Naming the disciple adds credibility to the story. In classical irony, Cleopas asked Jesus “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know…”, but Jesus is of course the only one who fully knows the meaning of the events.
• In response to Jesus’ brief question (v. 19, “What things?” in Greek, poia), Cleopas launched into a six verse (112 Greek words) recap of Jesus life, ministry, and crucifixion. Jesus “the Nazarene” (usually translated “of Nazareth”) was “a man, a prophet might in work and word” – a prophet, but greater than the prophets, as was a theme in Luke 7. Cleopas places the blame of the crucifixion squarely on the “chief priests and leaders” (v. 20), even though, strictly speaking, the Romans did the crucifying. In v. 21 “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel,” Luke echoes Isaiah 41:14b, “I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,” and Isaiah 43:14a, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” The idea of redemption was also echoed at the beginning of Luke, at the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah prophesied that the Lord God of Israel had “looked favorably on his people and redeemed them” (1:68). Simeon has spent his life “looking forward to the consolation of Israel” (2:25), and Anna was a witness “to all who were looking for the redemption of Israel” (2:38). The reference to “the third day” (v. 21) is another level of irony. Any Christian reader knows the meaning of the third day, but Cleopas saw it as just further proof of his loss of hope.
• In v. 25 Jesus began the process of revealing himself to the disciples, starting first with how he had been revealed in scripture. A reoccurring phrase in Luke’s Gospel is “it was necessary.” As it was necessary for Jesus to be about his Father’s business (2:49), to free the crippled woman (13:16), to stay with Zacchaeus (19:5), to go to Jerusalem (13:330, and to suffer and die (9:22; 17:25), it was necessary that the scriptures be fulfilled (24:27).
• In v. 28, Jesus “walked ahead as if he were going on.” This gesture has many layers. Partially, it may have been a gesture of social deference. Hospitality was highly valued in Ancient Near East society, a host was obligated to provide it, and a guest was obligated to refuse it until the host vigorously protested (see Gen 19:2-3).
Theologically, Jesus demonstrated that he never forced himself upon others, but faith is to be a spontaneous, voluntary response to God’s grace. Thematically, it fits with Jesus’ constant motion throughout Luke’s Gospel, a motion that will continue into Acts where the gospel of Jesus will spread “to the ends of the earth.”
• Jesus accepted the disciples’ urging to stay with them, modeling the lesson he’d given his disciples to “Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provided” (10:7).
• The liturgical language of breaking bread in v. 30 does not necessarily mean the Eucharist was shared. What it does imply is that every meal has the potential to be sacred occasion of fellowship and table sharing. It also implies that that church experiences the continuing presence of the risen Lord whenever it gathers around the Lord’s table in the breaking of the bread. It is a way to encounter and experience Christ, without Christ’s physical presence, as was discussed in the first bullet point.
Works Sourced:
Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
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