Amy C Walters

On the Road to Emmaus | Luke 24:13-35

After the resurrection, Jesus’ followers were trying to figure out what had happened. Jesus joins two of them on a journey but they don’t recognize him. As they try to talk it out and search for visible evidence, Jesus points them back to Scripture, revealing himself in every book.

In the previous story, the women returned from the tomb to report everything that they saw “to the eleven apostles and all the others who were with them.” Today we get to meet two of those “others” as they go on a little journey. We’ll call them the Travelers.

It’s later in that same day from when the women went to the tomb. And two of Jesus’ followers had to take this trip back to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. That trip probably took them a couple of hours.

So naturally, as they walked, they talked about everything that had happened. And there was a lot to talk about. So much had changed since Jesus entered Jerusalem just a week before.

But notice the emphasis that Luke puts on talking and discussion in this story. Such words show up seven times in these verses. These travelers were trying to make sense of everything that happened by talking it out. 

And then an unexpected solution arrives. Jesus himself comes up and joins them in their journey, except they don’t recognize that it’s him. He jumps into their conversation, asking their take on it. 

Notice how they respond: “they stood still, their faces downcast.” What does that show you about how they were feeling? These travelers are still heavy-hearted about all the things that had happened. They’re still in mourning about these events.

They also seem surprised that there would be someone who hadn’t heard about it yet. So the news of Jesus’ crucifixion had spread throughout Jerusalem. But the travelers recount the story to Jesus anyway.

Notice how they say, “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed, before God and all the people.” So they say, “was a prophet,” past tense. Resurrection was not on their mind at all. It wasn’t even a possibility that Jesus might be alive again. 

They also call him a “prophet.” Yes, they say he was a powerful prophet, but just a prophet. They don’t yet realize that he is God in the flesh. 

They also talk about how their chief priests and their rulers “handed Jesus over to be sentenced, and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he would be the one who would redeem Israel.” 

He was crucified, but we hoped he would redeem. In their minds, crucifixion and redemption were mutually exclusive. Both could not be true.

This shows us that they have the wrong idea of what redemption is, of what they actually need to be redeemed from. They think they need political freedom and redemption. But the real problem is a sin issue through which they deserve God’s wrath.

But Jesus’ crucifixion makes redemption possible. That’s how God’s wrath is satisfied and how we as sinners are given access to God. That’s how we are redeemed. So crucifixion is not an obstacle to redemption, but a necessity. These travelers, though, had totally missed that.

Now, you might say that maybe they just didn’t know about the empty tomb. But these travelers go on to tell Jesus about the women and Peter and John who run to the tomb and explore it. And their conclusion to all of this is, “but they didn’t see him.” They were looking for visual confirmation of the resurrection, and they hadn’t seen it yet. 

So these travelers are relying on their eyes and discussion to solve their confusion problem. But how does Jesus in disguise respond to this?

He tells them “how foolish you are and how slow to believe.” Ouch! Remember, these travelers don’t know that it’s Jesus talking to them. They think he’s just some stranger on the road. It’s amazing that they put up with a rebuke like that from someone that they don’t even know. 

Instead, they keep listening, and what they hear is crucial. Jesus says they are “slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” So it’s not just slow to believe what the women said or the angels said or the visual evidence of the empty tomb. It’s the prophets. That’s a way of saying the prophetic books of the Old Testament. 

In fact, Jesus then walks these travelers through the whole Old Testament, pointing out all the things concerning himself. It says, “and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Moses refers to the first five books of the Bible, which Moses wrote. 

Notice too that it says “all the prophets.” There is not a single one that does not point to Jesus. He appears in every book of the Old Testament. Not only that, Jesus says that the whole Old Testament specifically shows that “the Messiah must suffer and then enter his glory.”

So while these travelers are relying on visual evidence and talking it out to solve their confusion and doubt problem, Jesus seeks to solve that problem by pointing to his word. He reveals himself through God’s Word. 

Our key truth for today is that Jesus is all over the Bible.

He is not just in the New Testament. He is not just in the Gospels. He is in the Old Testament as well, every book of it.

One of the strange things in this story is how the travelers don’t recognize Jesus. And we’ll talk about that more in tomorrow’s post. But I think one reason is that Jesus wanted them to first see him in the Scriptures.

Kent Hughes says that this is so that their belief would be based on Scripture and not on experience. Because experience only impacts the one who has that experience. But a belief based on Scripture can spread to others and outlast the individual.

In fact, think of how vital and foundational this teaching must have been to the early church. The New Testament is still being written, but these young Christians had the Old Testament to turn to, had Jesus’ teaching about how it reveals him and who he is and what he has come to do. 

So in your own Bible reading, beware of thinking that the Old Testament is outdated and irrelevant. There are definitely parts of it that can be very hard to understand. But as you read, ask yourself how you can see Jesus in it. 

Today as you go, start the habit of asking that question no matter what part of the Bible you’re reading. Where is Jesus in this? It might be difficult to find him at first. You might need to develop those skills through practice. But soon, you will learn to see that Jesus is all over the Bible.