Luke 24:13 - Meaning and Application

Christ’s appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus was only briefly mentioned before (Mark 16:12), but here it is told in full. It happened on the very day Christ rose, the first day of the new world that rose with him. One of the two was Cleopas, or Alpheus, whom the early writers said was the brother of Joseph, the man thought to be Christ’s father. We do not know for sure who the other disciple was.

Some have thought it was Peter, and it is true that Christ appeared especially to Peter that day, as the eleven later said among themselves (Luke 24:34), and as Paul also mentions (1 Corinthians 15:5). But it could not have been Peter here, because he was one of the eleven to whom the two returned. Also, we know Peter well enough to think he would have been the main speaker if he had been one of the two. More likely, this was one of the disciples who had been joined to the eleven, as mentioned earlier (Luke 24:9).

We first see their walk and conversation. They were going to a village called Emmaus, about sixty furlongs, or about seven measured miles, from Jerusalem. We are not told whether they were going there for business or to visit someone. I think they were likely heading back home to Galilee, no longer wanting to inquire further after Jesus. It seems they were quietly slipping away from the rest, without asking leave or saying goodbye. The reports they had heard that morning about their Master’s resurrection seemed to them like idle tales, and if so, it makes sense that they would start for home.

As they walked, they talked together about everything that had happened (Luke 24:14). They did not feel free to discuss these things openly in Jerusalem, because of fear of the Jews. But once they were out of danger, they could speak more freely. They reasoned together about the chances of Christ’s resurrection, and they would likely keep going or turn back depending on what they thought. It is fitting for Christ’s disciples, when they are together, to talk about his death and resurrection. In this way, they can help one another learn, remember, and feel more devotion.

Then they met good company on the road, though they did not know it at first. Jesus himself came near and joined them (Luke 24:15). He came as a stranger who happened to be traveling the same way and would gladly have their company. This encourages Christian conversation and helpful talk among believers. Where even two people are wisely occupied in this way, Christ will come and make a third. When those who fear the Lord speak to one another, the Lord listens and hears, and he is truly present with them. Two joined in faith and love become like a threefold cord that is not easily broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

As they talked and reasoned together, they were searching for Christ and comparing what they knew about him. Then Christ came to them. Those who seek Christ will find him. He will show himself to those who ask after him and give understanding to those who use the means of grace they have. When the bride in Song of Solomon asked the watchmen about her beloved, she found him soon after (Song of Solomon 3:4).

Even though Christ was with them, they did not recognize him at first (Luke 24:16). Their eyes were held, so they could not know him. This may mean both that he appeared in another form, as Mark says, and that God restrained their sight. Or it may mean that the air itself was so affected that they could not tell who he was. However it happened, they did not know him. Christ ordered it this way so they could talk more freely with him, and he with them.

This also showed that his teaching, and the power of it, did not depend on his bodily presence. The disciples had leaned too much on seeing him with their eyes, and they needed to be weaned from that. He could still teach them and warm their hearts through others, with his spiritual presence and unseen grace going with them.

Then came the conversation between Christ and the two disciples, while he knew them, though they did not know him. As happens when friends meet in disguise, they began to question one another. Christ first asked about the sadness that showed clearly on their faces: “What are these words that you are saying to one another as you walk, and are sad?” (Luke 24:17). It was a kind and friendly question.

They were sad, and a stranger could see it. First, they had lost their dear Master, and in their own minds they had been disappointed in all they hoped for from him. They had given up the cause and did not know how to recover it. Christ’s disciples have reason to be sad when he withdraws from them, and to fast when the bridegroom is taken away. Second, though he had risen from the dead, they either did not know it or did not believe it, so they still stayed in sorrow. Christ’s disciples are often sad even when they have reason to rejoice, because weak faith cannot take in the comfort offered to it.

Third, even in their sadness, they were talking with one another about Christ. Christians ought to speak of Christ. If our hearts were as full of him, and of what he has done and suffered for us, as they should be, our words would naturally be full of him too. We would speak not only of God and his providence, but also of Christ, his grace, and his love. Good company and good conversation are also a great help against deep sadness. When Christ’s disciples were sad, they did not go off alone. They stayed together, as he had sent them out, two by two, for two are better than one, especially in sorrow. Speaking of grief may bring relief, and by talking it through we may help ourselves, or our friends may help us think more rightly. Those who mourn together should also comfort one another, and comfort often comes best from such companionship.

Christ came up to them and asked about the matter of their talk and the cause of their grief: “What manner of communications are these?” Even though Christ had now entered his state of exaltation, he remained tender toward his disciples and concerned for their comfort.

He speaks as one troubled by their sadness: “Why do you look so sad today?” (Genesis 40:7). Our Lord Jesus notices the sorrow of his disciples, and he shares in their troubles. In this, Christ teaches us to be open and friendly with others. He talked with these two serious men, though he was a stranger and they did not know him, and they welcomed him. Christians should not be gloomy and distant. They should enjoy good company.

Christ also teaches us to care about other people’s pain. When we see friends who are sad, we should notice their grief, as Christ did, and give them wise comfort. We should weep with those who weep. In reply, they asked him about his being a stranger. “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there these days?”

Cleopas, one of the two disciples, answered kindly. He did not speak rudely or tell the stranger to mind his own business. We should be courteous to people who are courteous to us, and act kindly toward everyone in both words and actions. It was a dangerous time for Christ’s followers, but he did not suspect this stranger of planning harm or reporting them. Love is not quick to assume evil, even about strangers.

Cleopas was full of Christ, and especially of his death and suffering, and he was surprised that others were not equally aware of it. In effect, he says, “Have you been in Jerusalem and still not heard what happened to our Master there?” People are truly strangers to Jerusalem if they do not know about the death and suffering of Christ. They are like the daughters of Jerusalem who know little of the beloved one they should cherish.

He also seems eager to tell the stranger about Christ and to keep the conversation going. He would not want any man to remain ignorant of Jesus. Those who know Christ crucified should do what they can to spread that knowledge and lead others to him. It is worth noting that these disciples, who were so ready to teach the stranger, were themselves about to be taught by him, for those who have and use what they have will be given more.

Cleopas’s words show that Christ’s death was widely known in Jerusalem. It was so public that it seemed impossible for anyone in the city not to know about it. Everyone was talking about it, and it was discussed everywhere. Later, after the Spirit was poured out, the meaning of these facts would be explained.

Christ answered by asking about their knowledge, as in Luke 24:19: “What things?” In this, he made himself seem even more like a stranger. Jesus spoke lightly of his own sufferings compared with the joy set before him, the reward for them. Now that he was entering his glory, he looked back on his suffering with calmness: “What things?” He knew very well what things they were, for they had been bitter and heavy to him. Yet he asks as if he does not know. The sorrow was forgotten because of the joy that salvation was accomplished.

He took pleasure in hardship for our sake, and he teaches us to do the same for his sake. Those whom Christ will teach, he first examines to see how much they have learned. They must tell him what they know before he explains the meaning of it and leads them into the mystery behind it.

They then gave him a full account of Christ and the present state of his cause. They spoke first about Jesus of Nazareth, as he was commonly called. He was a prophet, a teacher sent from God. He preached a true and noble message, clearly from heaven and leading people toward heaven. He confirmed his teaching by many great miracles of mercy, so he was mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. That means he had heaven’s approval and was also a great blessing to the world.

He was greatly loved by God and highly respected by the people. Many people are important in public life and praised by others, yet they are not favored by God, as the scribes and Pharisees were not. But Christ was mighty in both his teaching and his deeds before God and all the people. Anyone who did not know this was a stranger indeed in Jerusalem.

They then gave a humble account of his suffering and death. “Though he was so dear to God and man, the chief priests and our rulers, in contempt of both, handed him over to the Roman power to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.” It is surprising that they did not speak more strongly against those who were guilty of crucifying Christ. Perhaps, since they were speaking to a stranger, they thought it wise to avoid direct attacks on the chief priests and rulers, however just those attacks might have been.

They also said why they were sad. “We had hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). They had not only thought of him as a prophet like Moses, but also as a redeemer like Moses. They depended on him and expected great things from him, as did all who longed for redemption and the comfort of Israel. When hope is delayed, the heart grows sick. When hope is disappointed, especially such hope, the heart can almost fail.

Yet they made the very thing that should have strengthened their hope into the ground of their despair, namely, the death of the Lord Jesus. They said, “We had hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel.” But is he not the one who redeems Israel? More than that, was he not paying the price of their redemption by his death? Was it not necessary that he suffer in order to save Israel from sin? So now that the hardest part of his work was completed, they had even more reason to trust that he was the one who would deliver Israel. Still, they were ready to give up.

They then spoke of their amazement about his resurrection.

This was the third day since Jesus had been crucified and died. That was the day when, if he were ever going to rise, people expected it to happen. They expected him to rise in glory and open honor, and to appear as publicly in honor as he had been shown three days earlier in shame. But they saw no sign of it. Nothing had happened, as they had hoped, to convince and shame his accusers or to comfort his disciples. Everything seemed silent.

They admitted that there had been a report among them that he had risen, but they spoke of it lightly and did not seem to believe it at all (Luke 24:22, Luke 24:23). “Some women of our group startled us,” they said, and that seemed to be all they were willing to admit. These women had gone early to the tomb, found the body gone, and said they had seen a vision of angels who told them he was alive. But the disciples were ready to think it was only the women’s imagination, not a real event. They reasoned that angels would have been sent to the apostles, not to women, and that women were easily misled.

They also admitted that some of the apostles had gone to the tomb and found it empty (Luke 24:24). “But they did not see him.” So, in their thinking, there was still good reason to fear that he had not risen. If he had risen, surely he would have shown himself to them. On the whole, they felt they had little reason to think he was alive, and so they no longer expected anything from him. They had pinned all their hopes to his cross and buried them in his grave.

Though Jesus was not recognized by their faces, he made himself known to them through his word. He first corrected them for their lack of thought and their weak trust in the Old Testament Scriptures: “You foolish men, and slow of heart to believe” (Luke 24:25). When Christ told us not to call our brother a fool, he meant to forbid angry and unfair insults, not just rebukes that are true and deserved. Christ called them fools, not in the sense of wicked men, but in the sense of weak and foolish men. He could rightly call them fools, because he knows our foolishness, the foolishness that lives in our hearts. People act like fools when they go against their own good, and that is what these disciples were doing when they refused the proof that their Master had risen and shut themselves out of that comfort.

The thing Jesus blamed them for was, first, their slowness to believe. Believers are often mocked by atheists, unbelievers, and free-thinkers as though their faith were blind gullibility. But Christ says that those are the fools, the ones slow of heart to believe and held back by prejudices they have never honestly examined. Second, he blamed them for being slow to believe what the prophets had written. He did not mainly rebuke them for doubting the women or the angels, but for the deeper cause behind that doubt, which was their failure to trust the prophets of the Old Testament. If they had given those prophecies their proper weight, they would have been just as sure that Christ would rise that morning, the third day after his death, as they were sure the sun would rise. The order of events fixed by prophecy is just as certain and unbreakable as the order set by providence. If we knew the Scriptures better, and understood God’s revealed purposes better, we would not so often fall into the confusion we bring on ourselves.

Jesus then showed them that his sufferings, which had scandalized them and made it hard for them to believe in his glory, were really the appointed road to that glory (Luke 24:26). “Did not the Christ, the Messiah, have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” he asked. Was this not what God had planned and declared, that the promised Messiah must first suffer and then reign, must go by way of the cross to the crown? Had they never read Isaiah 53 and Daniel 9, where the prophets speak so clearly of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow? (1 Peter 1:11)

The cross of Christ was the stumbling block they could not accept. Jesus removed that offense in two ways. First, he showed that the Messiah had to suffer these things. His sufferings were not a reason to reject him as the Messiah, but proof that he was the Messiah, just as the troubles of the saints show that they belong to God. His sufferings did not destroy their hope, they were the very foundation of it. He could not have been a Savior if he had not also been a sufferer. His work to save us was voluntary, but once he chose it, he had to suffer and die. Second, after suffering these things, he would enter into his glory, and he did so at his resurrection. That was his first step upward. It is called his glory because it rightly belonged to him, and it was the glory he had before the world began. He had to enter it, because Scripture must be fulfilled there as well as in his sufferings. He had to suffer first and then enter his glory. In this way, the shame of the cross is forever removed, and we are taught to expect the crown of thorns before the crown of glory.

Then he explained to them the Old Testament Scriptures that spoke of the Messiah and showed how they were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 24:27). Beginning with Moses, the first inspired writer of the Old Testament, he went through all the prophets in order and explained to them what pointed to himself. He showed that the sufferings he had just endured did not cancel the prophecies about him, they fulfilled them. He began with Moses, who recorded the first promise, where it was plainly foretold that the Messiah would have his heel bruised, but that through it the serpent’s head would be crushed.

There are things about Christ spread throughout all of Scripture, and it is a great help to gather them together. You can hardly go far in any part of Scripture without finding something that points to Christ, some prophecy, promise, prayer, or type. He is the true treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament. A golden thread of gospel grace runs through the whole fabric of the Old Testament. A hint of this truth can be seen everywhere.

The things about Christ also need to be explained. Even the Ethiopian official, though educated, would not claim to understand them unless someone guided him (Acts 8:31), because they were given in a veiled way under that earlier covenant. But now that the veil has been lifted, the New Testament explains the Old.

Third, Jesus Christ is himself the best interpreter of Scripture, especially the parts that speak about him. Even after his resurrection, he led people into the truth about himself this way, not by bringing in new ideas apart from Scripture, but by showing how Scripture had been fulfilled. He also turned them back to the study of it. Even the book of Revelation is really like a second part of the Old Testament prophecies, and it keeps pointing back to them. If people will not believe Moses and the prophets, they are beyond cure.

Fourth, when we study Scripture, it is wise to do it in order. The light of the Old Testament grew brighter little by little, until the full day came. It is good to notice how God spoke to the fathers about his Son at different times and in different ways, with later promises adding light to earlier ones, and now has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). Some people start their Bible at the wrong end when they begin with Revelation first. Christ here teaches us to begin with Moses.

That is the end of their conversation. Then comes the discovery Christ finally made of himself to them. We would love a full copy of the sermon Christ preached on the road and the Bible teaching he gave them, but God did not see fit to preserve it for us. We have its substance in other Scriptures. The disciples were so taken with it that they felt as if they had reached their destination too soon. But they drew near to the village where they were going (Luke 24:28), and it seems they planned to stay there for the night.

Now they asked him to stay with them. He acted as if he would go farther. He did not say he would leave, but he seemed to be going on, and did not readily turn into their friend's house, which would not have been proper for a stranger unless invited. He would have gone farther if they had not urged him to stay, so there was no deception in this. A shy stranger does not force his way into a house or company. He waits to be invited, and then he may accept. That is all Christ did when he made as though he would go farther.

Those who want Christ to stay with them must invite him and press him to remain. He is often found by people who are not looking for him, yet only those who seek him can be sure of finding him. If he seems to draw away from us, it is only to stir up our pleading. That is what happened here. They urged him strongly, with kind and friendly insistence: “Stay with us.” Those who have tasted the joy and benefit of communion with Christ cannot help wanting more of his company. They ask him not only to walk with them through the day, but to stay with them at night.

When the day is almost over and evening is coming on, we naturally think about rest. At that time it is fitting to look to Christ and ask him to stay with us, to show himself to us, and to fill our minds with good thoughts and warm affections toward him. Christ gave in to their urging. He went in to stay with them. Christ is always ready to give more instruction and comfort to those who make good use of what they have already received. He has promised that if anyone opens the door and welcomes him, he will come in (Revelation 3:20).

He then made himself known to them (Luke 24:30-31). We may suppose he kept talking with them, as he had on the road, for we should speak of God’s things when we are at home as well as when we are walking. While supper was being prepared, which may have been quickly done because the meal was so small and plain, he likely continued to speak with them in a way that helped and built them up. As they sat at the table, his words fed them. Yet they still did not know that it was Jesus himself speaking with them until he was pleased to remove his disguise and then leave.

They began to suspect it was he when he took the place of the host at the meal. He acted so much like himself, and so much like he had done among his disciples before, that they recognized him. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. He did this with his usual mix of authority and affection, perhaps with the same expressions he had used before in asking a blessing and giving them the bread. This was not a miracle meal like the feeding of the five thousand, and it was not a sacramental meal like the Lord’s Supper, but an ordinary meal. Even so, Christ did here what he did in those other meals, to teach us to keep fellowship with God through Christ in ordinary life as well as in special services.

We should ask a blessing and give thanks at every meal. We should see our daily bread as supplied and broken for us by Jesus Christ, the Lord not only of the whole household of God, but of all our homes. Wherever we sit down to eat, let us place Christ at the head of the table. Let us receive our food as blessed by him, and eat and drink for his glory. Let us accept with contentment and thankfulness whatever he gives us, no matter how plain and simple it may be. We can receive it gladly if faith lets us see it coming from Christ’s hand, with his blessing.

At once their eyes were opened, and they knew who he was. Whatever had hidden him from them before was removed. The fog cleared, the veil was lifted, and they had no doubt that it was their Master. He could, for wise and holy reasons, take on another form, but no other person could take on his own true likeness. So it must be he. This shows how Christ, by his Spirit and grace, makes himself known to the souls of his people.

He opens the Scriptures to them, because those Scriptures testify of him to all who search them and look for him there. He also meets them at his table, in the Lord’s Supper, where he often gives them further knowledge of himself and is known to them in the breaking of bread. But the work is completed when he opens the eyes of their minds and removes the scales from them, as happened to Paul in his conversion. If the one who gives the revelation does not also give understanding, we still remain in darkness.

Then he disappeared from their sight. He withdrew from them, slipped away suddenly, and was no longer visible to them.

It seems that although Christ’s body after his resurrection was the very same body in which he suffered and died, as its scars showed, it was also changed enough to appear or disappear as he chose. This was a step toward its becoming a glorious body. As soon as he had given his disciples one glimpse of himself, he was gone. Our views of Christ in this world are often like that, brief and passing. We see him for a moment, then lose sight of him again. In heaven, we will see him without any break.

Here is the reflection these disciples made after that conversation, and the report they brought to their brothers in Jerusalem. First, they thought about how Christ’s words had affected them (Luke 24:32). They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us?” One was saying, “Mine certainly did,” and the other agreed, “Mine did too. I have never been so moved by any sermon in my life.” They were not so much comparing notes as comparing hearts as they reviewed the sermon Christ had preached to them. They found his preaching powerful, even though they did not know who the preacher was.

His words made things very plain to them. More than that, they brought both light and warmth into their souls. Their hearts were stirred up, and a holy fire of devotion was kindled in them. They noticed this because it confirmed their faith that the stranger who had been speaking with them was truly Jesus. They saw at last how blind they had been. No one but him, and no word but his, could have made their hearts burn like that. He alone has the key to the human heart.

This also shows what kind of preaching does good. Christ’s preaching was plain, familiar, and easy to follow, because he talked with them by the way. It was also Scripture-based, because he opened the Scriptures to them, especially the parts about himself. Ministers should show people their faith in the Bible, and prove that they teach no other message than what is found there. The Scriptures that speak of Christ have a direct power to warm his disciples’ hearts. They both strengthen them and comfort them.

It also shows what kind of hearing does good, hearing that makes the heart burn. When we are deeply moved by the things of God, especially by Christ’s love in dying for us, our hearts are drawn out in love to him. They are also lifted up in holy desire and prayer. Then we can say our hearts burn within us. When our hearts are raised toward God like sparks rising upward, and when they are stirred with holy zeal against sin in others and in ourselves, and in some measure purified from it by God’s spirit of judgment and burning, then we may say by grace that our hearts have been set on fire in the right way.

Second, they reported this to their brothers in Jerusalem (Luke 24:33). They got up that same hour, so filled with joy at Christ’s appearing that they could not finish their supper. They hurried back to Jerusalem, even though it was evening. If they had been thinking of leaving Christ, this ended such thoughts at once. They needed no other reason to return to his flock. It seems they had planned to stay the night in Emmaus. But now that they had seen Christ, they could not rest until they told the disciples the good news. They wanted to strengthen their trembling faith and comfort their sorrowful hearts with the same comfort they had received from God.

It is the duty of those to whom Christ has shown himself to tell others what he has done for their souls. When you are converted, strengthen your brothers. These disciples were so full of the matter themselves that they had to go to their brothers and give voice to their joy, as well as assure them that their Master was risen. When they came in, they found the eleven and their usual companions gathered together late at night. They were likely praying and considering what should be done in such a moment. They also found them talking among themselves, for it was the eleven who were speaking, not the two disciples. And when these two entered, the others greeted them with joy and triumph: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon” (Luke 24:34). That Peter had seen him was a strong proof of the resurrection.