Luke 24:19, commentary and pictures

Late on the resurrection afternoon two grieving disciples walking from Jerusalem toward Emmaus are joined by the risen Jesus veiled as an ordinary traveling stranger, and when He asks what troubles them they answer with a troubled account of His trial and crucifixion. They describe Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, yet confess that their hope that He would redeem Israel is lost now that the chief priests have handed Him over to death and the third day has come. Their disappointment comes from unbelief and failure to understand the Scriptures foretelling His suffering, death and glory, so they cannot see how humiliation fits with His being the Christ even after hearing that the tomb is empty and He has risen. To give them intelligent and firm faith He keeps Himself hidden while He opens the Scriptures from Moses and the prophets, tracing the connected line of prophecy fulfilled in His life, death and resurrection until their hearts burn within them. Only then does He make Himself known in the breaking of the bread, turning their despair to full joy that sends them hurrying back to Jerusalem to testify to a living Saviour, showing that He still walks beside suffering and perplexed people to bring peace and understanding.

Emmaus Road Setting

Luke 24:19 belongs to the walk to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-33 on the day of the resurrection, spoken on the road while two earnest disciples travel together across open country from Jerusalem toward Emmaus and toward their homes. It falls late on resurrection afternoon, on the depressed outward walk when with blighted hopes they intend to take up their old employment again and conceal their disappointment as best they can. Their heavy feelings then stand opposite the joy that afterward exceeds their despair, when with light hearts they forget hunger and fatigue, leave their meal, and hurry back over the rough, dark, moonless road to Jerusalem, stumbling yet pressing on to impart the tidings of a living Saviour.

The two are deeply disheartened by Jesus' trial and crucifixion and perplexed by reports that His body is gone. They grieve as those who had expected Him to redeem Israel, saying the third day has arrived without understanding that He would rise. Women early that same morning found the tomb empty, saw angels, and met Him, and the disciples repeat what the women found while still perplexed especially by those reports.

The risen Jesus Himself joins them on that road, listening as they talk, but they do not know Him. Their eyes are held so they do not know Him, and He bears no special marks that immediately reveal Him, appearing to them as an ordinary traveler and toiling traveling man like themselves. They take Him for someone staying in Jerusalem who does not know what has taken place, asking if He is only a stranger in Jerusalem ignorant of these things. For hours He remains with them, teaching and comforting them as their risen Redeemer, and His teaching sinks deeply into their discouraged hearts.

In answer to His question about their sad discussion as they walked and what things have come to pass in Jerusalem in those days, Cleopas expresses surprise that anyone staying there could not know. They then give the troubled account of what had taken place, describing Jesus of Nazareth and repeating the women's report from the tomb. After hearing that account of the events that had troubled them, Jesus rebukes them for unbelief.

Disciples' Description of Jesus

In answer to the stranger's question the two travelers describe Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, powerful in word and deed whose mighty words and works were known before God and the people.

They give this description while recounting that after His trial the chief priests and rulers handed Him over to be condemned to death and that wicked hands took and crucified Him. Their telling joins the trial and crucifixion to the women's report of the empty tomb and of resurrection, which they repeat without yet recognizing the risen Jesus who walks with them.

The description shows they remembered Him as mighty and recognized His prophetic power, yet they remain confused, disappointed and perplexed by His death and by the reports that He has risen, without understanding that He has risen. What was prophesied about Him had come to pass, but they do not see it until the Scriptures are opened to them and until His crucifixion marks afterward make Him known to them as the Christ. They add that they had hoped He would redeem Israel, but the third day has arrived and their hope is lost, because they had not understood the prophecies about His suffering. Grieving and hopeless on the afternoon of the resurrection because He had been crucified, they speak as those who expected redemption yet did not understand that He would rise.

Unbelief and Lost Hope

Their minds had hardly grasped the idea of a suffering Saviour, so they could not understand how His humiliation and suffering could fit with hope in Him. Because they had not taken in His lessons, they were left questioning whether He could be the Christ. Jesus therefore first taught them, that they might understand and be comforted.

Their lost hope and failure to recognize Him came from unbelief and from not understanding the Scriptures that foretold His suffering, death, and glory. They had heard the report that He had risen but did not believe it, and their hopes lay buried in the tomb with Him. Reports that He had risen left them confused and sorrowful rather than believing, until as He recalled those prophecies their faith revived.

Instead of searching the Scriptures to see if these things were so, they talked of their troubles with one another with faith so small that they did not recognize Jesus when He drew near. On that depressed outward walk from Jerusalem toward their homes at Emmaus they intended to take up their old employment again and conceal their disappointment as best they could. Even while He opened the Scriptures to them, commencing at Moses and the prophets and laying open to their understanding that everything that had transpired was written there, they could not take it in. Only later, in the breaking of the bread, did His familiar voice and wounded hands and crucifixion marks make Him known to them as the Christ, though His teaching had already taken root in their discouraged hearts and they had seen that the things prophesied about Him had come to pass.

How Christ Opened Scriptures

In answer to their sad account He opened the Scriptures to them, beginning at Moses and the prophets and tracing the very history of Christ, laying open to their understanding that everything that had transpired was written there. What He set before them was a connected line of prophecy stretching from the patriarchs to their own time, foreshadowing all that had happened to Him, a straight chain of prophecy reaching from the days of the patriarchs to that very time. In that encounter He opened their understanding so they could understand the Scriptures.

He led them through the testimony of the typical law and the prophets of the Old Testament agreeing with the facts of His life and death as unquestionable evidence for the truth. As He walked with them He explained the Old Testament Scriptures and showed them meanings their writers had not seen. He kept His disguise until He had interpreted the Scriptures because He wished truth to take firm root in their minds not through His personal testimony but through that agreeing testimony, so their faith might rest on that evidence rather than on His personal testimony.

His drawing out their account and keeping His identity hidden was to lead them to an intelligent, firm, informed faith in His life, His character, His mission to earth, and His death and resurrection. The Scriptures were to root their faith firmly and equip them to share their understanding with others. Only when that work was gained did He reveal Himself to them that their joy might be full, and then He vanished from their sight.

For hours He was with them, teaching and comforting them as their risen Redeemer, His teaching sinking deeply into their discouraged hearts. On the journey and later in their home He opened the Scriptures, showing evidence of His divinity and unfolding the plan of salvation. After His resurrection He thus continued His earthly work as an educator, teaching the lonely, disappointed disciples traveling to Emmaus and those gathered in the upper chamber.

As they contemplated the Word while walking with Him their hearts burned within them. That burning heart comes to those seeking Christ's righteousness when they dwell on the themes of the great salvation, with the Bible as the storehouse supplying nourishing food for the soul, meditating on His incarnation and contemplating the great sacrifice made to save from perdition and to bring in pardon, peace, and everlasting righteousness, until the soul is aglow, holiness and truth and grace and righteousness occupy the thoughts, self dies and Christ lives within. His teaching awakened in them and bound their hearts with a holy, new, sacred hope and joy, just as when He taught on earth He spoke as never man spoke.

Resurrection Witness and Testimony

The Emmaus walk belongs to the abundant evidence that Jesus has risen from the dead as a risen Saviour, for the two disciples found the tomb empty, saw Him, and talked with Him on the road where He met them and made Himself known to them before leaving them. The same certainty was confirmed when He revealed Himself in the upper chamber to the eleven as one risen from the dead. After He opened the Scriptures to them from Moses and the prophets concerning Himself and revealed Himself to them, their despair gave way to joy that exceeded their former despair. With light hearts they forgot hunger and fatigue, left their meal, and hurried back over the rough, dark, moonless road to Jerusalem, stumbling yet pressing on, longing to impart to the other disciples the tidings of a living Saviour risen from the dead.

Their arrival in Jerusalem with joyful news joined the other reports that He had risen and had appeared to Simon, helping revive the faith of the group. They told how they had encountered Him on the road without recognizing Him and how the Lord had opened their eyes and revealed to them the straight chain of prophecy reaching from the days of the patriarchs to that time, foreshadowing all that had transpired regarding their Saviour. The company heard this report in breathless silence, with some inspired to new faith and others remaining incredulous. The fact of Christ's resurrection is the great truth around which all the faith and hope of the church centers. When they received light they returned and found those whom God had led and was still leading, and told them how they had seen Jesus and had talked with Him, and that course of returning to the body of believers with their testimony is what those who claim to have received great light should do, instead of taking a different line from the church and breaking up unity.

Christ Present With Sufferers

Luke 24:19 belongs to the walk in which the risen Jesus came alongside two unrecognizing disciples as an ordinary traveler, teaching and comforting them along their difficult road. That humble companionship shows He identifies with suffering, troubled and perplexed people and stays with them in their hardest paths. Though risen and ascended He remains the same Son of Man, with the same human sympathy and love, and on the journey and afterward in their home He opened the Scriptures, showing evidence of His divinity and unfolding the plan of salvation.

Even in despondency He is near to give peace and life to those who accept Him, and opened eyes would recognize His presence. He walks beside people who mourn and grieve, just as He walked beside the sorrowing disciples, bringing peace and consolation. Hearts would burn with holy joy if they knew the unseen Saviour was beside them, as the disciples' hearts burned while Christ walked with them and opened the Scriptures.

Conversation about redemption and Christ brings that kind of joy to the pure in heart, for the disciples felt joy as Jesus came and walked with them. The joy comes from seeing Christ in the Scriptures, and as they contemplated those Scriptures concerning Himself while walking with Him their hearts burned within them. Meditating on the Word and on His saving work likewise fills the heart with holy joy and elevating thoughts.

The same burning heart comes to those seeking Christ's righteousness when they dwell on the themes of the great salvation. The Bible is the storehouse supplying nourishing food for the soul, as they meditate on the incarnation of Christ and contemplate the great sacrifice made to save them from perdition and to bring in pardon, peace and everlasting righteousness. Then the soul is aglow, holiness and truth and grace and righteousness occupy the thoughts, self dies and Christ lives within.

In lonely retreats the Waldensian fugitives met and conversed with their Redeemer as the two disciples did on the way to Emmaus. He opened the truths of His word to them and strengthened their resolve to reject false guides and worship God alone. The same work of the Holy Spirit shining upon the sacred page opens understanding to know what is truth when Daniel, Revelation and the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are studied with prayer, as He talked with the disciples by the way and opened to them the Scriptures and opened their understanding so their hearts burned within them.