Luke 24:33, commentary and pictures

The two who recognized the risen Jesus at Emmaus rose the same hour and hurried back to Jerusalem though it was late in the evening, their joy and eagerness to tell that He had risen making them forget hunger and fatigue and leave their meal uneaten. They pressed on through the dark over a rough and unsafe road where they stumbled and lost the track, yet went with light hearts because their tidings were joyful and opposite to their gloom on the way out. They found the eleven and their companions gathered together in excitement, already hearing that He had appeared to Simon Peter and hearing the reports brought by Mary Magdalene and the other women. They told how He had opened the Scriptures to them and how they knew Him at the table by His blessing and breaking of the food and the marks of the crucifixion, before He vanished and then stood Himself in their midst and ate before them. He had kept His identity hidden until He had interpreted Moses and the prophets concerning His suffering, death and resurrection, so as to lead them to intelligent faith rooted not in His personal testimony but in the unquestionable evidence of the Scriptures. Their return carried tidings such as human lips had never before proclaimed, that Christ had risen, the great truth around which all the faith and hope of the church would center.

The Night Return to Jerusalem

Luke 24:33 belongs to the Emmaus account, in which two grieving and disappointed disciples left Jerusalem talking over the crucifixion and their blighted hopes, unable to understand Christ's lessons. They walked together across open country beneath a broad horizon, and on the open road Christ himself drew near as a fellow traveler to comfort and teach them. He was unrecognized because their faith had died with Him and their eyes were blinded by unbelief. At Emmaus He was known at the evening meal by His words, manner, and wounded hands, and after He revealed Himself their faith revived and their hearts burned within them while He had talked by the way and opened the Scriptures.

Having recognized the risen Jesus, the two rose up the same hour to hurry back to Jerusalem, though it was late in the evening with no moon. Their joy and eagerness to tell that Christ had risen made them forget hunger and fatigue, leave their prepared meal uneaten, and press on as fast as they could. They had left Jerusalem to go home and take up their old work and hide their blighted hopes, but now they could not stay home and keep their new knowledge from the other disciples, longing to impart their own joy so all could rejoice together in a living Saviour risen from the dead. Their feelings on the return were the opposite of their gloom on the way out, with joy greater than their former despair and light hearts despite the late hour.

They traveled a dark, rough, and unsafe road with stones and dangerous ledges, stumbling and falling and sometimes losing the track and having to find it again, yet pressing on with fresh speed because their tidings were joyful. Their joy in the risen Jesus and their longing to share the news overcame hunger, fatigue, and the hazards of the dark road. Christ accompanied and protected them unseen on the return, hearing their joy and gratitude as they talked, and entered Jerusalem with them.

By night they entered by the eastern gate left open for the feast and passed through dark silent narrow streets by the light of the rising moon to the memorable upper chamber where Jesus had spent the last night before His death and where the disciples had spent the Sabbath mourning for their Lord. They knew to find their brethren there awake with no desire to sleep, waiting for certain news about His body, because exciting events were being told. The chamber door was barred from caution to keep out spies and for fear of the Jews. It was opened only after their repeated demand and giving their names, and was barred again after they were admitted to guard against spies.

They found the eleven apostles and their companions gathered together in excitement, surprise, and thanksgiving, hearing reports of the resurrection. The risen Jesus had appeared to Simon Peter, with joyful news also already brought by Mary Magdalene and the other women, and their arrival with joyful news joined that testimony so that the gathered disciples' wavering faith began to revive. They told how Jesus had opened the Scriptures to them from the patriarchs to the events that had just taken place, revealing the straight chain of prophecy concerning His life, suffering, death and resurrection. They told how they recognized Him at the evening meal when He blessed and broke the food by His words, manner, wounded hands and marks of the crucifixion, how they glorified God and would have embraced Him and thrown themselves upon His neck but He vanished after they saw and worshiped Him, and how their hearts had burned within them.

The company heard this report in breathless silence, some inspired with new faith and others still incredulous. Immediately afterward Jesus Himself stood in their midst and revealed Himself to them as the risen Christ. To prove He was the risen Christ amid great joy they hardly believed, He asked for food and ate bread and honeycomb before them.

Teaching, Proof, and Witness

Before the return to Jerusalem, identity was deliberately held back until Moses and the prophets had been interpreted concerning life, character, mission to earth, suffering, death and resurrection, so that the disciples would be led to intelligent faith rooted not in personal testimony but in the unquestionable evidence of the typical law and the Old Testament prophets agreeing with the facts of life and death. When that work of rooting truth firmly was gained, self-revelation was given so that joy might be full, and then disappearance followed. Knowledge of being risen was withheld because overjoyed satisfaction at seeing alive would have satisfied souls and taken away hunger for sacred truth. Those truths were to be fixed indelibly and impressed indelibly on minds and faith revived, so they could be imparted to others and spread until thousands received the light given that day to the despairing disciples.

There was no special mark in appearance that immediately revealed sonship of God, and recognition came only when telling was given and understanding was opened. Had there been familiarity with the Scriptures, faith would have been sustained and hopes unshaken, for prophecy plainly stated the treatment to be received from those come to save, and close, prayerful searching of the word sustains faith in Christ. The burning of hearts while talking by the way and opening the Scriptures is repeated through prayerful study of Daniel, Revelation, and the other prophecies of the Old and New Testaments, when the Holy Spirit shining on the sacred page opens understanding to know what is truth and brings light into the home. The return carried tidings such as human lips had never before proclaimed, that Christ had risen, the great truth around which all the faith and hope of the church would center and the hope of humanity for time and eternity.

Abundant, uncontrovertible evidence made the resurrection certain and established Christianity, beginning at Moses in all the prophets, then witness brought to Jerusalem and revelation in the upper chamber to the eleven as one risen from the dead whose body had not seen corruption. Early first-day testimony declared going to the sepulcher in the morning and finding it empty, seeing the shroud wrapped about the body but not finding Him, and seeing and talking with Him, a decided triumph making of none effect the falsehood of the priests about a stolen body. The risen one humbly shares the journey and its difficulties to teach and comfort suffering, perplexed, lonely, disappointed and despondent people, is with them on their hardest paths, and is present to bring peace and life when accepted. After resurrection the work as educator speaking as never man spoke continued, opening the Scriptures concerning self and binding hearts with holy, new, sacred hope and joy, and meeting people as the Waldenses were met with strength and instruction, with proof as a risen Saviour made known on the road before leaving. Those who receive true light do as the two did, at once returning to find those whom God has led and is still leading, telling how Jesus has been seen and talked with, bearing living testimony giving evidence that the light will better qualify to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God, and seeking counsel of those who have borne and still bear the truth and give the last message of warning with deep experience in the things of God, instead of taking a different line from the church, breaking unity if possible, and drawing away disciples. In the wider setting work is given as witnesses first in Jerusalem and then among all nations, and after the return there was remaining in Jerusalem through Passover week, meeting in the upper room where appearance came twice with direction to stay in Jerusalem for a time before going to Galilee.