Emmaus Can Wait

Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

I've often said that the Emmaus Road narrative at the end of Luke’s Gospel would be one of my top choices if I could be a "fly on the wall." That may not seem like the obvious choice (Wouldn’t you want to see the waters of the Red Sea part? How about the feeding of the 5000 or another miracle?) but I am drawn into this simple story time and time again. It is Jesus’ resurrection day, but apparently word has not yet gotten out. Or, to be more clear, it seems to have gotten out but is a bit too confusing and maybe just too much to take in. Two disciples of Jesus, not of the Twelve, are leaving Jerusalem.

“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.” (Luke 24:13-14)

Walking. Talking. Wrestling. Grieving. These two disciples are taking the long seven mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus to process everything they have experienced. But that is the point - they are leaving Jerusalem. Why? Because whatever all of that was, it’s all over now. They are headed home, back to Emmaus, to pick up the pieces of the life they had once upon a time before they left to follow the carpenter’s son from Nazareth.

And here is my first “fly on the wall” moment of the story. The incognito Jesus.

“As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.” (Luke 24:15-16)

I don’t imagine he is wearing some sort of disguise, like the dark glasses, nose & mustache deal (although now you’re thinking it too). Instead there may be a twofold thing happening here. They are no longer looking for him and so they can’t see him, and at the same time, Jesus is about to reveal himself in a way that is so unmistakable, they will never forget it.

But first, this stranger on the road has some questions.

“He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”” (Luke 24:17-18)

Have you ever been asked a question that just stopped you in your tracks or caused your heart to feel like it was going to drop through the floorboards? Cleopas and the other disciple stop, their faces get very serious, and then they ask Jesus, “Where you been, man? Do you live under a rock? How do you NOT know what just happened in Jerusalem?!”

Some might take a hint here and back down. Jesus doubles down instead. “What things?” he asks. Jesus asks more about what they have experienced (which is really ironic if you think about it). And they eulogize Jesus…to Jesus. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed. The leaders handed him over to be killed and he was crucified…it is the third day since this happened. Some women say they went to the tomb and it was empty. Some of the disciples too. It is…a lot.

In the midst of their anguish, these disciples show their cards a bit.

“…but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. (Luke 24:21a)

Like so many of their day, the overwhelming hope was that God’s very anointed One, his Messiah, would come with David-like power and conquer their oppressors, and like Moses, lead a new exodus into freedom and peace. But what happens when, instead of conquering their oppressors, the one you had put all your hopes in dies on the oppressor’s cross?

You head back to Emmaus.

We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. That hope is gone now. Kings rule on thrones. They don’t die on crosses. We had hoped that he was the one. You might as well just hang that hope up on the cross too.

This leads to my second “fly on the wall” moment. Perhaps the best Bible study ever.

“He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27 NIV)

Now, as westerners who never correct one another (unless it is online), this seems incredibly harsh of incognito Jesus. But anyone who is from or has spent any time in the east knows that challenging, questioning, and even arguing is a regular part of healthy discourse. So this stranger on the road challenges their preconceived ideas about the Messiah, specifically that a “suffering Messiah” is not a contradiction.

Jesus’ Bible study was a crash course through the writings of Moses (the Law) and the Prophets. This is a categorical way of saying “the entire Torah.” Sometimes these categories might be broken into three: Law, Prophets, and Writings (called Tanach or Tanak). It is unlikely Jesus took them through every line of the Torah. But we can envision some of the passages Jesus might have taken them to…

“Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” (Psalm 22:16-18)

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

Zechariah 12:10 NIV

I’m sure the study tour goes on. Could you imagine being a fly on the wall, hearing Jesus exegete the text like this, showing how the Messiah must suffer first? (There is, however, a real sense in which this is now the very work the Spirit does in us as we read the text. Like Jesus on the Emmaus way, Christ’s Spirit now gives us the discernment we need to understand what the Scriptures are saying and where they are pointing…and to whom they have been pointing all along.)

Now for my final “fly on the wall” moment.

The two disciples continue their journey back to Emmaus, with Jesus still tagging along. As their seven mile journey home concludes, Jesus acts as if he is just going to keep heading down the road. Being that it is late and with typical eastern hospitality, the disciples urge Jesus to stay with them (bad things can happen at night to solo travelers). Jesus accepts the invitation. And then, in typical Jesus fashion, the table is transformed into holy ground.

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31 NIV)

The image of Jesus taking, blessing, breaking, and giving bread is a repeated image that they have certainly seen before. And in this moment, the scales fall from their eyes. They think back to the conversation with the (then) stranger on the side of the road.

“They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32 NIV)

The difference between downcast faces and burning hearts? Jesus is alive. Hope has a heartbeat again. This is the kind of news that changes the direction of a life. Literally. We are told that these disciples who had just walked seven brokenhearted miles home got up and “returned at once to Jerusalem.” At night.

“Emmaus can wait,” I imagine them saying to one another. “This news, however, cannot. We have to go tell the others what we have seen.”

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Thank you for reading my first post. Seriously. I’ve chosen the name Emmaus Can Wait for my publication, but “Emmaus” is just a placeholder for whatever you and I might be tempted to return to when we begin to lose hope. When despair sets in, it is easy to pack our bags and call the whole thing off. But, when we truly see Jesus…

When the Scriptures burn within our hearts…

When we are reminded of what true hope is…

That’ll send you running seven miles back to Jerusalem in the dark. Or it will cause you to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. It will help you take the next step in faith.

If this publication can at all be an encouragement to you as you walk the road with Jesus…well, I’m truly honored.

Here we go.