On the Emmaus Road – Part II
TRANSLATION
(27) And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what had been said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (28) As they approached the village to which they were going, he indicated that he intended to go farther, (29) and they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” So, he went in to stay with them.
(30) When he was at the dinner table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, giving it to them. (31) Then their eyes were opened, they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. (32) They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road, explaining to us the Scriptures?” (33) And at once they got up and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them. (34) They said, “The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.” (35) And they recalled what had happened on the road and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
OBSERVATIONS
Four repeated words or phrases mark this concluding description of the two disciples’ encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus: “explained/ explaining…the Scriptures” (vss. 27 & 32), “stay with us/them” (vss. 29 & 30), “broke/breaking of the bread” (vss. 30 & 35), and “on the road” (vss. 32 & 35). It was through these two actions, his teaching them about himself from the Old Testament and then his breaking the bread at their table, that the disciples’ eyes were opened to recognize the one who had been sharing with them on the Emmaus Road.
OUTLINE
I. Two disciples, after meeting the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus and hearing him explain what the Scriptures foretold about himself, recognized him when he broke bread at their table. (27-32)
II. The two immediately returned to Jerusalem to share news of their encounter with the others. (33-35)
IDEA STATEMENT
After having recognized the risen Christ when he explained the Scriptures and then broke bread with them, the two disciples from Emmaus returned to Jerusalem to share the news of his resurrection.
APPLICATION
To what event were the two disciples from Emmaus referring when they related that the risen Lord was made known to them “in the breaking of the bread?” Many assume that this phrase referenced the moment when Jesus established the New Covenant with his disciples in the Upper Room. However, these two from Emmaus had not been present when Jesus celebrated the Passover with the twelve. In fact, there was hardly enough time for them to have heard about that significant moment in all the chaos surrounding Jesus’ trial and crucifixion.
Instead, this was likely a reference to Jesus feeding the multitude, the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. These two may well have been present as witnesses when Jesus fed the five thousand using five loaves and two small fish. Surely, they would have heard about this event even if they had not been present that afternoon. What Jesus did at their dinner that night after they returned from Jerusalem in taking bread, breaking it, and giving it to them as his guests likely reminded them of his doing the same thing in Galilee not many months earlier. Suddenly, they realized it was Jesus, himself, who had explained the Scriptures to them as they walked together. When he vanished from their sight, they did not wait but hastened back to Jerusalem to tell the others about their encounter with the risen Lord.