The Emmaus Disciples Recognize Jesus

Cleopas and another of the disciples of Jesus were perplexed and even disappointed by the death of Jesus and the reports of the empty tomb, and they talked about these things as they traveled on the Emmaus road. They began to better understand the necessity of Christ’s death and resurrection once Jesus joined them and started to show them what the Old Testament teaches regarding the person and work of the Messiah, though they did not know at first that it was Jesus who expounded the Scriptures to them (Luke 24:13–27). We do not know exactly which texts Jesus took them to, but the Old Testament testifies abundantly to the Messiah’s defeat of Satan, fulfillment of the prophetic office, appointment as king and priest in the order of Melchizedek, atoning sacrifice for sin, and more (e.g., Gen. 3:15; Deut. 18:15; Pss. 2; 110; Isa. 53).

When the disciples drew near to Emmaus, they invited Jesus to stay with them. As we have noted, they did not yet recognize the Savior, but their having Him bless the bread at dinner indicates that they knew that there was something special about Him (Luke 24:28–30). Ordinarily, one would not ask a guest to do that in the first-century Jewish culture unless he was particularly distinguished in some way. But during the breaking of the bread, God finally opened their eyes to recognize that the Savior was with them, and Jesus vanished (v. 31). Later, they would tell others that Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread (v. 35). Certainly, the meal to which they refer was not the Lord’s Supper; nevertheless, we cannot help but think of the sacrament in reading this account. After all, Jesus is made known to us in the breaking of the bread at the Lord’s Supper, for the sacrament is a visible sign of the death of Christ.

Once the two disciples recognized Jesus, they went straightway to tell “the eleven” (v. 33)—the twelve disciples who had followed the Savior most closely during His earthly ministry minus Judas Iscariot, who had killed himself after betraying Jesus (Matt. 27:3–10). These eleven were already talking about the fact that Simon Peter had seen Jesus, so the testimony of the Emmaus disciples gave further confirmation that Jesus was in fact alive, having been raised from the dead (Luke 24:32–35; see Acts 1:15–19; 1 Cor. 15:5). Finally, the disciples of Jesus were beginning to understand that His death was not the end; His resurrection showed that a decisive moment in the history of salvation was underway.