Scripture

Do you know Jesus? Have you ever had a “coming to Jesus” moment? What does that even mean? For some, knowing Jesus is a grasping at an ideal. Well, there is some truth here. But some do a whole lot of grasping without any opening of the Bible. Some even delve into secondary sources to discover what a certain well-known person says about Jesus and what it takes to know him. Nothing wrong here. Except . . . Well, except if the primary source sits collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. I hear people making claims about Jesus and I think, “where did that come from?” Some expert somewhere. But did that expert get it from the primary source? When I was in college, my grades suffered if I relied heavily on secondary or tertiary sources. Will our relationship with God also suffer if we rely too heavily on secondary or tertiary sources? And another thought: how do these experts know better about what happened than the people who were there? Maybe we should crack open the Bible. Just a crazy thought.

Luke 24:13-35 is the story of the two disciples encountering Jesus unaware on the road to Emmaus. I have divided the section up into two: Scripture (13-27) and Bread (28-35). So, on resurrection Sunday, two disciples were on their way to Emmaus. There are three suggested places for this village. The one that matches Luke’s seven miles has only rather late witnesses (Crusaders). The most likely candidate is witnessed by Josephus (War 7.217). It is about three and a half miles northwest of Jerusalem. It is possible, and likely, that Luke’s seven miles (60 stadia) is round trip. Being closer to Jerusalem also lends credibility to the story. Why would they be leaving Jerusalem while everything is unsettled; while a great mystery lays over the holy city? But, after the Passover, several people would have looked for lodging outside of the city, away from the throng, as they observed the week of Unleavened Bread. And three and a half miles is not that far away. The plan was most likely to walk back to Jerusalem every day.

As these two disciples are walking they are talking about all that had happened. And Jesus drew near and traveled along with them. Maybe the implication is that he walked along with them for awhile before they knew it. Also, their eyes were kept not recognizing him. Kept by whom? Jesus? Satan? Their own obtuseness? Jesus will rebuke their unbelief so that is at least part of it. I think Jesus kept their eyes from recognizing him. Why? They needed Scripture before they could truly see. More on that later. Jesus asked them about the words they were exchanging. They stopped and looked somber. Cleopas, one of the disciples, asked Jesus if he alone was visiting Jerusalem and had not come to know about all the hub bub. Ironically, Jesus knew more about it than they did. I wonder if people aren’t guilty of telling Jesus all about Jesus as if he were some kind of unaware foreigner. We are the foreigners. Jesus asked what things and they told Jesus all about Jesus of Nazareth. They refer to Jesus as a prophet full of ability in action and word before God and all the people. Some have viewed verse 20 as being antisemitic since Pilate and the Romans aren’t mentioned at all. Haters of the Bible will hate on the Bible. The emphasis here is the betrayal of the religious leaders; the very people who should have known better.

Cleopas then speaks of crushed hope. They had been expecting this Jesus to redeem, to set free, Israel. They hoped in the right words, but in the wrong manifestation of those words. That the third day has come into existence probably emphasizes their crushed hope. It also serves to explain why they are so surprised this fellow traveler had not heard about any of this. Even with the women amazing them with the story of the open tomb, even with that story being confirmed by some of their number, their hope remained broken and in tatters on the ground. No story of angels bearing good news could mend their hope. No one saw Jesus. Jesus responded with, “O without understanding, slow of heart to believe!” Then Jesus begins to expound from Moses and the prophets and all of the Scriptures about himself.

They thought they knew the story. And they should have. They grew up hearing the readings in the synagogues. This is about more than study. Some people have studied. They have expended time and energy to master the ancient languages and documents. But have they ever walked with Jesus and let him interpret the Scripture? There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God. The goal is to know God. Scripture is a major part of the equation. Spend time diving into the text. But walk with Jesus along the road and listen to his interpretation. Eat some bread with him. To be continued. Grace.