Chuck Larsen

As the two disciples walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Jesus unveiled the Scriptures to them. He illuminated how everything written in the law, the prophets, and the psalms was a testament to Himself. Luke 24:44-45 reveals that Jesus can enlighten our minds to comprehend the Scriptures. It states, “These are my (Jesus’) words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he illuminated their minds to comprehend the Scriptures…” Jesus is the key to unlocking the entire corpus of the Old and New Testaments. It’s all about Him!

Arnold Fruchtenbaum says, “From the most ancient sources to modern rabbis, Jewish teachers have always divided the Scriptures into three sections: The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings. We see here (particularly in verse 44) that Jesus does the same. The Writings are sometimes referred to only as “the Psalms,” Psalms being the first book in the Writings. Jesus systematically covers all Scripture, revealing all things concerning Himself to His disciples.” The interesting thing about Jesus’ comment is that he opened their minds to the scriptures and then opened their minds to understand them as they referred to Himself as the Messiah. Jesus didn’t start with the Gospels but with the Old Testament to explain Himself. It all pointed to Him.

Nancy Guthrie truly underscores the significance of this for us. She says that Jesus “…didn’t use Old Testament characters or situations as examples to instruct the two disciples on how to live the life of faith, which is how many of us have always heard the Old Testament taught.” I must say that this is also the way I’ve taught it a lot. I’m not sure it still shouldn’t be taught that way at times but to do so is to miss the central message. She goes on, “It is doubtful that he (Jesus) turned to the story of Noah and began teaching them that they needed to obey God even when it meant going against the crowd. More likely he turned to the story of Noah, the one whose name means rest, and said, ‘Hide yourself in me like Noah and his family hid themselves inside the ark and were saved from the judgment.’ He didn’t turn to the story of Abraham offering Isaac and tell these disciples that they needed to be willing to give up what is most precious to them for their God. Instead, perhaps he said something like, ‘See how this father was willing to offer up his only son as a sacrifice? Can you see that this is what my Father did when I was lifted up on the cross.’?” Nancy concludes her discussion by pointing specifically to the book of Genesis and says, “Jesus didn’t work his way through Genesis to point out what we must do for God, but to help us to see clearly what God has done for us through Christ.” We always try to make the scriptures about us, when in fact they’re all about Jesus, the central figure of our faith!

Jesus’ followers were discouraged by Jesus’ crucifixion. They misunderstood the purpose behind His coming to earth. They expected a military leader to wrench the political reigns out of the hands of God’s enemies and make Israel the powerful nation it once was under Solomon. Of course, it’s easy to understand how they would arrive at that conclusion. The Judges of the Old Testament were all political and military deliverers. The Kings of both the Northern and Southern kingdoms were tasked with protecting and delivering the people from their enemies. After all, it was Moses who delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt! But God had a different program. The Messianic deliverer would come with might and power to deliver His people, but first, he would come to suffer and die in order to deliver His people from their slavery to Sin. Jesus said that this is what the whole Bible is about!

After Jesus’ crucifixion, two of His disciples were walking along the road to Emmaus. Unrecognized, Jesus joined them. They explained their disappointment that this Jesus who was crucified a few days earlier had not proven to be their great Messianic deliverer. Jesus then said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27). Jesus rebuked them because they didn’t “believe all that the prophets have spoken.” I don’t think it was rebellious disbelief, but ignorant disbelief. They didn’t believe because they didn’t “get it.” I like to think that’s the case with most of us. If we’d understand it, we will believe it. But when we miss the connection, or when we fail to grasp Jesus in it all we can become “slow of heart” also.

The problem I have with this passage in Luke is that it doesn’t go on to tell us all the things that were written in the Old Testament that teach us about Jesus! What things? I’ve read the Old Testament several times, and honestly, I have trouble seeing how it’s all about Jesus! But Jesus tells me it is! If I can understand it, I’d surely believe it. As a matter of fact, I want to know it, understand it, and embrace it all. I want to believe. The two on the road to Emmaus wanted to also. As Jesus explained Himself from the Old Testament, they described their reaction in Luke 24:32. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” The Scriptures can become hard, burdensome, and difficult to read when we fail to see Jesus. But they come to life for us and move us from “slow hearts” to “burning hearts.”

Luke tells us the story of two of Jesus’ disciples. It appears that the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were walking home after having spent the Passover in Jerusalem. They encountered Jesus over the past several years of His ministry and became His followers. When they saw what happened to Jesus over the weekend: arrested by soldiers, scourged, judged by religious leaders and the political system, condemned to death, crucified, died, and buried, they were confused, sad, and disappointed. They thought that He was the one who would deliver them from their enemies. Instead, in their estimation, He was actually defeated by the political and religious establishments.

We know that one of the two people on the road to Emmaus was named Cleopas. You might remember that the wife of Cleopas is mentioned in John’s Gospel as being at the cross of Jesus. I was wondering why Cleopas would take a seven-mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus and leave his wife in Jerusalem. When he speaks about the past few days’ events, he mentions the women who claim to have seen Jesus. It seems that the second disciple could very well have been his wife. The Catholic Church has an organization called “Men of Emmaus.” It’s one of those men’s fraternities. I’m sure this would not sit well with them, but it is an interesting possibility that one of the two disciples could have been a woman. Adding to this thinking, in Luke 24:29, these two disciples say, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” What can you learn from that comment? Stay with us? Perhaps these two disciples were related. That’s certainly possible. Commenting on this, one writer says, “…like the brothers Peter and Andrew, or James and John. Perhaps this was Cleopas and this brother. Or perhaps this was a father and son. Apparently, they are staying in the same house, and they are both disciples of Jesus.” Could it be Cleopas and his wife, the Mary of John 19:25? It says, “…but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.” Regardless, we must not miss the fact that these two disciples were confused, sad, and disappointed because Jesus was not all they expected Him to be.

Anyway, I often think I have Jesus figured out. Don’t you? Then things don’t work out the way I expected them too and I find myself profoundly disappointed. The truth is, this happens because we too have a distorted view of who Jesus is and how He works in the world and in our lives. One writer said, “we think we have Jesus figured out when really all we’ve done is create in our own minds the Jesus we want, the Jesus we can be comfortable with. We read the Bible and take what we want, shaping for ourselves a Jesus who is passionate about what we are passionate about, and skeptical about what we are skeptical about, condemning what we want to condemn.” As we learn more about Jesus He is faithful to open our minds to the scriptures and show us our false assumptions. Luke 24:44-45 tells us that Jesus can open our minds to understand the Scriptures. It says, “These are my (Jesus’) words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…”