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…”