Luke 24.17…and they stood still, looking sad…

What was it like to be these two men on their way to Emmaus? What were their thoughts? A tendency is to think the disciples as scatter brained followers of Jesus – unsure, unaware, foolish perhaps – we look at them with oft disapproving eyes. We would have known – faith would have been easy. He was right there – He told you everything beforehand. But one aspect of their lives is often left out in all of this – Jesus had called those whom He wanted - and the fact that Jesus called those people friends. At the very least they were that – intimate acquaintances with the Son of God. Nothing revolutionary there you say. But follow with me for a bit here. He came wrapped in flesh, born in a stable, raised a carpenter’s son – He laughed, cried, moved, ran, played…he was really flesh – incarnate flesh mind you – but flesh like you and me. Skin and bones. It was probably not all seriousness with the disciples – you have to wonder what they did in the off times – you know, the stuff John talks about in the end of his gospel. The world could not contain the books…or so it was said. They laughed, talked about the weather, felt fear, wept, were tired (that shows up a couple times). These men walking on this road had not only lost a leader – but a dear close friend…so they stood still, looking sad. Is it any wonder that they doubted? Sorrow probably overwhelmed them. He was dead – they had seen it with their own eyes – and to heal a blind man was one thing – but death...this was not like Lazurus – He had to somehow save Himself. Expectations washed away in a day, on a hill, among trash and surrounded by thieves. What were they to think?

And there He stood, and they did not see Him. He gently rebukes them. Foolish men and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken – was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? And He walks a bit with them, again He was reprised to the role of the teacher, teaching them everything that had been said before He showed up on a dusty square of earth where He was to be mistreated, challenged, mocked, followed, abandoned, and loved without a word of refusal on His behalf.

That must have been quite the moment. To have He who wrote the scripture lay it all out piece by piece. So nightfall approached, and though He acted as if He needed to go on, they invited Him in (entertaining angels indeed - imagine that), and then He broke the bread….

And everything changed.


Suddenly man could see His redemption. Things started to fall in place. The times that they had spoken on such things with Him flashed back into their minds. The sermon on that mountain, the feeding of the five thousand, the rebuking of the demons on that island. What was it that he had said on that road not an hour ago? It probably would be a bit much to say they understood it all right then – that was to come. But these men would never be the same. Nor would the world. Their dear friend had returned.