It was late that Friday afternoon when the darkness had lifted from over Golgotha's hill and the sun again shone full on Jesus. He cried out in triumph, "It is finished!" which was followed shortly thereafter by "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" and then he breathed his last. Kent Hughes comments here that those gathered around the cross did not recognize his victory. As Christ hung motionless, the warm sun spread over his spilled blood. Yet those who had hoped in Jesus slowly trudged away from Calvary with the icy fingers of death tightening about their hearts in chilling, numbing grief. Despairing hands hurriedly prepared his cold, lifeless body for burial and laid it in the borrowed tomb. So deep was their despair that no one even contemplated the possibility of a resurrection. And even when the women arrived at the tomb at dawn on the third day and found the tomb empty, they suspected someone had stolen the body. Lastly still they did not believe even when the angel told them "He is not here; he has risen!" at least not until the angel quoted Jesus' very words following Peter's confession that Jesus was the Messiah [Luke 9:21-27] and just outside of Jericho prior to Bartimaeus' healing [Luke 18:31-34] to them ... "then they remembered his words" [Luke 24:8]. Immediately, they rushed home to tell the Eleven, who concluded that they were speaking "nonsense" and even Peter, who did not dispute the women's testimony but who instead ran to the tomb, came out from the sepulchre and "went away, wondering to himself what had happened" [v. 12].
Indeed, all those who had followed Christ were in despair that afternoon/evening though some had probably heard rumors of the empty tomb. We pick up the story in Luke 24:13-24 where Cleopas [Jesus' uncle] and his wife Mary [inferred from John 19:25] were making the sad journey from Jerusalem back to their home in Emmaus. They, like everyone else, were devastated. They "had hoped he was the one who was going to redeem Israel" [v. 21]. But what kind of a 'Messiah' would manage to be imprisoned by his people, be handed over to the Romans and then crucified? Only the delusional kind. The Scriptures clearly promised a Messiah, and they had thought Jesus was the one. But he failed to deliver ... now they needed a fresh word from God.
Did God even care? Of course He did! Our resurrected Lord understood the confusion in their hearts perfectly. He knew not only their geographical location, but also the very terrain of their souls. And we can take comfort from seeing Jesus, fresh from the cosmic trauma of death for the sins of his people and resurrection for our eternal lives, monitoring the footsteps and heartbeats of a despairing couple, then we, too, know that we are both known and loved.
Somehow they were prevented from recognizing him as he asked them, "'What are you discussing together as you walk along?' They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas, asked him, 'Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened there in these days?' 'What things?' he asked" [vv. 17-19]. Cleopas responded to Jesus' question with biting sarcasm, not realizing the irony of him accusing Jesus of not knowing what was going on! And yet Jesus graciously sought to enlighten them. His second question, "What things?" got them to express their confusion regarding the empty tomb and the disappearance of Jesus' body. And even with the Lord standing right beside them, it was beyond their capacity to make the obvious connection. To them, the empty tomb only compounded the tragedy, for they thought someone had stolen the body, adding insult to injury. And thus the good news was just more bad news! Ironically, Cleopas even mentioned that it had been three days since Jesus' death not recalling that Jesus had, prior to his Passion, repeatedly predicted his execution and resurrection on the third day. Cleopas let it all out--confusion, disappointment, disillusionment, depression, shrinking faith and even anger. And surprisingly, Jesus did not reject him. He honors spiritual honesty ... he wants us to tell him the truth. For the truth is that he already knows it anyway!
As the women earlier in the day had been gently rebuked by the angel, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" [v. 5], Jesus similarly rebukes Cleopas and Mary, "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" [vv. 25, 26]. Certainly they believed the prophets, but just as certainly they did not believe all that the prophets had said. Like so many of us, they had read and believed the prophets selectively, embracing the Messiah-ruler passages and discounting/ignoring the suffering servant ones.
"And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" [v. 27]. This must have been exegetical heaven! The root idea of the word "explained" is the same word from which we derive the word hermeneutics, the science of Bible interpretation. The Word of God incarnate explaining the written Word of God! Wow!
John's Gospel states that from the very onset of Jesus' ministry, he taught that he was central to the Old Testament. "You diligently study the Scriptures," he told the Pharisees, "because you think by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" [Jn. 5: 39, 40]. The Apostle Paul preached as much when he explained before King Agrippa, "I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen -- that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles" [Acts 26:22, 23]. Other examples include Philip encountering the Ethiopian eunuch on the road reading Isaiah 53:7, 8 and Philip interpreting the passage to him as the good news about Jesus [Acts 8:35]; Peter preaching in the house of the Gentile Cornelius, "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" [Acts 10:43]. The apostles knew that the Old Testament preached Christ! Indeed, Peter claims the Old Testament prophets themselves understood this and tried "to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow" [1 Pet. 1:10-12].
The apostles' Christocentric belief that the Old Testament is full of Christ was stated by the Apostle Paul in the axiom, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ" [2 Cor. 1:20]. Here in Luke, on Resurrection Day, Jesus taught that he is the divine 'yes' to the Old Testament. As they walked those few miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus that afternoon, Jesus interpretively explained the whole of Scripture to them. What it must have been like to hear him speak of the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 as prophetic of his substitutionary atonement and even hint of his resurrection [Heb. 11:17-19]; or to hear Jesus, 'the Lamb of God' [Jn. 1:29] expound on the messianic significance of the Passover lamb as it related to his suffering and death, his body and blood [Lk. 22:14-20]. Under Jesus' tutelage, the various Old Testament sacrifices coursed with fresh insights on salvation. Perhaps Jesus spoke of how the tabernacle and the temple pointed to him -- that he, indeed, is the temple. Perhaps he also spoke of other grand images of him throughout Scripture such as the manna in the desert as well as the bronze serpent healing those who gazed upon it in faith. Surely, he took them through Isaiah 53, showing them as he did the Twelve in the Upper Room, that he was "numbered with the transgressors" and that the very theme of that chapter prophesied as to how the Suffering Servant would die for our sins [vv. 1-9] and then appear alive, triumphant and reigning [vv. 10-12]. Moreover, he must have unpacked Psalm 22, beginning with the words "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" -- and then applied them to the cross. The more Jesus opened the Word, the faster their hearts raced! This stranger made a compelling case that suffering and death were not obstacles to Jesus being the Messiah, but instead, made Jesus' claim to be Messiah all the more credible and convincing. The Messiah had to suffer! The scales fell off their eyes and the confusion in their minds melted away like the frost after sunrise. The Scriptures literally came to life in their souls.
What grief they [and by extension, we] would have been spared had they/we only known and believed God's Word beforehand. Hughes remarks "If we find ourselves hurting and despairing and do not find that Scripture speaks to our condition, it is not because the Bible has failed us, but because we do not know it well enough. We cannot be profoundly comforted by that which we do not know. We need to study our Bible with an eye to our Savior, because everything to with our salvation and shalom is 'yes' in Christ."
As Christ in disguise continued to unpack the Scriptures, Cleopas and Mary came to see not only the plausibility but also the very necessity of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. They understood why the tomb was empty. Perhaps they were divinely kept from recognizing Jesus so that they would base their understanding of the Resurrection entirely on Scripture and not on experience. When they arrived at their lodging, the couple insisted that he come in with them to eat. And it was there at the table, when Jesus broke bread with them that their eyes were opened, and instantly they recognized him; and just as suddenly he disappeared from their sight. Some think it was at that time, for the first time, they saw his nail-scarred hands. Yet David Gooding [among others] believes that the breaking of bread in Jesus life was "an inimitable gesture of self-revelation" with previous examples being the feeding of the 5,000 as well as the Last Supper. In any case, it must have been overtly shocking! A more than welcome total surprise! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And just like that, he was gone. Yet that most explosive moment must have been burned into their souls for eternity. Their souls' "winter of discontent" was gone forever ... replaced with hearts aflame ... a fire that remained even after Christ was gone. "They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, 'It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.' Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread" [vv. 33-35].
And it is still the same two thousand years later because even now Christ knows where we are. He knows the geography of our lives both inside and out. He knows the temperature of our souls. He knows whether there is ice or fire. And he still chooses to meet us where we are, but always framed in the context of his Word. This life-giving, energizing truth is that Christ suffered and died for our sins 'according to the Scriptures.' And then, on the third day, he rose from he dead 'according to the Scriptures' [1 Cor. 15: 3, 4]. He is the Savior prophesied on Mt. Moriah, the atoning Lamb of the Passover, our tabernacle and temple [for he is our sacrifice and our priest], our manna/bread of heaven, the Suffering Servant who was 'numbered with the transgressors,' the Son who suffered separation from the Father for us when he bore our sins, and ultimately the Resurrection and the Life, as he is the only way to eternal life. In this, as in many other ways, we do not so much need more light but perhaps we need more fire!
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