The Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:13–35 (ESV)

On June 18, 1815, a large group of British citizens were gathered in the city of London awaiting word concerning General Wellington’s battle with Napoleon at Waterloo. If Napoleon was not stopped, the British Empire would end and they would be subjects of France.

A large billboard had been constructed to announce the results of the battle. When word came regarding the battle’s outcome - a thick fog set in as the letters were being placed on the billboard, all the crowd could make out was - Wellington Defeated. Sad, dejected, they stood there in disbelief, after what seemed like an eternity... a wind blew out of the north, scattering the London Fog, and the crowd saw a third word on the billboard. Wellington Defeated Napoleon.

Perhaps like the disciples in our text, the fog of life and settled over you - don’t walk away too quickly, stay, gaze at Christ, and soon you will see, the grave is empty and Christ is alive, and because of that, anything is possible.

Today’s text shows us exactly how Jesus steps into our experience in hopes of making it real for us. Let’s jump in together…

Verse 13 picks up immediately following the discovery of the empty tomb and the report of the women that they had encountered the risen Jesus. Peter and John had gone to investigate, and two of them departed to Emmaus. A great FOG of confusion settled over the disciples.

TEXT: Luke 24:13–35 (ESV)

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,

This map indicates a 7 mile radius around our Island Campus. It would be roughly the distance from the church to Minor Road if you walked SR-200, or just passed the OMNI plantation on A1A. A walk of that distance would have taken around 1.5-2 hours.

Why Emmaus? In recent days, Archaeologists have identified that the village of Emmaus is the ancient city of Kiriath-Jearim. That is where the Ark of the Covenant was housed for 20 years before David brought it to Jerusalem.

The scripture does tell us why they were going to Emmaus. We can speculate that the events from Good Friday onward had been a bit overwhelming. Maybe they just needed a break from the confusion, or maybe they needed to process, or perhaps they knew that there would be consequences from Rome if the body of Jesus had indeed disappeared. But for whatever reason - they were getting away from ground zero in Jerusalem.

Verse 18 tells us that one of them was named Cleopas. There is an ancient tradition that Cleopas is the Clopas (of John 19:25) we mentioned last week as the husband of the “other Mary” and father of James and Josas, the tradition also holds that Joses was traveling with his father on this occasion. If that is accurate, remember that Cleopas was the uncle of Jesus and Joses, Jesus’s first cousin.

The interesting thing is that, if you remember last week, “the other Mary” is one who testified that the body was gone and they had encountered the risen Jesus.

So get that scene - This is a family who is all in as Jesus followers. Mom has had a pivotal encounter with the risen Christ, for dad and the boys - this is all “hearsay”. But it is so overwhelming that Dad and one of the boys, needed a break.

One has to wonder if Mary is still in Jerusalem praying for her boys. Hoping this doesn’t drive them away from Christ, “Lord if only they could encounter you the way I have”.

That is mere speculation, but it is an educated speculation based on a long-standing tradition. Either way - the two are walking and processing.

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Maximum Life is the Media Ministry of Pastor Zach Terry.

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