Hi everyone. Welcome back to the logical.
Bible study podcast, we're continuing to look at the
post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, as we have being in the
last few days. And as always, we want to take a
look at the text from today. And then we dive into looking an
exegesis of the literal sense of that text.
Today's passage is from Luke chapter 24 verses 13 to 35.
It's a bit of a longer one. This is the road to Emmaus
story, two of the Disciples of Jesus, were on their way to a
village called Emmaus. Seven miles from Jerusalem and
they were talking together about all that it happened.
Now, as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked
by their side, but something prevented them from recognizing
him. He said to them, what matters
are you discussing as you walk along, they stopped short their
faces downcast. Then one of them called,
clearpass answered him, you must be the only person staying in
Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening
there. These last few days.
What things he asked all about, Jesus of Nazareth they answered
who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said
and did in the sight of God and of the whole people and how our
chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced
to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he
would be the one to set Israel. Free.
And this is not all two whole days have gone by, since it all
happened and some women from our group have astounded, And us,
they went to the Tomb in the early morning and when they did
not find the body, they came back to tell us that they had
seen a vision of angels who declared that he was alive.
Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything
exactly as the women had reported, but of him, they saw
nothing. Then he said to them.
You foolish, man. So slow to believe the full
message of the prophets. Was it not ordained that the
Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory.
Then starting with Moses and going through all the prophets,
he explained to them the passages through the scriptures
that were about himself. When they drew near to the
Village to which they were going he made as if to go on, but they
pressed him to stay with them. It is nearly evening they said
and the day is almost over so he went in to stay with them.
Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and
said the blessing. Then he broke it and handed it
to them. And their eyes were opened and
they recognized him, but he had vanished from their sight, then
they said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us as he
talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us.
They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem.
There they found the eleven assembled together with their
companions who said to them. Yes, it is true.
The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.
Then they told their story of what had happened on the road,
and how they had recognized him at the breaking of the bread.
So many of you will be familiar with the road to Emmaus story.
It's often used as part of catechesis and religious
education as a model of what we're trying to do.
When we teach people, the scriptures is, we want to unlike
help them open their eyes to see things that hadn't seen before.
So what's the context here? It's Easter Sunday.
It's the day of Jesus. Resurrection already in the
morning on this day. The women have seen the vision
of Angels at the tomb and they've run back to tell the
apostles and the The other disciple.
So, we're in Jerusalem, we know from early wrong that most of
the disciples do not believe them though.
Peter and the Beloved disciple, 's they do.
They go and check it out for themselves but most of the
disciples don't believe that Jesus is resurrected.
So now it's probably early afternoon on Easter Sunday at
this point. And we see two of the Disciples
of Jesus. Now, these are not part of the
eleven Apostles, but the disciple.
So the broader group of his followers.
So these two people two disciples, they were in the room
when the women came in and claim that the tomb was empty, but
they did not believe the women either.
So they're on the way to a village called Emmaus.
And our translation says that is seven miles from Jerusalem.
Now, there's some debate about how far away it is because some
translations have this as what this basically 18 miles, some
manuscripts so it is 18 miles, some have it is seven miles.
We know from one Maccabees according to one Maccabees,
there is a village called Emmaus which is 18 miles from
Jerusalem. So probably the right
translation is 18 miles and that means today the village we've
identified it with today is What's called nicopolis?
So you can go to nicopolis today and see what we think are the
ruins of Emmaus. So it's 18 miles to the
northwest of West of Jerusalem. This is probably their Hometown.
The disciples are probably walking, they're going home from
Jerusalem, if it's 18 miles. Then this is certainly a few
hours worth of walking to get there.
So they're on the road they're talking together about all that
happened and we later get a summary of what all those things
are. As they talked this over.
So they're on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
Jesus himself came up and walked by their side.
So, he sort of appears out of nowhere, but it's like, he kind
of he doesn't just miraculously appear.
I guess he sort of walks up behind them here, but something
prevented them from recognizing him or more literally.
The text says Their Eyes Were kept from recognizing him.
So either he's appearing in a different form.
Jesus looks different and that's why they don't It was him or
maybe there's some sort of Supernatural blindness and the
text seems to hint that, that might be the case that God has
supernaturally, blinded the two disciples so that they don't
recognize Jesus and God has done that.
So that later on in the story, there's a certain moment when
God can lift can lift the blindness at a specific moment.
He wants to reveal himself, Jesus does in the breaking of
the bread. A bit later on verse 17.
Jesus asks the disciples What matters are you discussing?
As he walk along? Now, Jesus already knows the
answer to this but as he often does, he wants to start the
conversation and he wants it to lead to a teaching opportunity.
They stopped short their faces downcast.
So the disciples are genuinely sad and confused about what's
going on in their lives. At the moment Verse 18, one of
them named cleopas. Now not sure exactly who this
clearpass is. Some have suggested there's a
woman according to John Chapter 19 Verse 25.
One of the women at the foot of the cross is called Mary, the
wife of clopas. So, if this clopas is the same
as this clearpass, then that Mary, and this clearpass are
married, but it's not entirely clear.
Whether clopas in clearpass, here are the same person.
The other disciple isn't named. So we just have the name of one
of them. So Cleopatra says to Jesus, you
must be the only person staying in Jerusalem, who does not know
the things that have been happening there.
These last few days. So lots of people were staying
in Jerusalem for the Passover and apparently by now, everyone
has heard what's been going on with Jesus verse 19.
Jesus says what things and some here, detect that, maybe Jesus
has a bit of a sense of humor because, of course, he knows
what's going on. But he says to them, what things
so clear paths now goes on to summarize, all of Jesus life and
everything that's been happening in the last few days and here's
what he says all about. Jesus of Gareth who proved he
was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the
sight of God and of the whole people and how our chief priests
and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and
had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he
would be the one to set Israel. Free.
And this is not all two whole days have gone by, since it all
happened, and some women from our group of astounded us, they
went to the Tomb in the early morning, and when they did not
find the body, they came back to tell us, they had seen a vision
of angels who declared It was alive.
Some of our friends, went to the tomb and found everything
exactly as the women have reported, but have him, they saw
nothing. So that's the summary.
They give Jesus. One particular thing to notice
in this summary is when they say our own hope had been that he
would be the one to set Israel free.
So that the disciples are suspecting that Jesus is the
Messiah, but in their view, as did many Jews of the time, they
believed the Messiah would be a political leader, who would
overthrow the Romans. So when they say we thought he
would be the one who had set Israel free there.
Thinking that Messiah would be a political ruler.
Who would free the Land of Israel?
Now the fact that they recognize that Jesus is the Messiah is the
key to understanding what Jesus says next.
And by the way that's the reason why they're sad is because they
had thought that Jesus was going to gloriously save Israel from
the Romans and because he didn't do that, he got killed instead
which they didn't expect, that's why they're so downcast.
Verse 25, Jesus says to them, you foolish men.
Now that might seem to be quite harsh words but they're mostly
words of disappointment as well. See he's disappointed that they
didn't understand how the Messiah was going to suffer so
he says to them, you are so slow to believe the full message of
the prophets, was it not ordained that the Christ should
suffer and so enter into his glory.
Notice Jesus says, you don't believe the full message of the
prophets so they know some of the profits but They didn't
understand the full message, so Jesus says to them and this is
important. He says that if they really knew
their Old Testament particularly the prophets, they would know
that the Christ or the Messiah was required to suffering in
order to become glorified. This still applies to Jews
today. I Think Jesus would say the same
to Jewish people today who don't believe Jesus is the Messiah.
He would say, if you knew your Old Testament, you would know
that the Messiah is going to suffer.
Verse 27. Luke says, then starting with
Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them
the passages throughout the scriptures that were about
himself. So Jesus on this long road to
Emmaus, this probably takes a couple of hours.
He goes through the entire Old Testament, explaining all of the
passages which discussed the Christ.
The goal, he Jesus is telling them this because he wants these
two men. The two disciples to see that.
Actually it makes sense that the Messiah has to suffer That's
what he wants them to see. Is that really the Old
Testament? Says the Messiah is going to
suffer now that's one, Bible study.
That I would love to be a part of its a Bible study that Jesus
gives them. Jesus not only identifies, the
key Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah but apparently
he also explains them to the two people here.
So unfortunately, we don't have this sermon of Jesus recorded.
We don't know what passages he talks about here, but probably a
lot of the same passages that the apostles use later in the
book of Acts to prove that Jesus is the Messiah.
There's some from Genesis, some from Psalm, some from Isaiah.
So this is a long Bible study, probably would have taken a
couple of hours until they reach Emmaus.
Now keep in mind the two disciples this whole time.
They don't recognize that it's Jesus.
There's just this guy giving them this amazing Bible study.
Verse 28, when they drew near to the Village to which they were
going he made as if to go on. So Jesus indicates that he's
going to keep walking verse 29 but they pressed him to stay
with them. So the disciples.
The two men have probably probably become quite
enlightened by this man from his knowledge of the scriptures and
they want to stay with him. In fact, the Greek here suggests
that it they strongly insisted that he stay.
They say it is nearly evening and the day is day is almost
over. So probably it's about 5 p.m. or
6 p.m. now. So he went in to stay with them.
So Jesus agrees to stay with the two men probably at their home
in Emmaus. Verse 30 now while he was with
them at table. So they're having dinner, he
took the bread and said the blessing.
Then he broke it and handed it to them.
Now, this process was fairly normal.
Bread was a normal part of the meal for Jews and it's customary
for someone, although usually it was the host.
Jesus makes himself the host here.
Usually, that person would bless and break the bread.
There's nothing particularly unusual about that except verse
31. Their eyes were opened And now,
that's a reversal of what happened earlier.
Remember, their eyes were prevented from recognizing Jesus
earlier, but now their eyes are opened.
So they do recognize Jesus. Apparently there's something
special about the way, he breaks the bread or that he hands out
the bread because as soon as he does it, they immediately
recognized him. Probably what's going on here.
It's not 100% clear but probably Jesus does this in such a way
that it's recalling, the Eucharist.
It makes them think about the Eucharist that had instituted
three nights earlier on, Holy Thursday.
And there's also strong Echoes here from the language of the
feeding of the five thousand. If you go to Luke 9, Yeah, the
feeding of the 5,000 users, very similar language about
Distributing the bread, but he had vanished from their sight.
So as soon as they recognized him, Jesus miraculously
disappears one moment. His there.
The next moment, he's not there, and we see that with a lot of
Jesus post-resurrection, appearances, you just seems to
appear and disappear at will. That's something his new
resurrected body gives him the ability to do.
Verse 32, the two disciples say to each other.
Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the
road and explained the scriptures to us.
So while he'd been explaining the scriptures, they had felt
that there was something special about this man.
Maybe when they say God their hearts were burning, maybe that
was God's grace. Prompting them.
But they couldn't quite put their finger on what was going
on but now they work it out, that was Jesus the whole time.
So verse 33, they set out that instant and returned to
Jerusalem. Now it's quite dark at this
point. We know it's evening if they
leave a mayor said, around 6:30 p.m. and if it's 18 miles, it's
a few our journey. So they might not get into
Jerusalem until 9:30 p.m. 10 p.m. something like that.
So they get there late at night. And they find the 11 assembled
together. So they go to Jerusalem and
they're in a room somewhere in Jerusalem, it says 11.
But in fact, there's only ten Apostles here.
So, because Thomas is not here. As we discover later, the 11 is
just a general word, that's used to describe the group of the
Apostles. So the 10 Apostles are in here
plus some other companions, or other translations, have it as
those who are with them. So there's other disciples in
the room with the apostles. Verse 34.
They say yes it is true. The Lord has risen and appeared
to Simon. now, that's interesting because Before they
left before they left for Emmaus in the early afternoon, the
apostles and the disciples didn't believe Jesus had
resurrected. But by the time they get back in
the evening, they've changed their mind.
Something has happened to them, and they now do believe Jesus is
resurrected and we find out what that thing is.
Why have they changed their mind?
It's because, as they say here, the Lord has appeared to Simon.
So this appearance where the Jesus appears to Simon is not
narrated in any of the Gospels. But it's the fourth appearance
of Jesus. So the third appearance would be
the one we're looking at here, which is the on the road to
Emmaus. That's the third appearance and
then the fourth appearance is this 1 to 2 Peter and we get a
little more information about it from Paul in 1 Corinthians 15
verse 5 he mentions this appearance Why does Jesus
appeared to Peter first and not the whole Apostles?
Probably because Peter is the leader and he wants Peter to
take up the leadership and to tell the other disciples that
it's real, that Jesus has really resurrected and that fulfills
Jesus command that he gave earlier and Luke chapter 22.
Remember when he said to Peter, when you return, you must
strengthen the others after turning back.
And that's what Peter does here. He sees the Lord.
He runs back to the other Apostles and says it's real.
And so, by the time, these two disciples get back from Emmaus,
the apostles believe it's real. Verse 35, the disciples told
their story of what had happened on the road and how they had
recognized, Jesus at the breaking of the bread.
So they tell the eleven what they experienced and notice they
say clearly we recognize Jesus at the breaking of the bread.
So, some have thought that the reason they wrecked the two
disciples recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread is because
maybe he still has his holes in his hands.
And they see the holes when he lifts it up.
I think that's pretty unlikely. I think the text would tell us
if that was the case, it's much more likely that what they
recognize the reason they recognize Jesus is because they
sense that he's doing a Eucharistic celebration with
them and we'll talk more about this in tomorrow's episode.
Because tomorrow's episode, we pick up Up at this very same
verse for a in tomorrow is our gospel really start at verse 35.
So, we'll look then at what it means to say that they recognize
Jesus at the breaking of the bread.
So, let's take a look at some catechism references.
How does the Catholic Church understand this passage?
How does it inform their teaching?
Well, there's a whole heap of there's about 25 different,
catechism references to this, passage from Luke chapter 24 and
a lot of them are very similar to other ones.
We've looked at in recent days about the meaning of Jesus.
Resurrection. So we just want to look at some
of the ones that are really striking in terms of the
language. They use ones that really
clearly refer to what goes on. In this passage so paragraph.
1094 it says on this, the harmony of the two Testaments
rests, that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built
and then that of the Apostles and the fathers of the church,
this catechesis unveils what lay hidden under the letter of the
Old Testament. The mystery of Christ it is
called typological because it reveals the newness of Christ on
the basis of the figures or types, which announced him in
the Deeds were And symbols of the first Covenant by this
rereading in the spirit of Truth.
Starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled.
So here the Catholic Church teaches that in order to
understand the Old Testament, we need to see it in the Light of
Christ and that's exactly what Jesus says In this passage on
the road to Emmaus. He explains to them how the Old
Testament, All Points towards Christ paragraph. 1347 is a
discussion about how the mass has changed or rather hasn't
changed throughout the ages. It says, is this not the same
movement as the Paschal meal of the Risen Jesus with his
disciples walking with them. He explained the scriptures,
Through them sitting with them at table, he took bread blessed
it and broke it and gave it to them.
So essentially the church teaches here, the on the road,
to Emmaus, Jesus, first, explained the scriptures through
them. And then he did a Eucharistic
meal with them, which is the same format of the mass we have
today. It's the format that Jesus gave
us Paragraph. There's some other references in
here to the Eucharist as well, because of the breaking of the
bread. And I'll include that in the
show notes and about Jesus glorified body, and then we get
to paragraph, 6, 43, which is about the appearances of Jesus,
and there's quite a clear reference here to Luke chapter
24. It says, given all these
testimonies Christ's Resurrection cannot be
interpreted as something outside the physical order and it is
impossible not to acknowledge it as a historical fact.
Is clear from the facts that the disciples Faith was drastically.
Put to the test by their masters passion and Death on the cross,
which he had foretold the shock provoked by the passion, was so
great that at least some of the disciples did not at once
believed in the news of the Resurrection for far from,
showing us a community sees, by mystical exaltation, the gospels
present us with disciples demoralized looking sad and
frightened for they had not believe the Women returning from
the tomb and had regarded their words as an idle tale.
When Jesus reveals himself to the 11 on Easter evening, he
upbraided them for their unbelief and Hardness of Heart
because they had not believed those who saw him after he had
risen. So, that's a summary of
everything that takes place here on Easter Sunday.
And notice, I think this is really striking paragraph.
What? The Catholic Church teaches
there, right at the start at paragraph, it says, it is
impossible. Not to acknowledge the
resurrection as As a historical fact, we don't talk about that
enough. That is the church's teaching.
Paragraph, 43, 9 talks about the role of Messiah, and common
views about the Messiah at the time of Jesus.
Paragraph 601, says, signing a confession of Fate that he
himself received st. Paul professes.
That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures
in particular. Jesus.
Redemptive death fulfills Isaiah's prophecy of the
suffering servant. Indeed Jesus himself explained
the meaning of his life and death in the light of God's
suffering servant. after his resurrection, he gave this
interpretation of the scriptures to the disciples at Emmaus and
then to the apostles Paragraph 572 is in the section about
Jesus Christ, suffered under Pontius Pilate, so it's a
commentary on the Creed. And it says, this the church
remains faithful to the interpretation of all the
scriptures that Jesus gave both before.
And after his Passover was it not necessary that the Christ
should suffer these things and enter into his glory.
So there you hear that quote from Luke chapter 24, And then
the last one will look at today is paragraph 6 41, which is in
the section again about the appearances after Jesus
resurrection it says, thus the women were the first messengers
of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles themselves.
They were the next to whom Jesus appears first Peter, then the 12
Peter had been called to strengthen the faith of his
brothers. And so the sees the Risen one
before them it is on the basis of his See that the community
exclaims, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to
Simon. So remember here in Luke chapter
24 that we hear about this appearance of Jesus to Peter,
and that's what gets narrated in paragraph 6 for one of the
catechism. So all of these
post-resurrection appearances, greatly inform the Catholic
faith. And there's so many catechism
references because we need to understand what the resurrection
means. And so the catechism spends a
lot of time. I'm trying help Catholics
understand what the significance of it is and the things that
Jesus says like on the road to Emmaus.
That's the end of today's podcast.
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