The Story

Easter is one of the very happy days. Do you know why? Because on Easter Day the Lord arose. When the disciples thought that He was dead He came to them again and they knew that He was alive.

Our story is about two disciples, and how they walked from Jerusalem into the country to Emmaus, among the hills a few miles from Jerusalem. In that country Easter is a season of sunshine and bright flowers. It was a lovely walk for a Sunday afternoon. But the two disciples were talking earnestly as they walked and were sad. They were talking of things that had happened. Do you know what they were? No? Then listen, for some one also walking along this way is drawing near to walk with them. He is asking them what they are talking about as they walk and are sad. Hear what they say. They thought he must be a stranger in Jerusalem or he would know, for things had happened so important and so sad that everybody must know. What things? he asked. It was about Jesus of Nazareth, their dear Lord whom they loved. They had followed Him as He taught the people and healed the sick and blessed the little children, and they trusted that He was the Savior who had been long promised by the prophets. But the priests had hated Him, and the governor had been afraid to refuse them, and the Lord had been crucified.

That was on Friday, and now it was Sunday. Other things had happened which they could not understand. Women from the company of those who loved the Lord had gone early to the sepulchre with spices to anoint His body. But the stone was rolled back from the sepulchre and the Lord was not there, and angels were there who told them that the Lord was alive and risen. They had brought the word to the disciples in Jerusalem, and two of them ran to the sepulchre and found it so as the women had said. The Lord was not there.

So the two disciples answered the One who joined them in their walk. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" He asked; and He showed them how in Moses and the prophets and all the Scriptures these things had been foretold. Their hearts burned within them as they walked with Him and listened.

They were now near to the village where they were going, and it was toward evening. They begged the Friend to come in and stay with them who had given them such comfort by the way. He went in with them, and at the table He blessed and brake the bread and gave them to eat. "Their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight." Who was the Friend? Late as it was, they must go at once to tell the glad news to the apostles in Jerusalem. Now you will understand the story as we read. (Luke 24:13-35)

The first Easter Day was a day of glad surprises to the disciples and those who loved the Lord, for on that day they were learning that the Lord was still alive and with them. One of the glad surprises came to two disciples as they walked and went into the country. (Mark 16:12) They were going from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus. The name means "hot spring," and the place was probably in a valley southwest from Jerusalem, where there is a spring and a ruin, and where the name Khamasa is still found. This place is about eight miles from Jerusalem; about three score furlongs, our story says. Reading on to the 18th verse we learn the name of one of the two disciples, Cleopas. Was this the name of one of the twelve who were called disciples and who were nearest to the Lord? Neither of these two seem to have been of the twelve (verse 33), but there were many more who were called disciples because they were learners and followers of the Lord.

As they told the stranger who joined them in their walk what they were talking of which made them sad, the story of the last days comes back to our minds, as we have read it more fully in the Gospels. Verse 19: Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. It brings back the story of the Lord's life in Nazareth and of His going out from that little town, teaching and healing in Galilee and in Jerusalem. Verse 20: The chief priests delivered Him to be condemned to death. You remember how Judas made his bargain with the priests, and how when the Lord was taken in Gethsemane He was led before the council in the high priest's palace, where they sought excuse to bring Him before the governor. Do you remember the name of the high priest at the time? The "rulers" would seem to mean the Roman governor and his servants who carried out the wish of the priests and crucified the Lord. Do you remember the governor's name? Passing on from the high priest's palace and from the Roman governor, we think of the crucifixion on the hill outside the city, and how as it drew toward evening they took down the body of the Lord and laid it in a new sepulchre cut in the rock in a garden near at hand.

These things they sadly remembered which happened on the Friday. Now it was Sunday, and early this same morning there had been glad but perplexing reports from some who had visited the sepulchre. In verse 22 it is said that certain women were early there. You remember about these women, how Mary Magdalene and others who loved the Lord had made ready spices and were taking them at daybreak to the sepulchre. You remember too how they found not the Lord, but angels who spoke to comfort them and tell them that the Lord had risen. Verse 24 tells of "certain of them which were with us" who went to the sepulchre and found it true as the women had said. You remember which of the disciples went, Peter and John (verse 12; John 20:2-10), and how they ran together and found the empty sepulchre and the linen clothes; but Him they saw not. As you read the words of the disciples to the stranger who joined them in their walk, the story of the last sad days and of the Easter morning comes back to us with all the details which are told us in the Gospels. We can think how all these things must have filled their minds, and how earnestly and sadly they were talking.

Now came their glad surprise. He called them "fools (or foolish men) and slow of heart" that they did not believe the Scriptures, and did not see that these sad things were preparing the way for what was great and glorious. He began to teach them from the Scriptures and to show them that such things were written there. What part of the Scriptures is meant in verse 27 by Moses? What part by the prophets? These all are about the Lord and tell of the trials and the victories by which He was glorified and made fully God with us. This was new to the disciples and we can imagine the comfort and delight which came to them as they listened to these things. They said to one another afterward, "did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?"

The close of the story is beautiful, how the Lord went in to tarry with the two disciples, but not until they asked Him. Then it was in blessing and breaking the bread that the Lord was known to them. We can believe that it was something which they had seen Him do so many times in just this way. We can imagine how happy the recognition was, and how eagerly the two hastened back to Jerusalem to tell the rest. In verse 33 the eleven are mentioned, for Judas was not there. Verse 34 speaks of an appearance of the Lord to Simon. We seem to have no other mention of this appearance in the Gospels. It may be the same which is referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:5.

So on Easter Day the Lord was teaching the disciples and they were slowly learning that He was not dead, but that He was risen and still with them. He is with us as we walk into the country, or as we are busy in any useful work. He is with us in the house, and when we are at the table. He is with us in bright times, and in darker times when it is spiritually evening. Especially He gives us guidance and help through His Word, teaching us to see in it everywhere lessons of our own life and of Him.

1. "They came unto the sepulchre." Who came? "Two men stood by them." Who were they? "To the eleven." Who are meant?

2. Who were the first at the sepulchre Easter morning? What apostles were first there?

3. How did the Lord come to the two who walked to Emmaus? What did He tell them by the way? How did they know Him?

4. What is all the Scripture about in its deepest meaning, even Moses and the prophets and the Psalms?

5. What great lesson did the disciples learn on Easter day? Is it still true?

Spiritual Study

Do you see a beautiful lesson in the Lord's coming to the two disciples as they walked and went into the country? Walking, spiritually, is living. The country around a city stands for the field of application or exercise of the principles which the city represents. Villages are also said to represent external things of the church because they are outside the cities. We walk into the country from Jerusalem when we take up our life in the effort to put the holy principles of our religion into practice. Is it not true that the Lord can be with us more fully and help us more when we are at work than when we are sitting idle? Is it not especially true that in a time of sorrow or affliction He can come to us with His comfort more fully if we take up the duties of life and busy ourselves in useful work? The Lord can come near and comfort us as we walk. (R. 167; A. 3270)

The Lord expounded to the disciples in Moses and all the prophets and in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. A similar statement is made in verses 44 and 45 of the same chapter where the Psalms are added to the list of Scriptures which are about the Lord. We might know that the Scriptures everywhere do tell us of the Lord, for they are the truth of life. Have they ever been fulfilled in the life of any man? Never perfectly except in the Lord's own life. Therefore everywhere in their deepest meaning they tell of Him. This also is declared in other places in the Bible. "Search the Scriptures," the Lord said to the Jews; "they are they which testify of Me. . . . Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me." (John 5:39, 46) It is many times said in the Gospels that the Lord was fulfilling the Scripture. So completely was this true that John declares of the Lord's coming, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14) In the Revelation it is declared, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation19:10; L. 1-7)

There is another beautiful lesson in the fact of the Lord's becoming known to the two disciples in the blessing and breaking of bread as He sat with them at their evening meal. An interior relation with the Lord is suggested by His coming into the house with the disciples. The bread which He blesses and breaks is His own good love which He imparts. It is in this that He is fully and truly known. It may often be toward the close of life's journey that one reaches this interior state; it may often be through experiences of trial which bring us into the shade of evening and compel a fuller and deeper trust. When this union comes and the eyes of our perception are opened we shall know Him and shall have a glad message to tell to others. (E. 617)

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