The Road to Emmaus (Commentary)

I was just working on a message about this, and I thought I’d share my thoughts on the Road to Emmaus Passage.

This whole passage is about many things but 2 things that I want to point out.

  1. Redemption from the garden
  2. How to read the Old Testament

The word Emmaus means “warm baths/ Hot springs.” Back in Jesus’ day, there used to be hot springs where people would bathe to get healing from skin conditions.

Luke 24:13-31 (NIV)


These two were [probably] husband and wife because later on in the passage it says a man named Cleopas was there, but it never describes the other person, so why, well because in the Jewish tradition when a family is introduced it will only account for the man of the house like in the story of the feeding of the 5,000, it says that there were five thousand Men.



How does this a picture of redemption? Well remember that God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, so as we think about how this couple was walking with our Savior we can think about Adam and Eve and how they also walked with Jesus.



So, why were they kept from recognizing Him? Because if they could see Jesus with their physical eyes we would say well this was just a story that cannot ever happen again and cannot affect me because the only way to have this same experience is to see Jesus physically and not through the Bible.



Do you find yourself sad as you go through life? Well your miracle, your joy, is found in the thought of Jesus being raised from the dead! Think about Him as you go throughout your life. Think of the ever-loving Savior that came, died, and was raised up and is alive and walking today because everything that makes us sad has been put in the grave, and everything that makes us joyful has been raised from the grave!



Wait, stop right there, Jesus is not a prophet but Savior yet they called him a Prophet, remember when Jesus was at the mount of transfiguration and Moses and Elisha appeared; then Peter said let us build three altars one for Moses, one for Elisha, and one for Jesus. And God said, yo Hear Him, not hear them, but He said hear Him, and Moses and Elisha disappeared. The reason Peters idea was not the smartest of ideas was because he put Jesus on the same level as Moses and Elisha. Moses [in that story] represented the Law, and Elisha represented the prophets. So Jesus is not just another prophet and not just another law-giver but He is Savior.



The priests’ work was to serve God on behalf of the people. And the chief priests had responsibility for all the priests’ work. It was the priests who offered Israel’s gifts to God. This included all their sacrifices (the animals that they gave to God). So, think with me for a moment that the chief priests made sure that Jesus was put to death, just like in the Old Testament how the chief priests would make sure that all the sacrifices would be done correctly.



So, they thought that Jesus was going to redeem Israel in a political sense that is to redeem Israel from the wars and attacks from the foreign countries



The KJV Says, “Oh Fools.” This seems like I can understand where Jesus is coming from it seems like this is still happening. There are two problems that Jesus encountered that still go on today. 1. That people are either foolish as in they don’t or have ever heard of the truth and have never heard of the gospel of grace. 2. People have heard of the true gospel, but are slow to believe, in other words, it’s too good to be true.



The first five books of the Bible [Old Testament] are called the Pentateuch and the books of Moses, so in this instance he was referring to all of the Old Testament except the writings [like psalms, proverbs, etc.]



I can also feel for Jesus because sometimes we preachers could keep preaching but the time catches up with us. He would have kept going, he would have finished by talking about the writings, but they were done.



He took bread, blessed, broke it, and gave it to them. He took bread, blessed, broke it, and gave it to them. He took bread, blessed, broke it, and gave it to them. What does this remind you of? Communion, they had communion with Jesus. And look at what happened next.



The communion opened their eyes. It must be that when we take communion we see Jesus!  And not only where there eyes were opened but remember this is all about redemption back from the garden. Then their eyes were opened, then their eyes were opened, so what does that have to do with the garden? Well go back to Genesis 3 and it says that they ate of the fruit and their eyes were opened, and they knew him? No, they knew they were naked. Also When it saids “they Knew him” (epiginóskó) – Full Knowledge. One you put epi it is Full Knowledge, Ginóskó is just Knowledge



It is only when you see Jesus in the Bible that hearts burn. It is only when we see Jesus, when we HEAR Jesus, that our hearts are warmed. Remember that old saying, “Man that teacher has a cold heart.” Amen, when you see Jesus in the Bible your heart becomes warm. Have you ever went and heard a sermon that was like a cold shower like woo, I mean you didn’t hear Jesus you heard all about a lot of things we ought to be doing and never had our hearts burn within us? Let’s have more sermons that are Jesus centered and Jesus focused and that when the bible is open, we see Jesus!



Final note, the breaking of bread (communion) helps us know Jesus more and more. As it was written, “He was known to them in the breaking of bread.”

photo credit: Jared Rarick/

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