Altobello Melone - The Road to Emmaus, c. 1516–17
Luke 24 v 13-16
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
Why Emmaus?
Out of the blue, the town of Emmaus is mentioned in the New Testament. It doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Protestant Bible.
In fact, we only find it in the first book of Maccabees. This book was well known at the time of Christ and records the history of a Jewish rebellion against their Greek overlords.
Their leader, Judas Maccabees, won a great battle at Emmaus. After this, the Jews rededicate the temple in Jerusalem. Under the Greek rule, the temple had been defiled and fallen into disrepair. So Judas rebuilt the altar, cleansed the sanctuary and installed new priests. [This rededication of the Temple is celebrated by the Jews as Hanukkah.]
Symbolically speaking, the meeting between Jesus and the two people on the Road to Emmaus, indicates that a great victory had been won on the Cross and that Jesus had restored the temple, i.e. Himself.
Who are Cleopas and the Other Disciple?
Traditionally, Cleopas is linked to Mary, wife of Colphas. She was one of the woman at the foot of the Cross when Jesus died.
The unnamed disciple may have been Luke. It was common for the person who was the author to not name himself within the text. We see this in the Gospels according to Mark and John too.
Why did they not recognise him?
According to Luke’s account, the two followers were kept from recognising Him. What a strange thing to happen. How could they not recognise Jesus?
Having said that, Mary Magdalene didn’t recognise Jesus either, in the Gospel according to John. And again the disciples do not recognise Jesus in John 21.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul addresses the issue of resurrection bodies. After Jesus is resurrected, He receives a new body. It is a spiritual body, not an earthly body. It appears this new body is not easily recognised by those living with earthly bodies. Their eyes need to be ‘opened’ to see Him.
Breaking of Bread
When the night draws in, His followers persuade Jesus to stay and eat. Jesus sits at the table and takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them.
Their eyes are suddenly opened and they see Him. He then disappears.
The followers run back to Jerusalem and they retell the story to the disciples. And how Jesus was revealed to them in the breaking of the bread. This story of Emmaus is also found in the Gospel according to Mark (Mar 16 v 12-13).
Adam, Eve and the Eucharist
There is a symbolic link between Cleopas and the unnamed disciple and Adam and Eve.
The Serpent in the garden lies and deceives Eve and then Adam and persuades them to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their eyes were then opened (Gen 3 v 7) and they saw their nakedness and experienced shame.
Conversely, Jesus used the truth of the Scripture to reveal who He was.
When Eve shared the fruit, it led to the Curse, but when Jesus breaks and shares the bread, it symbolises the Curse has ended.
From the Last Supper, we understand that the bread symbolises His own body. And His body is the fruit of the Cross.
By sharing the bread, Jesus reveals Himself to His disciples. Their eyes are opened and rather than seeing their nakedness and feeling shameful, like Adam and Eve, they see the King of Glory and joy floods their hearts.
Jesus then disappears, but leaves behind the bread. A symbolic link to the Eucharist.
The snake in the garden said, "Did God really say...?"
Jesus breaking bread, "God really said...!"
What an eye opening thought: The fruit of the tree (knowledge of good and evil) brought death through one man, the Fruit of the Tree (the Cross) brought life through one man...
One of the people over at Lambda Bible Studies made this great comment about the post.
‘It made me realise that it can be likened to a few appearances of the Angel of the Lord, in Judges 13 and Judges 6 where He is speaking to Gideon and Samson's parents respectively without their knowledge of who he is. Both urge Him to stay, but they only realise who He is when a sacrifice is prepared, in Gideon's case meat and bread, in Samson's parent's case a goat, at which point they are able to recognise who they have seen, and He immediately disappears.’