That Sunday, two of the many who followed Jesus left Jerusalem for Emmaus. They had a lot to talk about as they walked the seven miles.
They discussed everything that had happened in the past few days, including the events of that very morning. They were stunned that several of the women of their group, then Peter and John, told what they had experienced when they went to the tomb of Jesus.
A man joined them as they walked.
“What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” asked the man.
The two stopped in their tracks. Sadness shadowed their faces.
“Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” said Cleopas.
“What things,” he asked.
“The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death, and crucified Him,” they explained.
After a tiny pause, they added, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive.”
“And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see,” they explained.
Once the two stopped their explanation of the happenings of Jerusalem, the man spoke.
“O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” he asked.
As they walked along for more than two hours, the man began to teach how the Messiah was revealed through scriptures from Moses through the prophets.
As they neared Emmaus, the two disciples stopped. The man proceeded on down the road. The two disciples had enjoyed his teaching so much they urged him to stay with them.
“Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over,” they insisted.
The man agreed and went in to stay with them. When they gathered for the evening meal, the man took the bread and blessed it. He tore the bread and handed it out to them.
Then suddenly the most amazing thing happened.
In an instant, in a mixture of shock and joy, the two disciples recognized Him. The man was Jesus. The resurrected Jesus.
As soon as they realized Him, He vanished.
Elation flooded their souls. What the women had told them was true. What Peter and John told them was true. Jesus, the Son of Man who had been crucified, had risen from the dead.
Jesus was alive!
“Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” they said to each other.
The two wasted no time. They immediately started the long walk back to Jerusalem even though darkness would soon fall.
Their heads were spinning and their hearts were full of all they had learned from Jesus.
Their Jesus, the Messiah, was alive.
They could hardly wait to tell the others the news.
Carla Killough McClafferty