Luke 24:24-31 sits inside this longer paragraph.
20and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb; 23and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”
25He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” 27Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 28They came near to the village where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.
29They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them.
30When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave it to them. 31Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, then he vanished out of their sight. 32They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?” 33They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them, 34saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v31 Suddenly taken away, and therefore we may not imagine…
Suddenly taken away, and therefore we may not imagine that he was there in such a body as could not be seen, but believe indeed that he changed his place.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv24–31 24 And certain of them which were with us…
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
Ver. 24. Certain of them] viz. Peter and John. See Joh 20:6, {See Trapp on "Joh 20:6"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv25, 28, 30 By our Saviour’s form of reprehending his disciples, we…
By our Saviour’s form of reprehending his disciples, we may both learn:
1. That it is not every saying, Thou fool, but a saying of it from a root of hatred, malice, and anger, which our Saviour makes to be a breach of the sixth commandment, Mat 5:21,22. Our Saviour’s reprehension of them was out of a principle of love, and a root of good will to them.
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2. That the best of us are very slow of heart to believe what cometh to us upon the mere credit of a Divine revelation. It is also observable from what we have, Luk 24:27, that Moses and the prophets are not to be rejected by Christians; they also have much concerning Christ; out of them Christ instructs these two disciples in the things concerning himself.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v25 Observe, 1. Our Saviour reproves, and then instructs them.…
Observe, 1. Our Saviour reproves, and then instructs them. He reproves them for being ignorant of the sense of scripture. They thought the death of the Messiah a sufficient ground to question the truth of his office, when it was an argument to confirm and establish it: O fools, ought not Christ to suffer? As if he had said, "Do you not find that the person described by the prophets in the Old Testament to be the Messiah, was to wade to his glory through a sea of blood? Why then do you think yourselves deceived in the person who suffered three days ago, when his death does agree so well with the predictions of the prophets, who foretold, that the Messiah should be cut off, but not for himself, and be smitten for the iniquities of his people?
Here we may observe, the great wisdom and grace of God, who makes sometimes the diffidence of his people an occasion of farther clearing up the choicest truths unto them: never did these disciples hear so excellent an exposition of Moses and the Prophets concerning the Messiah as now, when their sinful distrust had so far prevailed over them.
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Observe, 2. The doctrines which Christ instructs his disciples in, namely, in the necessity of his death and passion, and of his glory and exaltation; Ought not Christ to suffer, and to enter into his glory?
Learn,
1. That with respect to God’s decree, and with relation to man’s guilt, the death of Christ was necessary and indispensable.
2. That his resurrection and exaltation was an necessary as his passion.
3. That there was a meritorious connexion between Christ’s sufferings and his glory; his exaltation was merited by his passion; He was to drink of the brook in the way, and then he was to lift up his head.
4. Christ did not only put light into these his apostles’ heads, but heat also into their hearts, which burned all the while he communed with them; Did not our hearts burn within us, while he opened to us the scriptures? Oh what an efficacious power is there in the word of Christ, when set home upon the hearts of men by the Spirit of Christ!
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv24–31 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things,.... Mentioned…
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things,.... Mentioned in Luk 24:20 as to be delivered by the chief priests, to be condemned to death, and to be crucified: Christ suffered many things in his personal character, being traduced as a sinful and wicked man, and a friend and encourager of sinners; as a man of immoral principles and practices; as an idolater, a blasphemer, an impostor, a seditious person; as one that had had familiarity with the devil, and did his miracles by his assistance, with a load of other reproaches; and these he endured, to answer to the loss of the divine honour and glory, sustained by the sin of man; and to teach his people patience, under the loss of their good names, characters, and reputations: and he suffered much in his body, in the infirmities of it; which he assumed with it, being in all things like to his brethren, excepting sin; and in the pains which he endured, through buffeting and scourging before his crucifixion, and when he hung upon the cross: and he suffered greatly in his soul, partly from the temptations of Satan; and partly from the treatment of his own disciples, through the frowardness of their spirits; and especially his being betrayed by one, denied by another, and forsaken by them all, must greatly afflict his mind; but chiefly from his bearing the loathsome sins of men, the strokes of justice, and the wrath of God; and particularly, through his being forsaken by him: and of all these there was a necessity; he ought to have suffered these things, as he did; the counsels and purposes of God, the covenant transactions and agreement he himself entered into with his Father, the prophecies of the Old Testament, and his own predictions concerning these things, together with the salvation of his people, in a way consistent with the justice of God, and the honour of his law, made them necessary:
and to enter into his glory; which began at his resurrection from the dead, and is seen in his exaltation and session at the right hand of God; upon his ascension he was received up to glory, entered into it, took possession of it, and is crowned with it; and which will still be more manifest, when he shall come to judge the world in righteousness; when his saints also shall appear in glory with him, and shall be everlasting spectators of his glory; and indeed, his entrance into glory is not merely for himself, but in the name and behalf of them. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "and so, or thus to enter into his glory"; that is, by the way of sufferings, which is the way through which his saints enter the kingdom, Act 14:22. And by a view of the glory that was to follow them, and which he and his people were to enjoy together, was he animated to endure them cheerfully and patiently; and this he is entered into, possesses and enjoys, as the consequence and reward of his sufferings.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 O foolish - Not understanding the designs and works…
O foolish - Not understanding the designs and works of God: And slow of heart - Unready to believe what the prophets have so largely spoken.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv25–31 Verse 25. O fools and slow of heart to…
Verse 25. O fools and slow of heart to believe] Inconsiderate men, justly termed such, because they had not properly attended to the description given of the Messiah by the prophets, nor to his teaching and miracles, as proofs that HE alone was the person they described.
Slow of heart - Backward, not easy to be persuaded of the truth, always giving way to doubtfulness and distrust. This very imperfection in them is a strong evidence of the truth of the doctrine which they afterwards believed, and proclaimed to the world. Had they not had the fullest assurance of these things, they never would have credited them; and it is no small honour to the new-covenant Scriptures that such persons were chosen, first, to believe them; secondly, to proclaim them in the world; and, thirdly, to die on the evidence of those truths, the blessed influence of which they felt in their own hearts, and fully exemplified in their lives.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv25, 28 Luk 24:25-27. Then he said, O fools — Ω…
Luk 24:25-27. Then he said, O fools — Ω ανοητοι, O foolish, or thoughtless persons. The word is not Ω μωροι, properly rendered, O fools, and is a term of great indignation, and sometimes of contempt; but that employed here is only a term of expostulation and reproof; and slow of heart to believe, &c. — From this reproof it would appear, that Cleopas and his companion were of the number of those who gave little credit to the tidings which the women had brought of their Master’s resurrection; his crucifixion and death, as they themselves acknowledge, having almost convinced them that he was not the Messiah. What he reproved them for was their not understanding and believing the prophets, which, he said, declared that, before the Messiah should enter into his glory, he must suffer such things as they said their Master had suffered. And beginning at Moses, &c. — And in order that his reproof might appear to be well founded, that their drooping spirits might be supported, and that they might be prepared for the discovery he was about to make of himself, he explained the whole types and prophecies of the Old Testament, which relate to the Messiah’s sufferings, such as the Mosaical sacrifices, the lifting up of the brazen serpent, the twenty-second Psalm, the fifty-third of Isaiah, &c. Thus did Jesus demonstrate to these desponding disciples, from the Scriptures, that their despair was without cause, and the suspicion without foundation, which they had taken up, of their being deceived in thinking him to be the Messiah, because the priests had put him to death.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv24–31 Certain of them which were with us - Peter…
Certain of them which were with us - Peter and John. See Joh 20:2-9.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v30 The ancient Fathers think our Saviour consecrated, on this…
The ancient Fathers think our Saviour consecrated, on this occasion, and administered the Eucharist to the two disciples. In the Acts of the Apostles, this same term, breaking of bread, is explained without difficulty of the Eucharist. St. Luke seems fond of this manner of expression, to signify that sacrament. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv25–30 fools--senseless, without understanding.
fools--senseless, without understanding.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 25. O fools—The Greek word means destitute of discernment…
25. O fools—The Greek word means destitute of discernment in the higher or spiritual faculty; unwise, unintuitive.
Slow of heart—Not hard of heart but slow. Not springing and grasping divine truth. The head is confused because the heart is sluggish.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–31 24. hut him they saw not] This phrase most…
24. hut him they saw not] This phrase most naturally and tenderly expresses their incredulity and sorrow. It also shews how impossible is the sceptical theory that the Disciples were misled by hallucinations. “Les hallucines,” says Bersier, “parlent en hallucines;” but against any blind enthusiasms we see that the Apostles and Disciples were most suspiciously on their guard. They accepted nothing short of most rigid proof.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–31 (24) And certain of them which were with us.—The…
(24) And certain of them which were with us.—The words have the interest of presenting an obviously undesigned coincidence with St. John’s report of the visit of Peter and John (Joh_20:3). The naturalness of the manner in which the two Apostles are mentioned, but not named, “certain of them which were with us,” may be noted, so far as it goes, as a sign of truthfulness. A later writer constructing a narrative would have brought in the two conspicuous names.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv24–31 And certain of them which were with us went…
And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. Tholuck writes, "Does not their word sound as the language of those in whose heart the smoking flax yet glimmers, though nigh to extinction?"
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 29 25. O foolish men. Because “slow of heart to…
25. O foolish men. Because “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.”
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv28, 30
Luke
THE RISEN LORD’S SELF-REVELATION TO WAVERING DISCIPLES
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DETAINING CHRIST
Luk 24:28 - Luk 24:29.
Of course, a chance companion, picked up on the road, is dropped when the journey’s end is reached. When these two disciples had come to Emmaus, perhaps arriving at some humble inn or caravanserai, or perhaps at the home of one of them, it would have been an unmannerly intrusion for the Stranger who had met them on the road, and could accompany them there without rudely forcing Himself on them, to have inflicted His company further on them unless they had wished it. And so ‘He made as though He would have gone further,’ not pretending what He did not mean, but doing what was but natural and proper in the circumstances. But Jesus had a further motive for showing His intention of parting company at the door of t he house in Emmaus. He desired to evoke the expression of the desire of His two fellow-walkers that He should tarry with them. Having evoked it, then with infinite willingness omnipotence lets itself be controlled by feebleness, and Jesus suffers Himself to be constrained by those whom, unknown to themselves, He was gently and mightily constraining. ‘He made as though,’ unfortunately suggests to an English reader the idea of acting a part, and of seeming to intend what was not really intended. But there is no such thought in Luke’s mind.
The first suggestion that strikes one from this incident is just this: Jesus Christ will certainly leave us if we do not detain Him.
It is no more certain that that walk to Emmaus had its end, and that that first day of the week, day of Resurrection though it was, was destined to close in sunset and evening darkness, than that all seasons of quickened intercourse with Jesus Christ, all times when duty and grace and privilege seem to be very great and real, all times when we awake more than ordinarily to the recognition of the Presence of the Lord with us and of the glories that lie beyond, tend to end and to leave us bare and deprived of the vision, unless there be on our parts a distinct and resolute effort to make perpetual that which in its nature is transient and comes to a close, unless we avert its cessation. All motion tends to rest, and Christian feeling falls under the same law. Nay, the more thrilling the moment’s experience the more exhausting is it, and the more certain to be followed by depression and collapse. ‘Action and reaction are equal and contrary.’ The height of the wave determines the depth of the trough. Therefore Christian people have to be specially careful towards the end of a time of special vitality and earnestness; because, unless they by desire and by discipline of their minds interpose, the natural result will be deadness in proportion to the previous excitement. ‘He made as though He would have gone further,’ and He certainly will unless His retreating skirts be grasped at by the outstretched hands of faith and desire, and the prayer go after Him, ‘Abide with us for it is toward evening.’
That is quite true, too, in another application of the incident. Convictions, spiritual experiences of a rudimentary sort, certainly die away and leave people harder and worse than they were before, unless they be fostered and cherished and brought to maturity and invested with permanence by the honest efforts of the subjects of the same. The grace of God, in the preaching of His Gospel, is like a flying summer shower. It falls upon one land and then passes on with its treasures and pours them out somewhere else. The religious history of many countries and of long centuries is a commentary written out in great and tragic characters on the profound truth that lies in the simple incident of my text. Look at Palestine, look at Asia Minor, at the places where the Gospel first won its triumphs; look at Eastern Europe. What is the present condition of these once fair lands but an illustration of this principle, that Christ who comes to men in His grace is kept only by the earnestness and faithfulness and desire of the men to whom He comes?
And you and I, dear brethren, both as members of a Christian community and in our individual capacity, have our religious blessings on the same conditions as Ephesus and Constantinople had theirs, and may fling them away by the same negligence as has ruined large tracts of the world through long ages of time. Christ will certainly go unless you keep Him.
Then further, notice from my text this other thought, that Christ seeks by His action to stimulate our desires for Him.
‘He made as though He would have gone further.’ But while His feet were directed to the road His heart remained with His two fellow-travellers whom He was apparently leaving, and His wish was that the sight of His retiring figure might kindle in their hearts great outgoings of desire to which He would so gladly yield. It is the same action on His part, only under a slightly different form, but actuated by the same motive and the same in substance, as we find over and over again in the gospels. You remember the instances. I need only refer to them in a word.
Here is one: the dark lake, the rising moon behind the Eastern hills, a figure coming out of the gloom across the stormy sea, and when He reached the tossing fishing cobble it seemed as if He would have passed by; and He would, but that the cry flung out over the dark water stopped Him.
Here are two blind men sitting by the roadside crying ‘Thou Son of David, have mercy upon us.’ Not a word, not even a glance over His shoulder, no stopping of His resolved stride; onwards towards Jerusalem, Pilate, and Calvary. Because He did not heed their cry? Because He did not infinitely long to help them? No. The purpose of His apparent indifference was attained when ‘they cried the more earnestly, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon us.’
Here is another. A woman half mad with anguish for her demon-ridden daughter, calling after Him with the shrill shriek of Eastern sorrow and disturbing the fine nerves of the disciples, but causing no movements nor any sign that He even heard, or if He heard, heeded, the ear-piercing and heart-moving cries. Why was that ear which was always open to the call of misery closed now? Because He wished to bring her to such an agony of desire as might open her heart very wide for an amplitude of blessing; and so He let her cry, knowing that the longer she called the more she would wish, and that the more she wished the more He would bestow.
And that is what He does with us all sometimes: seeming to leave our wishes and our yearnings all unnoticed. Then the devil says to us, ‘What’s the use of crying to Him? He does not hear you.’ But faith hears the promise: ‘Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it,’ though to sense there seems to be ‘no voice nor any that answered.’
Christ has no other reason in any of the delays and trying prolongations of His answers than to make us capable of larger blessing, because delay deepens our longing. He is infinitely wishful to-day, as He was on that Resurrection evening, to draw near to every heart and pour upon it the whole sunlit cataract of the mighty fact that He lives to bless. But He cannot come to us unless we desire Him, and He cannot give to us more of Himself than we wish; and therefore He is obliged, as the first thing, to make our desires larger and fuller, and then He will answer them. ‘He could there do no mighty works because of their unbelief.’
Our faithlessness limits His power; our faith is the measure of our capacity.
Lastly, the text reminds us that Jesus Christ is glad to be forced.
‘They constrained’: a very strong word, kindred to the other one which our Lord Himself employs when He speaks about the ‘kingdom of heaven suffering violence, and the violent taking it by force.’ That bold expression gives emphatic utterance to the truth that there is a real power lodged in the desires of humble hearts that desire Him, so as that they can prescribe to Him what He shall do for them and how much of Himself He shall give them. Our feebleness can in a measure set in motion and regulate the energy of Omnipotence. ‘They constrained Him.’
Do you remember who it was that was called ‘a prince with God’ and how he won the title and was able to prevail? We, too, have the charter given to us that we can-I speak it reverently-guide God’s hand and compel Omnipotence to bless us. We master Nature by yielding to it and utilising its energies. We have power with God by yielding to Him and conforming our desires to the longings of His heart and asking the things that are according to His will. ‘Concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.’ And what we, leaning on His promise and in unison with His mighty purpose of love, desire, that will as certainly come down to us as every stream must pour into the lowest levels and fill the depressions in its course.
You can make sure of Christ if two things are yours. He will always remain with us if, on the one hand, we wish for Him honestly and really to be with us all the day long, which would be extremely inconvenient for some of us; and if, on the other hand, we take care not to do the acts nor cultivate the tempers which drive Him away. For ‘How can two walk together except they be agreed?’ And how can we ask Him to come in and sit down in a house which is all full of filth and worldliness? Turn the demons out and open the door, and anything is more likely than that the door will stand gaping and the doorway be unfilled by the meek presence of the Christ that enters in.
The old prayer is susceptible of application to our community and to our individual hearts. When Israel prayed, ‘Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou and the Ark of Thy strength,’ the answer was prompt and certain. ‘This is My rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.’ But the divine desire was not accomplished till the human desire opened the Temple gates for the entrance of the Ark.
‘He made as though He would have gone further’; but they constrained Him, and then He entered in.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v25 Jesus, the kind Instructor:
Jesus, the kind Instructor:
v. 25. Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
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v. 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?
v. 27. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
v. 28. And they drew nigh unto the village whither they went; and He made as though He would have gone further.
v. 29. But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them.
v. 30. And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
v. 31. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight.
The two, Emmaus pilgrims had opened their hearts to the Lord, for out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh. It was such a full and free confession as they would not have thought of making in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But the kind sympathy of this stranger invited, almost compelled, confidences, and so they had opened to Him their whole heart. The first words of the Lord in commenting upon the information He had received were a firm reproof, not unmixed with gentleness. Foolish men He calls them and slow of heart to trust and believe in all things that the prophets had spoken. They had not properly attended to the description of the Messiah as given by the prophets, and they had not looked upon His own teaching and miracles with enlightened eyes. It was a necessity for Christ, for the Master in whose company they had been all these long months; it was an obligation resting upon Him which He could not evade. First the Passion, then the glory; through cross to crown. At all times there is much sin, foolishness, lack of faith mixed with the weakness and grief of the believers. And this must be pointed out without hesitation. For that will open the way to a better understanding, in this case. The Lord deliberately began with the books of Moses and then continued through the books of the prophets; He interpreted to these two disciples the passages concerning His person and work, He compared prophecy and fulfillment; He pointed out the meaning of passages which to them had been hidden treasure-chests; He took His time to explain every word thoroughly, in order that their eyes might finally be opened. It was a long discourse, and from the mouth of the greatest Teacher of all times. Would that we had its exact contents today! But probably it has purposely not been preserved, in order that we may search the Scriptures of the Old Testament all the more diligently. Meanwhile, the two or two and one-half hours needed for a slow journey to Emmaus had brought them to the village, and Jesus purposely assumed the air of one that intended to go farther. He wanted to see whether His explanation of the Scripture and its application had made such an impression upon them that they would want to remain in His company. Happy they that have Christ with them thus! His plan succeeded beautifully, for both of the disciples urged Him with earnest pleading: Abide, remain with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is drawing to a close. Their real reason was, of course, that their hearts had been so touched and overwhelmed with the beauty and power of His explanation that they wanted to hear more of this charming and edifying conversation. Note: This is ever the effect of the doctrine of the Gospel: wherever it is felt, its Author, the ever-blessed Jesus, is earnestly entreated to dwell in the heart. And so Jesus went in to tarry, to remain, with them for the evening meal, at least. But when He reclined at the table with them, He thought the time fitting to reveal Himself to them. Accordingly, He took the bread, gave thanks over it, broke it, and gave it to them. At this act their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. This stranger was no one else than their Friend and Master, the same who had so often, in His capacity as the Head of the little band, performed this customary work. But in the same moment when their faces lighted up in joyful recognition, Jesus became invisible before them, He vanished out of their sight; He departed from them in that invisible manner. Though He was still their Master and Friend, they could no longer enjoy His intimate company as in the days before His suffering. They should no longer be bound by His visible presence, but learn to place their trust in the word of His Gospel which He has left for all men.
The Obligation Of The Work Of Atonement
There is no fact in Gospel history more consoling or more conducive to the strengthening of the Christian’s faith than that of the readiness and willingness of Jesus in carrying out God’s plan of salvation. If the Redeemer had faltered at any time, if the weakness of His human nature had at any time caused an unwillingness to carry out the work of atonement, the Gospel history would be worthless, and the comfort of a Christian in relying upon the satisfaction of Christ’s vicarious suffering would be vain.
It had been prophesied concerning the Messiah: "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God," Psa 40:7-8. This delight in doing the will of God, in carrying out the plan and counsel of God for the salvation of man, is a prominent and necessary feature of Christ’s Ministry. He had a clear and full conception of the extent and of the obligation of the work which He had come to perform, Heb 10:5-10. He knew exactly wherein the will of His heavenly Father consisted. "This is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. " Joh 6:39-40.
In accordance with this situation and the full understanding of its nature and scope, Jesus at all times kept the work of redemption foremost in His mind, to seek and save that which was lost, Luk 19:10. Even at the age of twelve years He was fully conscious of the obligation resting upon Him, when He told His mother: "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?" Luk 2:49. To His disciples, who asked about the man that had been born blind, He briefly and succinctly stated His conception of His ministry: "I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work," Joh 9:4. To the eager Zacchaeus He calls out: "Today I must abide at thy house," Luk 19:5. That was a part of His work, of the ministry of saving souls, which He therefore could not neglect.
When the time came that He should enter into the glory of His Father through the way of suffering and death, He did not falter or waver, but set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem, Luk 9:51; Mar 10:32-33. He told His disciples: "The Son of Man must suffer many things," Luk 9:22; Mat 16:22. He was perfectly aware of the fate that was awaiting Him at Jerusalem, and yet He announces: "I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. " Luk 13:33.
This being the case, namely, that the chief aim and purpose of Jesus in coming into the world was to work the redemption of mankind by the shedding of His blood as an atonement for the guilt of all, He emphasized this one point to the exclusion of everything else. He tells His disciples on the evening before His death: "This that is written must yet be accomplished in Me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors; for the things concerning Me have an end," Luk 22:37. And in the garden He rebukes the impulsive Peter: "How, then, shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?" Mat 26:54. The same truth is emphasized so strongly in His discourses on the afternoon and evening of the resurrection day, as well as by the angels in their first announcement of the Easter miracle. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Me. Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer," Luk 24:7. and these words were echoed by peter in the interval between Christ’s ascension and the Day of Pentecost: "Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled," Act 1:16.
Upon the basis of these authoritative utterances we condemn all attempts to make the work of Christ seem of a nature concerning this world only. In the face of the blasphemous efforts of the millennial dreamers we hold firmly to the teaching, preaching, and confessing of Christ’s work: "Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned sinner, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil... with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death."
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv25, 28, 30 Jesus said to them
Jesus said to them
Jesus is speaking to the two disciples.
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slow of heart to believe
Here "heart" is a metonym for a person's mind. AT: "your minds are slow to believe" or "you are slow to believe" (See: Metonymy)
Was it not necessary ... glory?
Jesus uses a question to remind the disciples about what the prophets said. AT: "It was necessary ... glory." (See: Rhetorical Question)
to enter into his glory
This refers to Jesus beginning to rule and to receive honor and glory.
beginning from Moses
Moses wrote the first books of the Bible. AT: "beginning with the writings of Moses" (See: Metonymy)
Jesus interpreted to them
"Jesus explained to them"
translationWords
fool
heart
believe
prophet
Christ
suffer
glory
Moses
word of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv25, 27, 29, 30, 31 24:25-26 the prophets wrote . . . that the…
24:25-26 the prophets wrote . . . that the Messiah would have to suffer: The crucifixion did not negate Jesus’ identity as the Messiah but confirmed it, because the death of the Messiah was predicted in Scripture. Jesus rebuked the two for not recognizing from Scripture that the Messiah had to suffer (see Isa 50:4-9; 52:13–53:12; Pss 2, 16, 22, 118; cp. Luke 18:32; 20:17; 23:37; Acts 2:25-28; 4:25-26).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.