Uncle Cleo

The Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:

9When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.11But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.

17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"19"What things?" he asked. "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Thinking about what the disciples and the others around Jesus must have been going through over the days after the crucifixion. There were now only the 11 remaining disciples (since Judas was now dead) , but several other people who had followed Jesus.

>>> What do you think they would have felt like

--- the day of the crucifixion?

--- the days after the crucifixion before the resurrection?

>>> What about when Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James and Joanna returned from the tomb and told them that Jesus was alive and they had seen him?

Can you imagine the range of emotions all these people must have been feeling?

Who were these two guys that left for Emmaus? The Bible only tells us in this passage that one of them was a guy named Cleopas. No where else in the Bible is Cleopas ever mentioned, right? You can do a search and the only place you will find this name is in this passage.

Now, like Paul Harvey used to say, is the rest of the story...

Here is where things get interesting. You see, the name Cleopas is Chalphai in Aramaic. In Greek that can be transliterated as either Clopas or Halphaios--which in Latin is Alphaeus. Alphaeus, you may remember, is the name given as the father of James in the lists of 12 disciples in the gospels (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15). So this is the same guy who wife was “the other Mary” mentioned in John 19:25 “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene “....

SO CLEOPAS / CLOPAS / ALPHAEUS are all the same guy, just different translations of his name or he could have been called differently by different people (think William VS Bill today). The key is that he was the husband of Mary, the father of James – So, this Cleopas is actually the brother of Joseph, the uncle of Jesus! Why is that significant? We are getting there..

So, these two guys, Cleopas and maybe Luke (not sure), are distraught, they are in disbelief, they are hurting, they are confused, numb, insert your own word here for what they could have been feeling. I mean, this guy they had really thought could be, just maybe, could be the Messiah, the chosen one they had read about. The redeemer of Israel. Now, they watched the mock trials, they watched as he died an excruciating death on the cross, not exactly the picture they had always had of the King of the Jews. None of this made sense anymore. They saw Jesus put in the tomb, they saw the huge rock placed there, Jesus was dead, the one they thought was the Messiah was DEAD – they knew it, they had seen it with their own eyes.

As they walk along, a guys comes up on them. They do not know him, never seen him (they thought). This guy asked “what are you guys talking about?”

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

Notice, they are now saying “Jesus, a prophet”. Have they now lost all hope that He could have been the Messiah? I think so. The Messiah they had pictured, certainly would not have died, the Messiah they had in mind was a king, not a guy that would wind up on a cross being crucified with common criminals. You have to understand that they hadn't read the next few chapters in the New Testament. For them precisely everything they believed was being made a lie. Never mind that they had given the last several years of our lives to what seemed now to be a lost cause; all of their hopes and assurances for eternity and fellowship with God they had pinned to Him. They had learned from Him to speak of God in a new light; they had learned to speak to Him with a new confidence--because simply by their association with Jesus they had been assured of Divine favor. But if God would -after all He had done- abandon Him like this, then it was clear that all of their hopes had been misplaced. And now they were left to the same dilemma of sin and guilt which they had faced before He ever came along.

So, here is this guy that joins them and he has the audacity to ask them what they are talking about! Did this guy not know? Had he been living under a rock or something? Cleopas asked him “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days”. Cleopas has no idea who this guy is that seems to have no idea about Jesus and what has happened these last few days. Now remember, Cleopas is actually talking to his NEPHEW JESUS! I think it is significant that Jesus' own uncle, one of the people that knew Jesus best, that had known Jesus since birth, had watched him grow up, had seen Jesus excel as a carpenter and then at age 12 at the Temple stay around and later tell his parents that He was “about His Father's business”. Cleopas, knew Jesus as well as anyone, if anyone would recognize Him, it was Cleopas, yet he had no idea who this guy talking now to them was.

Now this guy tells Clepoas “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” Cleopas' heart had to skip a beat at this point! WHAT?? Wait just a minute.. Then this guy did something amazing, he started quoting scripture to them. He did not even have it in front of Him. HE was just quoting it, not only was He quoting it, He was pointing out to them what it meant concerning the true Christ. HE OPENED the scripture to them in a way they have never seen or read them before. He started showing them scripture by scripture, how each one of them was actually about Jesus.

I think He took them back to the very beginning and showed them that in the very Garden of Eden God had promised deliverance from the Tempter thru the bruising of the deliverer! He reminded them of the Passover in Exodus--which they had just gone in Jerusalem to commemorate. And He reminded them how God delivered their fathers from the Death Angel in Egypt through the sacrifice of a spotless lamb!

He reminded them of the Guilt Offering and Day of Atonement and the whole sacrificial system. " And why, he asked, did the sacrifices need to be repeated? Why was it necessary for the priest to make atonement every year? If the sacrifice made atonement, then why does it need to be offered again and again? Or was it designed to point forward to a Greater Sacrifice? He quoted the prophet Isaiah who said of the Messiah, Jehovah's Servant, that "God will make Him a guilt offering for the sins of His people. He said that God would bruise His servant and by His stripes effect the salvation of all of His people! There it was--Cleopas had heard it read in the Synagogue, but never really understood its significance.

But it was not just Moses and the prophets. He took them also to the Writings--the Psalms and so on. There He quoted the words of the Psalmist who said in prophecy, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Cleopas had heard those words himself only 3 days ago--Jesus quoted them while He hung there dying! He quoted parts of Psalm 16 in which David expressed such confidence that God would not allow him to rot in the grave--but he did decay in a tomb, this man reminded them. David, being a prophet, spoke of someone else--He spoke of Messiah!

And on and on He went through the Scriptures. In Jesus, He showed them, a whole stream of ancient anticipations found their answer and fulfillment. Jesus was that prophet like unto Moses. But He was also the deliverer Joshua. And He was Aaron the priest who offered sacrifice. Indeed, He was innocent Isaac who was offered by Father Abraham in sacrifice. He was the sacrificial lambs which for centuries had been offered in hopes of atonement. He was David the King. He was Noah by whom deliverance was brought to those who went with him in the ark. He was Jonah who was--mark it--three days in the fish's belly. In Jesus a whole stream of ancient anticipations had met their fulfillment.

Now, ole Cleopas' heart must really be pounding, he now sees that just maybe this Jesus he knew so well, could well have been the Messiah. He now finally understood, from this what this guy as so eloquently presented that these things he had witnessed over the last few days were actually exactly what was supposed to happen to the Messiah. But wait, Jesus was dead, wasn't he? The women that went to the tomb said Jesus was alive, but Cleopas had not seen it, surely, someone had just stolen His body, right? His own wife claimed to have seen Jesus risen, but surely she was just so grief stricken, she was delusional, right?

Ok, almost home.. this stranger was still with them. Cleopas convinced him to come in, after all it was getting late, the stranger agreed to come in. Now, this stranger, took the bread and broke it and gave thanks. Now, this was Cleopas' house, he was supposed to be the host, was he not? Why did this stranger take the bread and break it?

Now something miraculous happens, something wonderful happens, something completely unexpected happens, “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight”. Not “they opened their eyes”, no, THEIR EYES WERE SUPERNATURALLY OPENED”. They now could clearly see Jesus. They could now see Jesus as they had never seen Him.

Cleopas, though he had known Jesus his entire life, now saw Jesus as He really was, he did not just see him as a man anymore, not as a “maybe Messiah”, he now saw the TRUE MESSIAH. No longer were there questions, no longer was there despair, no longer was there disbelief, no longer was there heartache. Now it was time to RUN back to Jerusalem and tell the others!

So, what happened here? This account, though small and barely mentioned elsewhere in the gospels, holds great significance. Part of the significance I think is to see if we can see the scriptures any better than Cleopas and so many others did. They had never seen Jesus in the Old Testament and until Jesus Himself revealed it to them, they never really got it. Even though Cleopas had actually witnessed all that Jesus had done His entire life on earth, He had not tied it all together UNTIL Jesus did it for him.

Now, even after Jesus had OPENED the scriptures to him, had fully explained all of what the prophets has foretold, showed him all the pictures painted in the old testament of the coming Jesus, Cleopas still was missing something. He still could not SEE Jesus – Jesus the Messiah and least not yet. Something miraculous had to happen. Jesus “opened his eyes”, then he was able to see Jesus in His glory, he was able to now for the first time, see his redemption.

I want you to notice the sequence of events here. Cleopas first had the scriptures opened to him. Today, the first thing we have to have opened to us is the same, the scriptures. We cannot start to understand the redemption story until we are able to have the scriptures opened to us. Cleopas was blessed indeed that Jesus opened the scriptures for him in person. Cleopas has read the scriptures, just like a lot of us have “READ” the scriptures, but they had never been opened for him. He had heard the sermons on the scriptures at the synagogue all his life, yet he had never fully understood until they were “opened” to him. If you are simply reading the Bible today, ask Jesus to open the scriptures to you. You will be amazed at the new insight you receive. You will see things you never noticed before. You will see that the scripture is alive.

Now, notice that even though now Cleopas received the scriptures and now the complete story of God's plan for redemption through Jesus Christ became clear. Cleopas still had another step to take. This step required a supernatural action from Jesus. As Jesus became the host, and broke the bread, Cleopas' eyes WERE OPENED. Cleopas now could not only understand, but could also see clearly God's plan. The act of fellowship with Christ is what caused this miracle. We are required to not only open our hearts to God's word, but also then be willing to fellowship with the risen Christ. To accept him as our savior to be able to then see Him in all his glory. The fact that this man that was as close to Jesus as anyone on the face of the earth did not recognize the Christ, tells us that even though we may see Jesus the man. We have to fellowship with Him to see the risen Christ. You can ask any muslim or buddhist who they think Jesus is and they will tell you that they believe he existed as a prophet – in other words, the can see the man Jesus, they cannot see the risen Christ though. They have not had fellowship with Christ, thus their eyes remain closed and oblivious to the real true risen Christ. A lot of them have even read the scriptures of the old testament at least (certainly the muslims have). Yet, they have not had the scriptures OPENED to them.

Where are you? Are the scriptures open to you? Do you embrace the living word of God as true and complete? Do you see Jesus all through the Bible as Jesus showed to Cleopas? That is the first step.

Have you asked Jesus to come in and fellowship in your heart? When you do, He will also open your eyes and you will then be able to fully see the fully risen Christ in all His glory.