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| The Road to Emmaus |
Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25-27).
Two of the disciples walk together along the road to Emmaus. The risen Lord Jesus meets them and walks with them. They are kept from recognizing Him by supernatural means. The Lord asks them what they are discussing as they walk. Why are they sad? Cleopas tells Jesus a summary of His unjust crucifixion and death at the hands of the rulers of the Jews. He even tells Jesus of the resurrection; they do not yet believe. Some of the other disciples went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Jesus they did not see.
Cleopas is sad because he thought Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel. But how can Israel have a dead redeemer? Cleopas, like his compatriots who deserted Jesus in Gethsemane, had certain erroneous expectations about the redeemer of Israel. They wanted a messiah like Judas Maccabaeus; one who would rise up with a mighty army and fight off those who held the nation of Israel in bondage. They wanted a political messiah who would restore sovereignty to Israel, and set up a grand kingdom. And they, naturally, would also be exalted in this kingdom, being part of the redeemer’s inner circle. The disciples even argued over who would sit at Jesus’ side as he reigned.[1]
Before His crucifixion, Jesus explained what would happen to Him. He predicted His death and resurrection to them many times. All the things written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. Jesus would be delivered over to the Gentiles; He would be killed, and the third day rise again.[2] One time, after predicting His death to them, Jesus was rebuked by Peter. Get behind me, Satan, was Jesus’ response. You do not have in your mind the things of God, but the things of men.[3] He could not understand. Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world.[4] Spiritual things, though, cannot be grasped by the sinful human mind.[5] This is why Jesus must open their hearts to the Scriptures. Through the means of Holy Scripture, by the working of His Holy Spirit, Jesus creates faith in the disciples, and in us. The Pharisees searched the Scriptures, because in them they thought they had eternal life. They were right. But, they hardened their hearts against the working of the Holy Spirit as He continually pointed them to Jesus.
Jesus did indeed come to redeem Israel, but he did not come to rescue the nation-state of the Jews from the oppression of the Romans. He instead rules over a resurrected and reconstituted kingdom of Israel from His throne at the right hand of God the Father. This Kingdom is the Church, the Israel of God; Christ’s rule and reign through the Gospel.[6] It is the fellowship of all believers, His body.[7] This Kingdom is made up of new creations, baptized into the death and resurrection of Abraham’s Seed, Jesus.[8] In Christ’s kingdom we have redemption through His blood, which is the forgiveness of sins.[9] This is the reason Jesus came to die and rise again. He came to redeem we who were lost and condemned people. He purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death. He did this so that we can be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.
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