From Sad to Satisfied!

[11 km] from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened” (verses 13-14). “They were deep in conversation…” (Message Bible), “they communed” (ASV) and reasoned, as the Greek text uses a different word from “talking” or “speaking.” “This term suggests emotional dialogue and can thus be translated ‘debated'” (NET Bible).

Like so many events recorded in the Bible, this “God moment” took place during an activity common to everyday life. Two disciples were walking down a road out of Jerusalem and while they walked a conversation took place. For the record, only one disciple is named, Cleopas (verse 18), and he was not one of the twelve nor is he mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.

“While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (verses 15-16). Mark states that Jesus was “in another form,” and no one really knows what that means. The important point is at the moment they were aware of a companion, these disciples thought he was a stranger to them.

“And he said to them, ‘What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?'” (verses 17-18). Now it is about to get interesting. Two disciples, their sadness at the events of the past few days clearly showing on their faces, and the Jesus they had watched being crucified standing next to them in their sadness.

Oh, how I wish I was an eloquent preacher. I’d really set the house on fire with verse 17! Just think about it for a moment, consider how you have “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) and how that spirit reality affects your sadness, the problems you face, the needs you have.

“And he said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened” (verses 19-21). “We were hoping…” but that doesn’t seem possible now he’s dead, so there is the source of their sadness.

And to add confusion to their hopes, “Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see” (verses 22-24). In other words, we just don’t know what to believe!

“And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (verses 25-27). “Foolish ones” is from a common word meaning “without sense.” Today a paraphrased version would probably say, “Dumb and Dumber!” The Amplified Bible adds “[sluggish in mind, dull of perception].” And Jesus said they were also “slow of heart”; that is, “with hearts so slow to believe, after all the prophets have declared!” (Moffatt).

They could be forgiven for being sad, but there was no excuse to not believing what the Jewish prophets had written concerning the coming Messiah. “Man’s basic spiritual problem is the integrity of God’s Word,” as one teacher expressed it. The problem remains to this day. And until you settle the question you will never find satisfaction in Christ. Since God said what He meant, and meant what He said, then you have the simple joy of believing it. This is not religion, it is reality.

How every preacher would like to have Jesus’ commentary from Moses onwards through all the prophets of all that was written concerning him! Yet we do have many truths regarding this in Paul’s revelation and its application today to Christian believers on the other side of the cross.

“So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn [“glow”, Moffatt] within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?'” (verses 28-32). So many Christians miss the “glow” that comes from an authentic knowing of God’s Word.

“Ah! this accounts for it: We could not understand the glow of self-evidencing light, love, glory that ravished our hearts; but now we do” (JFB Commentary). Yet don’t we have something even better? “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26). And the Helper, the Comforter, has come and he does bear witness of the Christ within, and the mind of Christ within. — Peter Wade.