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1. The Appearing to the Disciples of Emmaus (Luk_24:13-35)
Emmaus.—Mentioned also by Josephus, De Bell. Jud. vii. 6, 6. Comp. Luk_4:1; Luk_4:3. Not to be confounded with the city Emmaus, in the plain of Judæa, which lay 176 stadia from Jerusalem, was called in the third century Nicopolis, and by a misunderstanding of some ancient expositors was taken for the birth-place of Cleopas. The fathers Eusebius and Jerome already confounded the last-named city with our place, whose situation has been long uncertain. It appears that we have to seek the here-mentioned Emmaus nowhere else than in the present Kulonieh, which lies two full leagues from Jerusalem. Comp. among others, Sepp, l. c. iii. p. 653; and Robinson, Bib. Res.—Sixty stadia =1½ German miles, 7½ Italian miles, [=6¾ English miles]. It lay west from the capital, and the way, therefore, went past the graves of the Judges, by the old Mizpah, the dwelling place of Samuel, through a beautiful, charming district. But if it was ever manifest that nature alone cannot possibly satisfy the heart that has lost its Christ, it was on this day the case. Even into the sanctuary of creation do these wanderers take the recollection of the scenes of blood and murder, whose witnesses they had been in the last days. What they are conversing on together, we hear them themselves (Luk_24:18 seq.) make known more in detail. Apparently we may conceive that our Lord, in the form of a common traveller, came behind them and soon overtook them.
Luk_24:16. But their eyes.—According to Mar_16:12, the Lord appeared to them ἐí ἑôÝñᾳ ìïñöῆ , and this, too, would of itself have sufficiently explained why they did not know Him at once. In no other form did He stand so ineffaceably deep before their souls as precisely in the form of His Passion and death. They are, moreover, not thinking of His resurrection, and least of all of His being immediately near, and how could they in this quiet, vigorous, dignified traveller, be able to recognize the Crucified One, languid in death. It is, however, not to be doubted that, with this natural, a supernatural cause must have concurred, or rather that our Lord used this ἑôÝñá ìïñöÞ as a means to manifest Himself so to them that they should not at once recognize Him. The expression ἐêñáôïῦíôï ôïῦ , points to a definite design of His love; He will remain yet some moments concealed before He at once makes their joy perfect. Comp. Luk_24:31. Had He wished at once to be recognized, He could at once have so revealed Himself that no doubt would have been possible.
Luk_24:17. And why are ye sad?—If we expunge with Tischendorf, on the authority of D., Syr., Cant. (B., L. have variations), the words êáß ἐóôå , we then get instead of a double only a simple question: What manner of discourses are they which ye, walking along mournfully, interchange with one another? At all events it appears clearly that He who interrupts their conversation wishes to induce them to grant Him a participation in their sadness. What He already knows He wishes to hear from their own mouth, and begins, therefore, with a question of the kind with which shortly before He had already introduced His revelation of Himself to Mary; while He then for a while is significantly silent, until Cleopas, sometimes speaking alone, sometimes relieved by his companion, has told everything which lies so heavily upon the heart of both. Without doubt, He not only became silently displeased at their unbelief, but also rejoiced over their love, although Cleopas, in the beginning of his reply, makes sufficiently manifest his dissatisfaction at being suddenly disturbed by a troublesome third party.
Luk_24:18. Art thou the only stranger in Jerusalem.—He takes the questioner for a ðáñïéêῶí , not exactly on account of the somewhat peculiar dialect (De Wette), but because he in a settled inhabitant of the capital would not have been able at all to conceive such an ignorance, and perhaps, also, because this traveller now, like themselves, after the Passover lamb had been eaten, seemed to be about to leave the capital. That, moreover, as a rule, every stranger must also have heard what now fills the whole capital and their own hearts, that they suppose is anything but doubtful.
Luk_24:19. Concerning Jesus of Nazareth.—Now the stream of their lamentations over their disappointed expectations breaks loose. From ïἱ äὲåἶ ðïí it appears that both spoke, without its being possible precisely to distinguish their words, as some (Paulus, Kuinoel,) have attempted to do. Their anguish of heart is especially remarkable, since it showed what the Lord was in their eyes and remained, even in the moment when they had seen their dearest hope vanish. The official name Christ, they do not now take upon their lips, but respecting the name Jesus of Nazareth, they presuppose that it is sufficiently familiar to every one, in and out of Jerusalem. That He, although He had been reckoned among the transgressors, was a prophet and extraordinary messenger of God, such as, with the exception of John, had not appeared in Israel for centuries before, this admitted of no doubt. As such He had attested Himself by word and deed, not only in the eyes of the people, but also before the face of God—( ἐíáíôßïí ), and even after His death, it is impossible for them to mention the name of this ἀíÞï otherwise than with reverence and love. They are not afraid to declare that in respect to Him an irreconcilable difference of opinion exists between them and the chiefs of the people. While these latter had delivered Him over to the punishment of death, they on the other side hoped that it had been He that should have redeemed Israel ( ἠëðéæïìåí , in the Imperf.) Of what nature their hope and the redemption expected through Him was, they do not more particularly make known. But enough, whether their expectation had had a more political or more religious direction, the grave was the rock on which it had suffered shipwreck. Perhaps after a short pause they continue almost rather to think aloud than to instruct the stranger, to whom their discourse, supposing that He was entirely a stranger, must have been almost unintelligible: “But it is true ( ἀëëÜ ãå , although we had cherished such hope, even hitherto had not wholly given up hope) it is also,” &c. This comes besides all this to make their feeling of disappointment yet greater. The first and second day, therefore, they had still had a weak hope, but now that also the third day is already half elapsed without the enigma having been solved, they do not venture longer to surrender themselves to this hope.
Luk_24:22. But also.—Thus they begin in the same moment when they are complaining over lost hope yet still to speak of that which to-day had somewhat fanned up again the already almost extinguished spark, in order finally to end with the acknowledgment of utter uncertainty and discouragement. Some women of the company of the friends of the Nazarene ( ἐî ἡìῶí ) had astounded them, ἐîÝóôçóáí (comp. Act_2:12), so that they had entirely lost possession of themselves, and no longer knew what they had to think about the whole matter. Early in the morning, they said, these had gone to the grave, and had in all haste come back with the account that they had seen an appearance of angels, which had said to them that He was alive. ( Êáὶ ὅðô ., besides that they had not found there what they sought, they had, moreover, seen what they did not seek, and had heard what they could not believe.) It is worthy of note, how the Emmaus disciples in an artless manner confirm the narrative of the visit to the grave, and the experience of the Galilean women. At the same time it appears from the immediately following: êáὶἀðῆëèüí ôéíåò ôῶí óὺí ἡìῖí , that according to Luke also, not Peter alone (Luk_24:12), went to the grave, but also others, so that by this plural the visit to the grave among others by John (Luk_20:2-10), is tacitly confirmed. According to Stier, we should not by ôéíὲò ἐî ἡìῶí even understand apostles at all, but members of the more extended circle of disciples, to which these two also belong, who on the other hand had also instituted the requisite investigation, so that on this day there had been thorough confusion and distraction. Possible undoubtedly. But, however this may be, this investigation had led to no happy result. It is true, they had found it, sc. ôὸ ìíçìåῖïí , as the women had said, that is êåíüí , and so far, they could make no objection to the credibility of their account. But further than this the deputed disciples had been as far from discovering anything about the angels as about the Lord, and if He had really risen, could it be then that no one had seen Him Himself?—But Him they saw not.—The last word is a sufficient excuse for their believing themselves obliged to bid farewell to all hope.
Luk_24:25. Then He said unto them.—In the demeanor of the supposed stranger there must have been something that irresistibly impelled them to speak continually more confidentially to him, as he on his side suffered them without disturbance to pour out their hearts. Nothing would have been easier than just as with Mary, to turn their sorrow into joy by the utterance of a single word; but the Lord designs to bestow on them something higher than a transient, overwhelming impression. Now His turn came to speak, and when they think He will now begin deeply to commiserate them, He begins, on the other hand, in all severity to rebuke them. He assumes the tone of an experienced Rabbi, and gives them to understand that the cause of their whole inward suffering lies entirely within themselves. He calls them ἀíüçôïé , unreceptive on the intellectual side, êáὶ âñáäåῖò ôῇ êáñäßá , ôïῦ ðéóôåýåéí ἐðὶ ðᾶóéí , ê . ô . ë upon this last here the emphasis visibly falls. That they had believed something He does not dispute, but their faith had been one-sided, and had, therefore, been able to kindle no light in the dark night of their soul. Here also, want of understanding and sluggishness, discouragement of heart and will, stand simply alongside of one another, but so that we have to understand the second as the deepest ground of the first. It was so dark before their eyes for the reason that they had been so slow of heart to the belief of the whole truth. Not so much from the head to the heart, as rather from the heart to the head, does divine truth find its way, and no one can here understand what he has not inwardly felt and experienced.
Luk_24:26. Was it not needful?—The Lord speaks of a necessity that was grounded in this truth—namely, that all these things had been foretold. That which had been a matter of offence to them had been for this very reason, according to a higher order of things, inevitable, and they could not possibly have been so driven hither and thither if they had given such heed as they ought to the prophetic annunciations respecting the suffering Messiah.—And (thus) enter into His glory.—What had seemed to them incompatible with the glory of the Messiah was precisely the appointed way thereto. The Lord does not mean that He is already entered into His glory (Kinkel, a. o.), but speaks as one who has now come so near to His glory as that He sees the suffering already behind Him. (Supply äåῖ , Meyer); åἰóåëèåῖí , designation of the glory as a heavenly state.
Luk_24:27. And beginning, ἀñîÜìåíïò .—Emphatic indication of the consecutive character of His discourse, so that He began with Moses, and afterwards went on to all the prophets, in order to demonstrate to them therefrom what in these related to His person or His work. It is true, “it is much to be wished that we knew what prophecies of Jesus’ death and glory are here meant,” (De Wette), but when the critic continues: “There are not many to be found which admit of application to this,” then above all things the inquiry would be authorized, whether his Hermeneutics stand in full accord with those of the Lord Jesus, and if not, whether the former might not submit to a revision according to the principles of the latter. Whoever consults the manifold expressions of Jesus and the apostles in reference to the prophecies of the Messiah, needs not to grope around here in entire uncertainty, if only he does not forget that our Lord here probably directed the attention of His disciples less to isolated passages of Scripture than to the great whole of the Old Testament in its typical and symbolical character. Truly an hour spent in the school of this Master is better than a thousand elsewhere.
Luk_24:28. He made as though, ðñïóåðïéåῖôï — ἅðáî ëÝãïìåíïí in the New Testament (except in the clause Joh_8:6). On a dissimulation which would make a more or less set defence of our Lord’s sincerity requisite, we have here, of course, no right to think. He could not act otherwise if He would still retain the character hitherto assumed; He will not act otherwise, because He will not only enlighten their understanding, but also make trial of their heart; He would actually have gone farther had they not held Him back with all the might of love. Apparently He now shows Himself ready to say farewell to them with the usual formula of benediction, but already they feel themselves united to Him by such holy bonds that the thought of separation is entirely unendurable. Entreating with the utmost urgency, they invite Him in ( ðáñåâéÜóáíôï , comp. Luk_14:23; Act_16:15), and point Him to the sun hurrying to its setting, in the living feeling that their spiritual light also will set if He should leave their company. They wish to remind Him that He cannot possibly continue His journey in the night (comp. Gen_19:2-3; Jdg_19:9), and desire that He should therefore turn in with them; since probably one of them possessed a dwelling at Emmaus, where a simple supper was awaiting them.
Luk_24:30. He took the bread.—It will scarcely need any intimation that here it is only a common äåῖðíïí , not the Holy Communion that is spoken of, and still less a communio sub una specie, which Romish expositors undertake to prove, e.g., Sepp, iii. p. 656, with an appeal to this passage. On the other hand, we might find a proof here that the êëÜóéòôïῦ ἅñôïõ (Luk_24:35), in the New Testament, is not as a rule the same thing as the Lord’s Supper. The guest simply assumes, on the ground of a tacitly acknowledged superiority, the place of the father of the house, and utters the usual thanksgiving, to which, according to the Jewish rite, three who eat together are expressly obliged. See Berac. f. 45, 1. But whether He has anything peculiar in the manner of breaking the bread and uttering the blessing that reminds them of their association with the Master in earlier days, or whether they now discover in His opened hands the marks of the wounds, or whether He Himself refers them back to a word uttered before His death,—enough: their eyes are now opened. Äéçíïß÷èçóáí , according to the antithesis with Luk_24:16, intimation of a sudden opening of their eyes, effected by the Lord Himself, and for which He has used as a means, Luk_24:35, the breaking of bread. In consequence of this they now recognize Him, who up to this moment had been wholly unknown, so that they are not only fully persuaded of the identity of this person with Jesus of Nazareth, but at the same time also inwardly know Him in His full dignity and greatness.—And He vanished out of their sight, ἄöáíôïò ἐãÝíåôï , ex ipsorum oculis evanuit.—Not in and of itself, perhaps (see Meyer, ad loc.), but in connection with all that which we learn further respecting the bodily nature of the Risen Redeemer, the expression appears undoubtedly to give us to understand a sudden vanishing of the Lord, a becoming invisible in an extraordinary way, not áὐôïῖò , but ἀð ̓ áὐôῶí (Beza), in which, of course, we need not exclude the thought that the Lord used therefor the confusion and joy of the first moment after the discovery. See below, in the Doctrinal and Ethical remarks.
Luk_24:32. Was not our heart burning within us, êáéïìÝíç .—Expression of extraordinary emotion of soul. Psa_39:3; Jer_20:9. If one could have asked the disciples of Emmaus whether they had meant an affectus gaudii, spei, desiderii or amoris, upon which the expositors dispute, they would have failed, perhaps, to give a satisfactory answer. Enough—they will express an indefinable overpowering feeling on the way during the Lord’s instruction (loquebatur nobis, id plus est quam nobiscum, Bengel), and even by that ought to have recognized the Lord, so that to them it is now even incomprehensible that their eyes were not earlier opened. It is a good sign for their inner growth that at this moment it is not the breaking of bread, but the opening of the Scripture which now stands before the eye of their memory.
Luk_24:33. The same hour.—The day has indeed yet further declined than in Luk_24:29, but if it were even already midnight, they must now hastily return to Jerusalem, in order to announce the joyful message. What the women do at the express command of the angel, and Magdalene, at the command of the Lord, this the two disciples carry out at the impulse of their heart. The meal, also, they leave apparently untouched (comp. Joh_4:31-34), and know no higher need than together to make the event known. As commonly, so here also the labor of love is rewarded with new blessings; since they come to give, they receive for their faith an unexpected and longed-for strengthening. Here we have indeed one of the few cases in which it might in good earnest have been questioned, whether it was more blessed to give or to receive.
The Eleven gathered together.—As appears from Joh_20:19, with closed doors, which, however, were soon opened to the brethren who even as late as this, desired admission. Then are they for a greeting received with a jubilant choral: “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon!” “One of the most glorious moments in the Easter history, an antiphony which God has made.” Lange. They answer then, on their side, with the narrative of that which happened to them in the way (Luk_24:35), and how the Lord had been recognized by them in the ( ἐí ), not exactly at the breaking of bread (which would not suit so well to the miraculous representation, Luk_24:31). Thus do they spend an hour of blessed celebration, which, without their knowing it, becomes again the preparation for an evening appearance.
Luk_24:34. Hath appeared unto Simon.—There is no ground for understanding this ὥöèç of a merely transient, momentary seeing, as Stier, ad loc. will have it. Without doubt we must here understand an appearance, which not less than that, e. g., bestowed on the women deserves this name. He was, therefore, the first of all the [male] disciples on whom the privilege was bestowed, according to Chrysostom: ἐí ἀíäñÜóé ôïýôῳ ðñῴôῳ , ôῷ ìÜëéóôá áὐôὸí ðïèïῦíôé ἰäåῖí , or ìἀëéóôá ÷ñÞæïíôé . Unquestionably this appearance was that which had preceded that to the Emmaus disciples, after Peter had already heard the friendly êáὶ ôῷ ÉÉÝôñῳ (Mar_16:7). Chased hither and thither by fear and hope, he had probably wandered around the city in solitude. Perhaps he had just come back from the visit to the grave, which Luke has described, Luk_24:12, (Joh_20:2-10), and is asking himself whether, even if the Master is again in life, there is also hope that he shall see Him; when this supreme privilege becomes his portion. What there took place between him and the Master has remained a holy secret between both, which even his fellow-apostles have not sought to inquire into, but have rather respected. However, even by this, the later appearance by the sea of Tiberias and the reinstatement in his apostolic function did not become superfluous for Peter, and we must, therefore, so far regard the comfort and the refreshment which was given him in this hour as a preliminary, although already a rich and blessed one.
2. The appearances of the Risen One present on the one hand a remarkable coincidence, on the other hand a remarkable diversity. All agree in this, that they fall within the sphere of the senses, beginning or ending in a more or less mysterious manner, and for the purpose of showing that the Lord was really alive, and that He was for His friends ever the same as before His death. They may, therefore, all be named in the fullest sense of the word revelations of His glory, sometimes of His love, sometimes of His wisdom, then again of His knowledge and of His faithfulness; yet, at the same time, each appearance has something which characterizes it above others, even as the colors of the rainbow are different from one another and yet melt into one another. Before Magdalene the Risen One uses no food; she recognized Him at a single word. The instruction respecting the Scriptures which was bestowed upon the Emmaus disciples, Thomas does not also receive. His unbelief sprang from another source, and was revealed in another way than theirs. Only one appearance (Joh_21:1-14) is accompanied by a miracle. In the others the First Fruits from the dead stands Himself as the Miracle of miracles before us. At one time He instructs the erring ones before, at another time after, the hour of meeting again; here His appearance flashes by like a lightning stroke, there it is like the soft, lovely shining of the morning sun. Before Mary we see Him appear especially in His High-priestly, before the Emmaus disciples in His prophetic character, while He reveals Himself in the evening appearance as the King of the kingdom of God, who legitimates and despatches His ambassadors. The form also in which He comes to His disciples is different (Mar_16:12), even so the way in which He persuades them that He is alive. All are prepared for His appearance in different ways, but each one again finds in the meeting an individual necessity satisfied. With the Emmaus disciples He proceeds a way sixty stadia long. Past the women He slowly hovers as an appearance from the higher world. The appearance before Mary and the women bears on the side of the Lord the tenderest, that before the disciples, without and with Thomas, the most composed, that before James, before Peter, at the sea of Tiberias, the most mysterious; that on the mountain in Galilee, that before the five hundred brethren (1Co_15:6) the most sublime, that before the Emmaus disciples the most human, character. No wonder that John comprehends the appearances of the Lord under the general conception of His óçìåῖá (Joh_20:30), and that the history of all these different revelations has been at every age considered as one of the mightiest supports of our faith in the historical reality of the Resurrection.
3. The appearance before the Emmaus disciples bears in the whole narrative an inner stamp of truth which can be better felt than described. It is unreasonable to wish to correct, word by word, the brief notice (Mar_16:12-13), by the detailed account of Luke; but this is evident enough, that both relate the same thing, and as respects the discrepancy between Luk_24:34, and Mar_16:13, one must be utterly out of his place in the psychological sphere if he could not see how in a circle like this in a few moments faith and unbelief might dispute the mastery with one another. If we assume either (Bengel) that they at the beginning (Luke) believed and afterwards (Mark) doubted, or the reverse (Calvin), there will in neither case be anything hard to understand in the representation that the Eleven and those with them at the beginning received the journeyers to Emmaus with believing joy, but yet so long as they had themselves not seen the Master, were agitated by so many difficulties and doubts that the Lord, in a certain sense, might reproach them with their ἀðéóôßá , Mar_16:14. Whoever barely strains words, without trying the spirits, will never understand the deep harmonies of the Easter history. If we take pains to do the latter, we find in the fulness of detail with which Cleopas speaks of his hopes and fears, and the only half-intelligible mention of the third day, in the outspoken condemnation of their chief priests and leaders before an utter stranger, in the word about the burning heart, such a truth, freshness, and naturalness that we can scarcely refrain from writing the apostle’s words, 2Pe_1:16, upon this leaf of the Resurrection history also. The same may be said of the appearance to Peter; there is, alas, wanting to us a more particular account in reference to this entirely unique scene, worthy of the pencil of a Raphael, but some compensation for this lack is offered us by the recollection that the frugality of the Evangelists on this very point, the embellishment of which must have been for the inventor an irresistible temptation, affords a new proof for its faithfulness and credibility. The same inner character is displayed by every appearance in greater or less measure, if closely considered; and so far from the force of this proof admitting of weakening by the oft-repeated objection: Why did not the Lord show Himself to His enemies? (see as far back as Origen, Contra Celsum, ii. Luke 63, and elsewhere) this very thing is a new proof of His holiness, wisdom, and love. His holiness could not do otherwise than account those who had resisted the Light of the world, even to death, unworthy of this honor. His wisdom forbade Him by an outward appearance to constrain them to a faith which at best would have filled them with new earthly expectations, while He besides this foresaw plainly enough that no appearance before Caiaphas, before the chief priests, or before the leaders, would accomplish the desired purpose. Comp. Luk_16:31; Joh_12:10; Mat_28:11-15. Nay, His love reveals itself in this also, that He veils the full glory of the Resurrection from hostile eyes. That the Son of God had not been accepted in His servant’s form might yet be forgiven, but if He had been viewed in the glory of His new life, and even yet stubbornly rejected, this would have admitted no other retribution than an irrevocable judgment. Our Lord would thus, if He had appeared without success before His enemies, have made the preaching of the Gospel among them entirely impossible, for how could He have yet sent His ambassadors without prejudice to His dignity, with the hope of any fruit, to those who, after mature consideration, had again despised Him and thrust Him from them? Would not rather an appearance to them have been in direct conflict with the peculiar nature and the special purpose of His new life? Would the testimony of the Sanhedrim have really been then more likely to have been acceptable to any one than that of His disciples, whose persevering unbelief in the fact of His Resurrection was only overcome after much difficulty, and therefore, at all events, forbids us to consider them in this point as superstitious? If we take all this together, there is indeed not a single ground why in the Church of the Lord the jubilant tone of “The Lord is risen indeed,” should resound in the least more weakly than on the first Easter evening.
4. The appearance before the Emmaus disciples is one of the strongest proofs of the high value which the Lord places upon the prophetic Scriptures, and upon the predictions of His suffering and of His glory. Whoever denies either the existence or the importance of these Vaticinia, finds himself not only in decided conflict with the believing church of all centuries, but also with the Lord Himself.
5. The whole conversation of our Lord with these disciples has a strong symbolical character, which Christian Ascetæ and Homiletes have ever brought to light with visible predilection. (See below.)
6. “When Jesus in temptation holds our eyes, so that the soul neither can nor may recognize, that is good, for soon will joy, light, and comfort follow; but when the sinner holds his own eyes, and will not recognize Jesus, that is evil, for he incurs danger of eternal blindness and darkness.” (Starke.)
Starke:—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—When one speaks of Jesus and remembers His death, yea, His Resurrection, then does he live.—Canstein:—Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.—In sadness and temptation Christ appears not to be present, but He is there, only we know Him not.—With melancholy people we must always go to the bottom if we will heal and make them sound.—Oh! that Christ among so many Christians were not a stranger! Joh_1:26.—An intimate conversation of teachers and hearers remains not without blessing.—If great people will not have evil said of them, neither must they do evil.—Brentius:—Faith and unbelief have, especially in the hour of temptation, a hard battle.—The soul will have Jesus Himself.—Comfort belongs not to the erring until they have come to thorough knowledge of their faults.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Nothing is harder than faith.—The grounds of our faith are the prophetic Scriptures, 2Pe_1:19.—Hedinger:—The sun is bright, indeed, but not to a blind man.—Christ is the best Expositor of the Holy Scriptures.—Let the course of this life be burdensome as it will, we come yet at last to the goal.—Langii Opera:—O how rare are examples of those who receive a rebuke so that they for that love a teacher better.—Prayer is a firm cord which holds the Almighty, who also is glad to be held.—Opened eyes of the understanding distinguish spiritual men from natural.—Where Jesus hides Himself, there it is time to rise and neither to hope for rest nor joy till we have found Him again.—Even unbelievers may yet become believers,—despise not that which is weak.—Every Christian for whom God has done great things is bound to relate the same.—Luther:—Only see how God with special providence guides His people.
Heubner:—Love to the Risen One is a true bond of friendship.—Jesus is often not among us because we speak not of Him.—Oft is God long hidden to us and His ways a riddle.—Jesus knows very well what oppresses thee.—Jesus wins from His disciples the confession of their faith.—Who only lives in earthly hopes, cheats himself.—The hearts of men hope where there is nothing at all to be hoped for, and despond where hope shows itself near by.—The glory of the Risen One is the prize of His suffering.—The saints are never more zealous, never keep faster hold of God, than when they fear to lose Him.—Christ the best comfort in the evening of life, better than Cicero de Senectute.—The more unbelief spreads itself abroad, the more should we pray that the Lord may abide with us.—Every enjoyment is sanctified through Christ.—At last there comes after trials and gloom the blessed hour of revelation.—There comes a time when Jesus never vanishes again.—Jesus’ words inflame the heart; the words of Christless men are cold and powerless.—The journey of the disciples to Emmaus an image of our journey of life.—The new life of the disciples of Jesus after His Resurrection as a presage of the future blessed life.—The progress from weak to strong faith.
On the Pericope.—Arndt:—The twofold Easter celebration: 1. Of those whose eyes are holden; 2. of those whose eyes are opened.—Rudelbach:—The soul-winning art of Jesus.—Chr. Palmer:—By what do we know the nature of the living Saviour, although we do not see Him?—Brastberger:—The blessed condition of a soul that knows and believes: The Lord Jesus is risen indeed.—Fresenius:—True Christians as spiritual pilgrims who are sometimes weak, sometimes become strong.—Ahlfeld:—The pilgrims of Easter evening.—Palmer:—The leadings of Providence which the Risen Saviour causes His disciples to experience.—Souchon:—Jesus scares away sadness.—Stier:—When must and oughtest thou to believe that the Risen Saviour is peculiarly near to thee?—Dr. W. Hoffmann (Luk_24:26):—The Divine Must.—Rieger:—The Risen Saviour a companion in journeying who certainly is glad to company with us, and in what way He companies with us.—Dietz:—The gradual rising of the Easter light in the soul of man: 1. How mournful life is without Easter light; 2. What bars the way to our hearts against the Easter light; 3. how in the soul of man the Easter begins to dawn; 4. how the full Easter light rises in his soul.—Bobe:—The intercourse of the Risen One with the disciples of Emmaus as an intimation where we are to seek and find the Lord.—Burk:—The wished-for abiding of the Lord with His people.—The holy employment of the living Jesus.—Von Harless:—The way to faith on the Risen One.—Rautenberg:—Easter in our way through the world; it here becomes Easter when the Risen One: 1. Shows Himself to us; 2. instructs us; 3. gives us strength to return home.—Shall we also constrain the Risen One to abide with us?
Footnotes:
[Luk_24:17.—Cod. Sin. has here a singular variation; instead of ἐóôå óêõèñùðïß , it has åóôáèçóáí óêõèñùðïé . If this be genuine, it would depict the displeased silence in which the disciples stood for a moment on being interrupted, as they supposed, by an unsympathizing stranger, broken at last by the reply of Cleopas.—C. C. S.]
[Luk_24:21.—Expressed by the ἡìåéò ἠëðßòïìåí instead of the simple ἠëðßæïìåí .—C. C. S.]
[Luk_24:21.—That is, as Bleek explains it, “notwithstanding these hopes which His prophetic works and words justified, it is already the third day after His crucifixion.”—C. C. S.]
Luk_24:21.— Êáß after ἀëëÜ ãå is with good reason received into the text by Lachmann and Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford,] according to B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] L.
[Luk_24:22.—The ἀëëÜ in Luk_24:21 and this in Luk_24:22 appear to indicate how the mind of the speaker was repelled from one conjecture to another, finding none tenable—C. C. S.]
[Luk_24:26.—“ Ðáèåῖí êáὶ åἰòåë .= ðáèüíôá åἰóåë . It was not the entering into His glory, but the suffering, about which they wanted persuading.” Alford.—C. C. S.]
[Luk_24:27.— Áὐôïῦ , not áὑôïῦ .—C. C. S.]
Luk_24:29.—́́ Çäç . Reading of B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., Cursives, Vulgate, Coptic, Slavonic, &c. Bracketed by Lachmann. [Omitted by Tischendorf; accepted by Meyer, Tregelles, Alford.—C. C. S.]
[Luk_24:32.—The êáé of the Recepta appears to have been interpolated to connect the clauses. B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] L., 33, Cant., Origen do not have it. See Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles, Alford.]