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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Luke 24:17 - 24:24
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The conversation:
v. 17. And He said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk, and are sad?
v. 18. And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto Him, Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
v. 19. And He said unto them, What things? And they said unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
v. 20. and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have crucified Him.
v. 21. But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel; and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
v. 22. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher;
v. 23. and when they found not His body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that He was alive.
v. 24. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even so as the women had said; but Him they saw not.
The two disciples saw in Jesus only a companion by the way, and His entire manner tended to confirm this idea. He inquired of them, after the manner of a casual acquaintance, as to the matters concerning which they were exchanging ideas as they were walking along, about which they were so excited. What He already knows He wishes to hear from their own mouths, and His tone is one of genuine, sympathetic interest. The two men were deeply touched by the stranger's kindly interest. They stood still to face the newcomer, and their faces registered the deep grief which was filling their hearts. As they thereupon resumed their journey, with Jesus in their company, one of the two, whose name was Cleopas, took it upon himself to explain to the stranger the questions which were agitating their minds. His first words express his great surprise that here was a pilgrim, probably the only one in that class, that did not know what had happened in Jerusalem during the last days. And when Jesus, to draw them out still further, interjected a surprised "What things?" both of the men eagerly explained to Him the cause of all their anxious conversation. The entire speech is true to life, as if people speaking under the stress of great excitement. They refer to important points, but do not explain them; they mix up their own hopes and fears into the narration; and the entire presentation savored of the confusion which was then prevailing in both their hearts. The facts concerning Jesus of Nazareth were making them feel so sad. For that Man had become in their midst a Prophet mighty in both word and deed, irresistibly eloquent in His preaching and incontrovertible in His miracles. Both before God and before all the people this testimony must stand. This Man the high priests and the rulers of the people had delivered to the sentence of a shameful death on the cross. He was dead; so much was certain. And here the dam of restraint almost gave way. They, the disciples, with the apostles in the lead, had cherished the fond hope, the eager expectation, that He would be the one to bring salvation to Israel, that He would deliver His people, the children of Israel, from the bondage of the Romans, and establish a temporal kingdom in Jerusalem. But now, in addition to all their shattered hopes, there is the further hard fact that this is the third day since His death. And there was another disquieting fact. Certain women from the circle of the disciples had greatly disturbed them all, had filled them with anxiety and fear, for they had been at His tomb at the break of day, and, not finding His body, they had come to the city with the news that they had seen a vision of angels, who told them that Jesus was living. Several men out of their midst had then gone out to verify the news, if possible, and they had found things just as the women had said; but Him, their Lord, they had not found. It was a sad tale of woe which the two men, with Cleopas taking the lead in the conversation, poured out into the sympathetic ears of the Savior. It showed how pitifully weak their faith still was in many respects, that their minds were even now filled with the Jewish dreams of an earthly Messiah, and that the many intimate talks, the long discourses of Jesus, had not had the proper effect. And the experience of these two disciples is repeated over and over again in our days. We Christians indeed believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. But this our faith and hope is often subject to vacillations and uncertainties. Hours of weakness, of trouble and tribulation will come, when all the things which we have learned from Scripture seem no more than a pious dream. Then it seems to us as though Jesus were dead, as though we had lost Him and His salvation out of our hearts.