Luke 24 verses 15 – 16 As they talked and discussed these things with each other Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognising him.
In his kindness the Lord joined these two disconsolate disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Unrecognized he listened to their tale of dashed hopes. They went over all the details of the events for the past few days, even to the point of the women’s vision of angels at the tomb and the apostles subsequent visit, ending with the sad words, “they did not see him’ (verse 24)
Even though they mentioned that this was “the third day since all this look place” (verse 24), they still did not think that a resurrection had taken place, nor was such an event even a possibility to them. But why not?
Well, we should remember that for ordinary members of the Jewish public, the priests and religious leaders still carried enormous influence and their dismissal of Jesus Christ was a blow to the morale of the disciples. Furthermore, we should remember that the fact of the death and resurrection did not form part of what they had always considered the Messiah was going to do. They were still struck with the idea that the Messiah was going to be a soldier/warrior type of Messiah. But instead Jesus allowed himself to be captured, tried and executed. Everything about Jesus at this moment spoke of defeat. It was so contrary to what they expected.
So the first thing the risen Lord had to do was to teach them that their understanding of the Old Testament idea of the Messiah was not true. It is true they believed the prophets, but they did not seem to believe all that the prophets taught. So in verses 25 – 27 Jesus takes them on a tour through the Old Testament to show them that the death and resurrection of the Messiah was exactly what the prophets were teaching.
Those disciples were just like us. When we read the bible today, we often do so selectively and often do not see things that are very important for our Christian life, until someone points it out to us.
What a bible study this must have been for these two disillusioned disciples. Imagine having Jesus explain the typology of the Passover and Jeremiah’s prophecy of the new covenant. It’s no wonder they wanted him to stay with them that night. Something was coming alive in them. They did not realize they were in for another shock.