After the disciples finished their show of wisdom, and testified of the end of their hope, Jesus began his hard lesson to them. He did not speak to them gently with merciful words, but scolded them with divine anger, for they were foolish as all men. One may hold high diplomas, and impressive titles but remains ignorant and foolish as long as he does not know Christ as Lord for he does not know the Son of God and his redemption.
This foolishness is not due to the lack of intellectual activity in the brain, but is a result of the slowness of heart to believe the word of the gospel. Today, we are all inclined to unbelief. We believe in natural sciences and Engineers’ technology more than we trust the words of the prophet Isaiah, and the indications of John the Baptist. In the issues of climate, wars, and economics we rely on the radios and newspapers’ reports more than we depend on our prayer and our reading in the Bible.
Jesus commanded the men to believe in all the sayings of the prophets, as the child believes the sayings of his mother. They believed and understood much of, but not all, the Bible, and were sure of God’s oneness, but could not digest the thought that God had a son. They were ascertained of God’s mightiness and of Christ’s coming authority, but could not reason his crucifixion. Consequently they did not understand the meaning of the word "must" in Jesus’ sufferings as the Lamb of God to redeem the world, nor did they know the depth of the wickedness of the human heart. They did not sense their need of salvation, and the fact that the only way to God was through the cross. There is no salvation in any one else but him who was crucified. The cross is the door to the glory of God. Christ was born to die for us, and open to us the door leading to his Father. Without our reconciliation with God in Christ we have no communion with the Holy One, as the apostle Paul said: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Abraham’s descendants could not grasp, with their inactive faith, that the Holy One needed a son, as a Lamb, and a Mediator, to redeem the world. Christ toiled along the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus in order to compound all the promises of the Torah, the Psalms, and the Prophets concerning his sonship and cross to the dull Jews that they might grasp his divinity in his humanity.
Would that we were participants in Bible study at the hands of Jesus Christ. God himself explained his word to men. So pray to Christ that he may clarify to you the meanings of his sufferings, death, and resurrection. There the Holy Spirit dwells in the heart and enlightens the thoughts of the mind, for Christ personally stands by us, inspires us with the divine truth, and guides us to his truthful words. Will you ask him about his revealed word, or will you continue in your natural human foolishness?
When they arrived at their simple house in the village of Emmaus, Jesus tested his hearers to see if they wished to penetrate more deeply into his word, or became tired of hearing him, and satisfied themselves with their knowledge. Were their heads filled with the sermon over the two hours they spent with the Teacher Jesus, or were their hearts still hungry for the word of life? So Jesus acted as if he were going farther.
The disciples passed the divine exam with distinction. They insisted on Jesus to spend the night with them, and taught us the prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit which is competent and useful for the last days in our unjust world: "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." Is this petition your prayer too? Do you constrain Jesus to abide in you day and night, and do not fall at any time from his fellowship? The disciples did not allow Jesus to continue on his way, but objected to his walking until he went in to stay with them joyfully and contentedly.
Blessed are the house and the city in which this King comes. God comes to men, and is not ashamed to live in our torn down houses. Your houses will become God’s house if you pressingly invite him to abide with you that you may hear his word.
When Jesus sat down to eat with his followers, the Lord did not wait until the master of the house blessed the bread, but took bread himself, the same as he did when he filled the five thousand, also in the beginning of the last Lord’s Supper, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the bread as a token of our unity with him, and gave the loaves to the disciples, as God who gives his good gifts to his creatures in his love which passes knowledge.
Immediately scales fell from their eyes, and they saw him to be Jesus. They tried to touch him and talk to him, but he vanished out of their sight. They had known him certainly when he undertook the office of the master of the house, which he performed so like himself, and like what he used to do among his disciples. It was he. He was present and did not leave them even though they could not see him any longer.