He
said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. They came near to the village, where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.
Luke 24:25-28
Luke 24 [19.] He said to them, “What things?”
They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb; and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”
Luke 24 [25.] He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. They came near to the village, where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.
Luke 24 [29.] They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.”
He went in to stay with them. When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight. They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?” They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
Meaning:
On the afternoon of the first Easter, two disciples were walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. The risen Jesus joined them, but they did not recognise him (Luke 24:13-18). Sadly they told him how Jesus had been crucified and confessed, “But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel,” adding that the women had found the tomb empty (Luke 24:20-24). Mark mentions this appearance briefly (Mark 16:12). Now the stranger answers them, and their broken hope begins to be rebuilt from the Scriptures.
- “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe”
Jesus’ words sound sharp, but they are the words of a teacher who loves his students. They had heard the reports of the empty tomb and the angels. The problem was that their hearts were slow to trust what God had already said through the prophets. They believed the parts of Scripture about a glorious, conquering Messiah, but not “all that the prophets have spoken,” including the passages about his suffering. Their picture of the Messiah had no room for a cross.
- “Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”
This is the heart of the passage. The suffering of the Messiah was not a defeat that ruined God’s plan; it was the plan. Jesus had told his disciples repeatedly that “The Son of Man must suffer many things” and be raised on the third day (Luke 9:22; compare Luke 18:31). The way to glory went through the cross. Peter wrote that the prophets had spoken of “the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them” (1 Peter 1:11).
- “Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets”
Starting with the books of Moses and moving through the prophets, he showed them what “all the Scriptures” said about himself. Luke does not list the passages, but the New Testament points to many. Moses promised, “Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me” (Deuteronomy 18:15). The psalms foretold the cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) and the hope, “neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). Isaiah wrote of the Servant who “was pierced for our transgressions” and “by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Later that evening Jesus would teach the same truth to all the disciples (Luke 24:44; Luke 24:45), and the early church preached in exactly this way (Acts 8:35; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
- “he acted like he would go further”
As they reached Emmaus, the stranger made as if to continue his journey. Jesus does not force himself on anyone. He gives the two travellers the choice to invite him in. Their response, urging him to stay, leads to the moment when their eyes are opened (Luke 24:29-35).
The Significance of Luke 24:25-28
- Reading all of Scripture
Jesus faulted the disciples for believing only part of what the prophets said. Believers today are called to read the whole Bible, letting its difficult and painful parts shape their understanding of God’s ways as much as its promises of glory.
- Christ at the centre of the Bible
Jesus taught that the Scriptures are about him. Reading the Old Testament with Christ in view opens its meaning and shows the unity of God’s plan from Moses to the Gospel.
- Hope rebuilt through the Word
The two disciples were sad and confused, yet Jesus did not first show them a miracle; he opened the Scriptures. In times of disappointment, God’s Word is still the place where hope is renewed.
Cross-References:
Luke 24:44: "all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled." The same teaching to the eleven.
Isaiah 53:5: "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities." The suffering Servant.
1 Peter 1:11: "the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them." What the prophets foresaw.
Acts 26:23: "how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light" Paul’s preaching from Moses and the prophets.
Conclusion: On the road to Emmaus the risen Jesus gently rebuked two disciples for being slow to believe all that the prophets had spoken. He showed them that the Messiah had to suffer before entering his glory, and explained from Moses and all the prophets what the Scriptures said about himself. Then he waited to be invited in. The passage teaches that the cross was God’s plan, that Christ is the key to the Scriptures, and that hope is renewed through God’s Word.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible