Luke 24:13-35

The Appearance on the Way to Emmaus. This exquisite story is told by Lk. only. The village is perhaps the Ammaus of Josephus, the modern Kolonije, five miles W. from Jerusalem. Luke 24:19 f. describes Jesus as a prophet who His friends hoped (till the hope was shattered by His death) might prove to be the Messiah. They are shown that Scripture foretold Messiah's death; it was necessary to His glory. That glory was apparently attained in the moment of the death (cf. Luke 23:42 f.). On arriving at Emmaus, Jesus, invited to be a guest, becomes the host, and then mysteriously disappears. The reading of Codex Bezæ in Luke 24:34, where the construction of the Gr. is awkward, makes the two disciples the speakers, and suggests that the unnamed one was Peter. It is remarkable that an appearance to Peter comes first in Paul's list in 1 Corinthians 15:5 ff. The story thus becomes Lk.'s equivalent for John 21, other parts of which he has used in Luke 5. But if this line of argument is sound, we should have expected hath appeared to us two in Luke 24:34. Loisy thinks the story reflects the early connexion between the resurrection faith and the Eucharistic breaking of bread.

Luke 24:18. Art thou a lone stranger in Jerusalem not to know? etc. (Moffatt); Art thou the only pilgrim in Jerusalem who does not know? etc. (Montefiore).

Luke 24:27. Moses and the prophets: a summary phrase (fuller in Luke 24:44) for OT.