Good News Of Great Joy: Lessons From The Gospel Of LukeSample

"New Years Day: On the Gospel Road"

If I could travel back in time to witness any event in biblical history, I would choose to travel the gospel road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, walking with two disciples on an Easter afternoon and listening to Jesus explain how everything in the whole Bible is all about him. This amazing story is told only in the Gospel of Luke, and it took place towards the end of Resurrection Sunday. 

Many people have wondered who these two disciples were. We know from verse 18 that one of them was named Cleopas. If this is the same man as the Clopas mentioned in John 19:25, then his wife was named Mary, and she may well have been his unnamed companion on this journey. But whether they were husband and wife or simply two close friends, they were involved in an animated discussion about all that had recently happened, from the triumphal entry to the empty tomb. 

As they made their slow, sorrowful way to Emmaus, a stranger overtook them on the road. Cleopas and his companion did not recognize the stranger. This is very mysterious. If they knew Jesus well enough to love him, they must have known what he looked like. Yet they did not or could not—a common occurrence in the resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ. What prevented their recognition? Maybe it was their unbelief, or perhaps they were prevented from seeing Jesus by a direct act of God. 

The two companions were amazed that the stranger who overtook them apparently had heard nothing about the cross and the empty tomb. Didn’t this man know what strange things had happened in Jerusalem? 

Yet instead of being the only person who did not know what was happening, Jesus was the only person who did! Rather than acting like a know-it-all, he took the time to help these disciples see their salvation. “‘What things?’” he asked in verse 19, inviting them to tell him what they understood. This is good evangelism: asking people questions that help clarify where they are in relationship to Jesus. 

Jesus will show you and me the same kindness. He will overtake us along life’s road, falling in stride with our sorrow and confusion. Then he will ask what we know about him, hoping that we will listen to the Good News of Great Joy and see him as our Savior.