When Jesus visited two disciples walking on the road to
Emmaus, they were talking of the events of Jesus’s crucifixion and the news of
the resurrection and were sad. The
main cause of their sadness seems to have been a sense of betrayal—they had
trusted Jesus to be the one who would redeem Israel militarily, but contrary to
their expectations He had been crucified.
They seemed to not know now where to look for redemption, and the
stories of Christ’s resurrection only confused them.
When Jesus meets them, He asks them about their concerns and
he listens to them, and when they’ve gotten it all out in the open, His answer
is instructive: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26) I suspect that the term “fools” was not just an
epithet meaning “unwise,” but also one expressing they were in a spiritual
state bordering on apostasy. For
them to forsake Christ because He had not militarily redeemed Israel would be
apostasy.
Quick sidenote: What do you suppose was
Christ’s tone and manner as he said this to them? Was he loud and harsh?
Or was he gentle? What
would have better conveyed his concern for them?
Anyway, thinking about these things, it
seems to me that Jesus’s visit was meant to pull back into the faith two
disciples who were wandering because the prophesied events had not gone
according to their expectations.
Through the rest of His visit with them, He shored up their knowledge
through the scriptures, and when they finally recognized Him through spiritual
manifestations, they had gained the foundational knowledge upon which to base
their testimony. Then, His actual
presence, when they recognized Him, had much more power.
I think this has a good lesson for
us. We or others around us may
struggle with testimony when prophesied events happen differently than
expected. Christ (and by extension
Heavenly Father) still cares for these and desires they obtain personal witness
as well. The witness needs to be
built upon a better understanding of the scriptures, spiritual witness, and
also personal experience.
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