LUKE 24:32 (PART 2) COMMENTARIES

 

Luke 24:32 (Part 2) Commentaries

In the first part in this series, I went over the sort of information one can glean from a passage in the Bible without much outside help. But there is much more insight one can gain regarding the whole Emmaus episode from commentaries written by those who have studied the Bible in more depth. Although you can get free access on the Internet to some older commentaries, recent sources tend to have much more reliable information at their disposal. One proviso, however, is that you must still take everything you read under careful advisement, taking into account, whenever possible, the theological background and commitment of the commentator. The following quotations are given in somewhat random order.

Porter says, “The Emmaus discourse is one of the most important in the NT, for in it our Lord taught how His life and mission, His death and resurrection had to be viewed in the context of God's self-revelation in the OT scriptures. It thus forms the vital link between the OT promises and apostolic exposition of the fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth.”

Regarding the named follower from Emmaus, Tasker's opinoin is that “in the early Latin and Syriac versions the Cleopas of Lk. xxiv. 18, was confused with the Clopas of Jn. xix. 25, but it is probable that they were two different people with two distinct names...”

“The resurrection story is marked by powerful emotions. These emotions run a notable range – disbelief, joy, perplexity, amazement, fear – but they all share the intensity that is one of the leading qualities of the story (Mt 28:8; Mk 16:5, 8, 11-12; Lk 24:3, 5, 11, 32).” (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery)

R.E. Brown: “It is typically Lucan that the first account of an appearance should occur on a journey; and just as on the long journey to Jerusalem so also in 24:47 Jesus gives important revelation to disciples: He appeals to the whole of Scripture in order to explain what he has done as Messiah. In the Book of Acts the apostolic preachers will do this, and Luke wants to root their use of Scriptures in revelation given by Jesus. Yet even though the disciples' hearts glowed when Jesus opened to them, they recognized him only when he broke bread. This prepares for the (eucharistic) breaking of the bread in the Christian community described in Acts...”

K.L. Anderson feels that the ending of the parable in Luke 16:19-31 “almost certainly is an oblique reference to Jesus' resurrection from the dead, which one cannot comprehend apart from the divine plan of salvation foretold in the Scriptures (Lk 24:25-27, 32, 44-46).”

“The concept of the heart (kardia) in the Gospels carries over from the OT term (leb, lebab), which refers to 'all aspects of a person: vital, emotive, noetic [relating to the mind or intellect], and voluntative' (Freiberg). Positively, the heart is the place of...spiritual awakening, upon encountering the risen Christ (Lk 24:32).” (Meadors)

Childs: “The Gospel accounts of the resurrection testify to a variety of different experiences of the risen Christ by means of a variety of literary forms...Thus, Luke's witness to the risen Christ speaks of Jesus who was (and is) known in the eucharist, in the 'breaking of bread' (24.35).”

Drury says, “In the Emmaus story the happiness of the present moment of recognition floods back into the unhappy past by means of interpretation, changing it utterly. Good exegesis plucks from the mind a rooted sorrow and sets the heart aglow (v. 32). Present happiness carries into the next scene with Jesus himself among the apostles at last. He asks for food and eats before them. The meal at Emmaus, fot all its wonder, was incomplete. He gave them bread but vanished before eating. Now he eats: fish, recalling the great catch at 5:1-11; and honey, the food of the promised land toward which the original exodus travelled.  All is complete.”