[Salvation]

April 5, 2005

Emmaus

Luke says Emmaus was a village about seven miles from Jerusalem, but he doesn’t say in which direction. There is no known village called “Emmaus” at the time of Jesus and still called that today. That leaves the door open for speculation. There are three main contenders:

(1) At the time of Jesus there was a village called Ammaous. Its name has changed several times since then. But Ammaous is about 20 miles from Jerusalem – hardly possible for two disciples to travel that far on foot and then come back the same day.

(2) Another village called Ammaous at the time of Jesus is 3.5 miles from Jerusalem. That’s only half the distance Luke describes, unless he was giving the figure for their round-trip. In the course of history, different names were given to this site. It was destroyed in the 1948 war.

(3) Since the 12th century (the time of the Crusaders), the town known today as el-Qubeibeh has been identified as Luke’s Emmaus. It lies almost exactly seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. But the existence of this site at the time of Christ cannot be verified.

[Salvation]

Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

Luke 24:15-16

This is the first time in Luke’s account that Jesus is seen alive after his death.

These are not two strangers he meets. These are two disciples, but they don’t recognize him.

Everybody knew who Lazarus was when he came out of the tomb. Yet few seem to know who Jesus is. Why?

Because Jesus didn’t go into the tomb dead and then simply come back out alive again, like Lazarus.

Jesus went through death to the other side, and was wondrously transformed, and it is from there that he appears. It wasn’t as though he came out of the tomb that morning, walked around a bit and decided to go over and walk with these two disciples. He went to God in a new form of human life, and is with God, and also with us.

These disciples can no longer have him the way he was. The good news is that all of us can have him the way he is: Alive, present always, present everywhere.

Present here. Now. For me.

Spend some quiet time with the Risen Lord.