Context No. 3595 of 4322 · Luke

Luke 24:18-24: in context

18One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?” 19He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; 20and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb; 23and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24Some of us went to the tomb and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”

Two disciples walk to Emmaus, downcast, and tell the stranger who joins them, not knowing it is Jesus himself, about the crucifixion. And they voice their crushed hope: we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. We had hoped. It is one of the saddest phrases in Scripture, the sound of a hope that seems to have died.

They knew the facts, Jesus had died, the tomb was found empty, the women reported a vision of angels, and yet they walked along in despair, unable to put it together. The very One they mourned as lost was walking beside them, and they did not recognize him. There is comfort here for our own dark moments. Sometimes, in our disappointment and grief, Christ is nearer than we know, walking with us even when we cannot see him, and our hope is not dead at all but about to be gloriously revived. What looked to them like the end of every hope was, in fact, the dawn of resurrection.

In my seasons of "we had hoped" and crushed expectation, can I trust that Christ may be nearer than I know, walking with me even when I do not recognize him?

Sources

Luke 24:21: "But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel... it is now the third day since these things happened."
Luke 24:23: "When they didn't find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive."
Luke 24:15-16: "Jesus himself came near, and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him."