Study Notes on Luke 24:13-32

I hope you enjoy my notes on this passage. I always learn more than I am able to share. Sometimes, the words and meaning surprise me; other times, I’m shaken by the enormous truth God’s powerful Word contains.

v. 13 – they “homilied” together – they conversed in ways that brought mutual learning. They talked about Jesus.

v. 15 – “where two or three are gathered” discussing, praying, learning, open to the Spirit’s touch, there Jesus makes His presence known. It was Jesus, not a ghost, not “in the spirit” or a vision.

v. 16 – They didn’t recognize him – double negative – not knowing, not him.

v. 17 – Jesus asked them “what are you discussing” as in tossing back and forth like a ball between you. It was a vibrant discussion of questions and answers.

v. 18 – Do you live alone, walk alone?

vv. 19-21 They called Jesus a man, a miracle-worker, a prophet, a teacher, and a military messiah, and dead and buried. And on top of all this, our lives have been changed, we long for more, we can’t go back to what life without Jesus in it was like, on top of the grief, on top of the rumors. We are saddened and need hope. Hope is the resurrection.

v. 22 “our group of followers” indicates that cells of Jesus-followers were scattered around the city.

vv. 22-24 – confirmation of the women’s story, the angel’s appearance, and the men who ran to the tomb to find it true – add that to the fact that Jesus began instructing them about this essential goal of his mission. Still… they wanted concrete proof. The women’s story didn’t fit their grid, it didn’t make sense inside the context of what they expected. Are you not using your brains? Are you content not connecting the dots, not understanding. Slow to move from what you experienced to what has come about?

vv. 25-27 – Jesus began at the beginning and pointed them to the cross and the resurrection – and the reason it had to be. V. 26 – was it not necessary that Jesus would suffer these things? Didn’t the prophets lead to this solution? And Jesus “exegeted” the whole of the OT for them and pointed them to the Kingdom of God. The word is what we get “hermeneutics” from – the faithful interpretation. This goes beyond the “homiletics” dialog the two were having before and interjects fresh understanding from the Scripture. Both are important.

vv. 28-31 – How important the act of communion was that this opened their eyes. Some might say, “Look, Jesus was deceiving them” – he “played like” he was going on. He gave them an excuse to invite them in within the confines of the hospitality code. It’s like eating the last piece of pie after a meal. You have to “play like” you don’t want it before digging in. They sat down. They invited him into the dialog. That’s a recipe for spiritual revival. Rev 3:20

vv. 32-34 – Back to Jerusalem. How many confirming physical signs from the Spirit of God did they experience? A burning longing inside, a hunger for truth, an identity with the man they walked with, an openness to see Jesus, eyes wide open. They said it twice: Jesus opened their eyes to Himself and to the truth in Scripture. They go together.