Recognising the Risen Lord Through Scriptures : The Apostle Paul as an Ideal Match for the Two Disciples on the Way to Emmaus in Luke 24:13–35

Abstract

In the concluding chapter of his gospel, Luke culminates the “Journey to Jerusalem” with Jesus accompanying his followers on a journey not defined by geographical or chronological elements, but rather one immersed in discipleship. In the sequel to that journey to Jerusalem, the one to Emmaus, Jesus accompanies two disciples: Cleopas and an intentionally undisclosed follower (see 24:13, 18). The end of this journey, emblematic of faith in the suffering, crucified and risen Lord reaches its zenith in the two disciples recognising Jesus in the breaking of the bread. The moment Jesus disappears from their sight (24:31) elicits a reaction demonstrating the potentiality of discerning the Risen Lord even in the “opening of the Scriptures” (24:32). This study endeavours to analyse the recognition of Jesus the Lord in the specific mystery of his death and resurrection through the opening of Scriptures as exemplified by the Apostle to the Gentiles. In this vein, Paul emerges as a speculative yet paradigmatic correlate to the unnamed second disciple. Similar to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Paul too travelled the journey of recognising the Risen Lord, transitioning from a zealous persecutor of the adherents of Jesus of Nazareth and his message (see Acts 9:1–4; 22:7; 1 Cor 15:9), which had a decisive and definitive turn in the Christophany on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9; 22; 26), to an apostle in complete acknowledgement of Jesus as “Lord” (see Acts 9:5; Phil 2:11; Rom 10:12), and even to a believer “who has been crucified with Christ” (see Gal 2:19). Analogously to the two disciples, Paul too went through the same developmental milestones as the two disciples, with Jesus, as it were, walking alongside him, elucidating the Scriptures—from perceiving Jesus as “the accursed crucified criminal” (see Deut 21:22–23) to affirming “Jesus is alive” (1 Cor 15:17–28) and proclaiming that “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’” (Kyrios Iēsous Christòs)” (Phil 2:11). This trajectory renders conceivable for all adherents to Jesus of all times the possibility to decipher the scriptural depictions of the Lord articulated by Moses, the Prophets, and the Scriptures (Luke 24:27, 44).