Luke 24:16-20
Luke 24:16 (KJB)
But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
At this point they did not recognize Jesus because their spiritual eyes were not
opened yet. The word in the Greek text for “were holden” carries with it the
meaning of “were restrained.” Now that word is in the passive voice which means
that their spiritual eyes were intentionally kept closed by the Lord and not the
ignorance of the disciples. At this time He did not want them to recognize Him.
Luke 24:17 (KJB)
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one
to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
Then Jesus begins to question them as to what type of communications or words
that they are speaking to one another as they walk and making their countenance
so downcast? Jesus is desiring to gain the information from them which at this
point would be very discouraging but soon it would turn into joy. Since their
eyes were not opened to Jesus yet, they would also not have recognized His
physical appearance. They seemed to be in a mood of despair.
Luke 24:18 (KJB)
And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou
only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days?
Jesus had asked them to tell Him what they were discussing so Cleopas answers
Jesus with a question. If you were in Jerusalem, how could you not know what had
happened over the past three days? It was like Cleopas was asking Jesus, are you
the only man in Jerusalem who does not know what happened? The reality was that
Jesus was the only one who really knew the significance of what happened. Soon
all the disciples of Jesus would know but right now, Jesus was the only one who
knew.
Luke 24:19 (KJB)
And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the
people:
Jesus continued to lead the disciples toward an understanding of what happened
by asking them “what things?” Jesus wanted to hear from their own lips how they
understood what happened so they then went on to explain. Here they had called
Jesus a prophet whose ministry was mighty in deed and word and His ministry was
before God and all the people had been witnesses of His ministry. Now one must
go beyond the understanding of a prophet because many different religions and
cults see Jesus as only a prophet. A prophet cannot forgive sins as Jesus did.
This is well seen in the section of John 4 concerning the Samaritan woman who
calls Jesus, “sir” and then refers to Him as a “prophet” and finally she goes
back to her village and tells people that she has found the Christ or the
Messiah. He healed the sick, cast out devils, made the lame to walk, gave sight
to the blind, and raised three people from the dead. This would go beyond the
definition of a prophet.
Luke 24:20 (KJB)
And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death,
and have crucified him.
Then they included in their response to Jesus how it was the chief priests and
rulers who delivered Him up to be condemned and then put to death on a Roman
cross. This means that the people knew it was their own leaders who were the
perpetrators of this crime and this probably meant that many would not trust
them again. Even before this, the people probably knew what scoundrels these
leaders were but could not say anything or else they would be excommunicated
from the temple.