Jesus was pretending and testing

JESUS WAS PRETENDINGAND TESTING
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 24:28 28As they approachedthe villageto which
they were going, Jesus continuedon as if he were
going farther.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Detaining Christ
Alexander Maclaren
Luke 24:28
And they drew near to the village, where they went: and he made as though he
would have gone further.
'And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they
went: and He made as though He would have gone further.29. But they
constrainedHim, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day
is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them.' -- LUKE xxiv.28, 29.
Of course, a chance companion, pickedup on the road, is dropped when the
journey's end is reached. When these two disciples had come to Emmaus,

perhaps arriving at some humble inn or caravanserai, orperhaps at the home
of one of them, it would have been an unmannerly intrusion for the Stranger
who had met them on the road, and could accompanythem there without
rudely forcing Himself on them, to have inflicted His company further on
them unless they had wished it. And so 'He made as though He would have
gone further,' not pretending what He did not mean, but doing what was but
natural and proper in the circumstances. ButJesus had a further motive for
showing His intention of parting company at the door of t he house in
Emmaus. He desired to evoke the expressionof the desire of His two fellow-
walkers that He should tarry with them. Having evokedit, then with infinite
willingness omnipotence lets itself be controlled by feebleness, andJesus
suffers Himself to be constrainedby those whom, unknown to themselves, He
was gently and mightily constraining. 'He made as though,' unfortunately
suggeststo an English readerthe idea of acting a part, and of seeming to
intend what was not really intended. But there is no such thought in Luke's
mind.
The first suggestionthat strikes one from this incident is just this: Jesus
Christ will certainly leave us if we do not detain Him.
It is no more certainthat that walk to Emmaus had its end, and that that first
day of the week, dayof Resurrectionthough it was, was destined to close in
sunsetand evening darkness, than that all seasonsofquickened intercourse
with Jesus Christ, all times when duty and grace and privilege seemto be very
greatand real, all times when we awakemore than ordinarily to the
recognitionof the Presenceofthe Lord with us and of the glories that lie
beyond, tend to end and to leave us bare and deprived of the vision, unless
there be on our parts a distinct and resolute effort to make perpetual that
which in its nature is transient and comes to a close, unless we avert its
cessation. All motion tends to rest, and Christian feeling falls under the same
law. Nay, the more thrilling the moment's experience the more exhausting is
it, and the more certain to be followed by depressionand collapse.'Action and

reactionare equal and contrary.' The height of the wave determines the depth
of the trough. Therefore Christian people have to be speciallycareful towards
the end of a time of specialvitality and earnestness;because, unless they by
desire and by discipline of their minds interpose, the natural result will be
deadness in proportion to the previous excitement. 'He made as though He
would have gone further,' and He certainly will unless His retreating skirts be
graspedat by the outstretchedhands of faith and desire, and the prayer go
after Him, 'Abide with us for it is toward evening.'
That is quite true, too, in another application of the incident. Convictions,
spiritual experiences ofa rudimentary sort, certainly die awayand leave
people harder and worse than they were before, unless they be fosteredand
cherishedand brought to maturity and invested with permanence by the
honest efforts of the subjects of the same. The grace of God, in the preaching
of His Gospel, is like a flying summer shower. It falls upon one land and then
passes onwith its treasures and pours them out somewhere else. The religious
history of many countries and of long centuries is a commentary written out
in greatand tragic characters on the profound truth that lies in the simple
incident of my text. Look at Palestine, look atAsia Minor, at the places where
the Gospelfirst won its triumphs; look at EasternEurope. What is the present
condition of these once fair lands but an illustration of this principle, that
Christ who comes to men in His grace is kept only by the earnestnessand
faithfulness and desire of the men to whom He comes?
And you and I, dear brethren, both as members of a Christian community
and in our individual capacity, have our religious blessings on the same
conditions as Ephesus and Constantinople had theirs, and may fling them
awayby the same negligence as has ruined large tracts of the world through
long ages oftime. Christ will certainly go unless you keepHim.

Then further, notice from my text this other thought, that Christ seeks by His
actionto stimulate our desires for Him.
'He made as though He would have gone further.' But while His feet were
directed to the road His heart remained with His two fellow-travellers whom
He was apparently leaving, and His wish was that the sight of His retiring
figure might kindle in their hearts greatoutgoings of desire to which He
would so gladly yield. It is the same actionon His part, only under a slightly
different form, but actuatedby the same motive and the same in substance, as
we find over and over againin the gospels. Youremember the instances. I
need only refer to them in a word.
Here is one: the dark lake, the rising moon behind the Easternhills, a figure
coming out of the gloom acrossthe stormy sea, and when He reachedthe
tossing fishing cobble it seemedas if He would have passedby; and He would,
but that the cry flung out over the dark waterstopped Him.
Here are two blind men sitting by the roadside crying 'Thou Son of David,
have mercy upon us.' Not a word, not even a glance overHis shoulder, no
stopping of His resolvedstride; onwards towards Jerusalem, Pilate, and
Calvary. BecauseHe did not heed their cry? Because He did not infinitely
long to help them? No. The purpose of His apparent indifference was attained
when 'they cried the more earnestly, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon us.'
Here is another. A woman half mad with anguish for her demon-ridden
daughter, calling after Him with the shrill shriek of Easternsorrow and
disturbing the fine nerves of the disciples, but causing no movements nor any
sign that He even heard, or if He heard, heeded, the ear-piercing and heart-
moving cries. Why was that ear which was always open to the call of misery
closednow? BecauseHe wished to bring her to such an agonyof desire as

might open her heart very wide for an amplitude of blessing;and so He let her
cry, knowing that the longershe calledthe more she would wish, and that the
more she wishedthe more He would bestow.
And that is what He does with us all sometimes:seeming to leave our wishes
and our yearnings all unnoticed. Then the devil says to us, 'What's the use of
crying to Him? He does not hear you.' But faith hears the promise: 'Open thy
mouth wide and I will fill it,' though to sense there seems to be 'no voice nor
any that answered.'
Christ has no other reason in any of the delays and trying prolongations of
His answers than to make us capable of largerblessing, because delaydeepens
our longing. He is infinitely wishful to-day, as He was on that Resurrection
evening, to draw near to every heart and pour upon it the whole sunlit
cataractofthe mighty fact that He lives to bless. But He cannotcome to us
unless we desire Him, and He cannot give to us more of Himself than we wish;
and therefore He is obliged, as the first thing, to make our desires largerand
fuller, and then He will answerthem. 'He could there do no mighty works
because oftheir unbelief.'
Our faithlessnesslimits His power; our faith is the measure of our capacity.
Lastly, the text reminds us that Jesus Christis glad to be forced.
'They constrained': a very strong word, kindred to the other one which our
Lord Himself employs when He speaks aboutthe 'kingdom of heaven
suffering violence, and the violent taking it by force.'That bold expression
gives emphatic utterance to the truth that there is a real powerlodged in the
desires of humble hearts that desire Him, so as that they can prescribe to Him

what He shall do for them and how much of Himself He shall give them. Our
feebleness canin a measure setin motion and regulate the energy of
Omnipotence. 'They constrainedHim.'
Do you remember who it was that was called 'a prince with God' and how he
won the title and was able to prevail? We, too, have the charter given to us
that we can -- I speak it reverently -- guide God's hand and compel
Omnipotence to bless us. We master Nature by yielding to it and utilising its
energies. We have power with God by yielding to Him and conforming our
desires to the longings of His heart and asking the things that are according to
His will. 'Concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.' And what we,
leaning on His promise and in unison with His mighty purpose of love, desire,
that will as certainly come down to us as every stream must pour into the
lowestlevels and fill the depressions in its course.
You can make sure of Christ if two things are yours. He will always remain
with us if, on the one hand, we wish for Him honestly and really to be with us
all the day long, which would be extremely inconvenient for some of us; and if,
on the other hand, we take care not to do the acts nor cultivate the tempers
which drive Him away. For'How can two walk togetherexceptthey be
agreed?'And how can we ask Him to come in and sit down in a house which is
all full of filth and worldliness? Turn the demons out and open the door, and
anything is more likely than that the door will stand gaping and the doorway
be unfilled by the meek presence of the Christ that enters in.
The old prayer is susceptible of application to our community and to our
individual hearts. When Israelprayed, 'Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou
and the Ark of Thy strength,' the answerwas prompt and certain. 'This is My
rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.' But the divine desire was
not accomplishedtill the human desire opened the Temple gates for the
entrance of the Ark.

'He made as though He would have gone further'; but they constrainedHim,
and then He entered in.
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(28) He made as though he would have gone further.—This was, it is obvious,
the crucialtest of the effectof the Lord’s previous teaching. Did they feela
new light flowing in upon their souls, bringing new meanings into what had
before been obscure and hard sayings? Were they contentto let the unknown
Teacherpass on, and see no more of Him? Their answershowed, in words
that meet us afterwards, that their “hearts” already“burnt within them.”
Here, also, we note the method of the Divine Teacheras an example for other
teachers. We oftenimpress truth more effectively, and ‘stimulate the desire
for further knowledge, by suspending for a time the continued inculcationof
it.
MacLaren's Expositions
Luke
THE RISEN LORD’S SELF-REVELATION TO WAVERING DISCIPLES
DETAINING CHRIST
Luke 24:28 - Luke 24:29.

Of course, a chance companion, pickedup on the road, is dropped when the
journey’s end is reached. When these two disciples had come to Emmaus,
perhaps arriving at some humble inn or caravanserai, orperhaps at the home
of one of them, it would have been an unmannerly intrusion for the Stranger
who had met them on the road, and could accompanythem there without
rudely forcing Himself on them, to have inflicted His company further on
them unless they had wished it. And so ‘He made as though He would have
gone further,’ not pretending what He did not mean, but doing what was but
natural and proper in the circumstances. ButJesus had a further motive for
showing His intention of parting company at the door of t he house in
Emmaus. He desired to evoke the expressionof the desire of His two fellow-
walkers that He should tarry with them. Having evokedit, then with infinite
willingness omnipotence lets itself be controlled by feebleness, andJesus
suffers Himself to be constrainedby those whom, unknown to themselves, He
was gently and mightily constraining. ‘He made as though,’ unfortunately
suggeststo an English readerthe idea of acting a part, and of seeming to
intend what was not really intended. But there is no such thought in Luke’s
mind.
The first suggestionthat strikes one from this incident is just this: Jesus
Christ will certainly leave us if we do not detain Him.
It is no more certainthat that walk to Emmaus had its end, and that that first
day of the week, dayof Resurrectionthough it was, was destined to close in
sunsetand evening darkness, than that all seasonsofquickened intercourse
with Jesus Christ, all times when duty and grace and privilege seemto be very
greatand real, all times when we awakemore than ordinarily to the
recognitionof the Presenceofthe Lord with us and of the glories that lie
beyond, tend to end and to leave us bare and deprived of the vision, unless
there be on our parts a distinct and resolute effort to make perpetual that
which in its nature is transient and comes to a close, unless we avert its

cessation. All motion tends to rest, and Christian feeling falls under the same
law. Nay, the more thrilling the moment’s experience the more exhausting is
it, and the more certain to be followed by depressionand collapse.‘Action and
reactionare equal and contrary.’ The height of the wave determines the depth
of the trough. Therefore Christian people have to be speciallycareful towards
the end of a time of specialvitality and earnestness;because, unless they by
desire and by discipline of their minds interpose, the natural result will be
deadness in proportion to the previous excitement. ‘He made as though He
would have gone further,’ and He certainly will unless His retreating skirts be
graspedat by the outstretchedhands of faith and desire, and the prayer go
after Him, ‘Abide with us for it is toward evening.’
That is quite true, too, in another application of the incident. Convictions,
spiritual experiences ofa rudimentary sort, certainly die awayand leave
people harder and worse than they were before, unless they be fosteredand
cherishedand brought to maturity and invested with permanence by the
honest efforts of the subjects of the same. The grace of God, in the preaching
of His Gospel, is like a flying summer shower. It falls upon one land and then
passes onwith its treasures and pours them out somewhere else. The religious
history of many countries and of long centuries is a commentary written out
in greatand tragic characters on the profound truth that lies in the simple
incident of my text. Look at Palestine, look atAsia Minor, at the places where
the Gospelfirst won its triumphs; look at EasternEurope. What is the present
condition of these once fair lands but an illustration of this principle, that
Christ who comes to men in His grace is kept only by the earnestnessand
faithfulness and desire of the men to whom He comes?
And you and I, dear brethren, both as members of a Christian community
and in our individual capacity, have our religious blessings on the same
conditions as Ephesus and Constantinople had theirs, and may fling them
awayby the same negligence as has ruined large tracts of the world through
long ages oftime. Christ will certainly go unless you keepHim.

Then further, notice from my text this other thought, that Christ seeks by His
actionto stimulate our desires for Him.
‘He made as though He would have gone further.’ But while His feet were
directed to the road His heart remained with His two fellow-travellers whom
He was apparently leaving, and His wish was that the sight of His retiring
figure might kindle in their hearts greatoutgoings of desire to which He
would so gladly yield. It is the same actionon His part, only under a slightly
different form, but actuatedby the same motive and the same in substance, as
we find over and over againin the gospels. Youremember the instances. I
need only refer to them in a word.
Here is one: the dark lake, the rising moon behind the Easternhills, a figure
coming out of the gloom acrossthe stormy sea, and when He reachedthe
tossing fishing cobble it seemedas if He would have passedby; and He would,
but that the cry flung out over the dark waterstopped Him.
Here are two blind men sitting by the roadside crying ‘Thou Son of David,
have mercy upon us.’ Not a word, not even a glance overHis shoulder, no
stopping of His resolvedstride; onwards towards Jerusalem, Pilate, and
Calvary. BecauseHe did not heed their cry? Because He did not infinitely
long to help them? No. The purpose of His apparent indifference was attained
when ‘they cried the more earnestly, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon
us.’
Here is another. A woman half mad with anguish for her demon-ridden
daughter, calling after Him with the shrill shriek of Easternsorrow and
disturbing the fine nerves of the disciples, but causing no movements nor any
sign that He even heard, or if He heard, heeded, the ear-piercing and heart-

moving cries. Why was that ear which was always open to the call of misery
closednow? BecauseHe wished to bring her to such an agonyof desire as
might open her heart very wide for an amplitude of blessing;and so He let her
cry, knowing that the longershe calledthe more she would wish, and that the
more she wishedthe more He would bestow.
And that is what He does with us all sometimes:seeming to leave our wishes
and our yearnings all unnoticed. Then the devil says to us, ‘What’s the use of
crying to Him? He does not hear you.’ But faith hears the promise: ‘Open thy
mouth wide and I will fill it,’ though to sense there seems to be ‘no voice nor
any that answered.’
Christ has no other reasonin any of the delays and trying prolongations of
His answers than to make us capable of largerblessing, because delaydeepens
our longing. He is infinitely wishful to-day, as He was on that Resurrection
evening, to draw near to every heart and pour upon it the whole sunlit
cataractofthe mighty fact that He lives to bless. But He cannot come to us
unless we desire Him, and He cannot give to us more of Himself than we wish;
and therefore He is obliged, as the first thing, to make our desires largerand
fuller, and then He will answerthem. ‘He could there do no mighty works
because oftheir unbelief.’
Our faithlessnesslimits His power; our faith is the measure of our capacity.
Lastly, the text reminds us that Jesus Christis glad to be forced.
‘They constrained’: a very strong word, kindred to the other one which our
Lord Himself employs when He speaks aboutthe ‘kingdom of heaven
suffering violence, and the violent taking it by force.’That bold expression

gives emphatic utterance to the truth that there is a real powerlodged in the
desires of humble hearts that desire Him, so as that they can prescribe to Him
what He shall do for them and how much of Himself He shall give them. Our
feebleness canin a measure setin motion and regulate the energy of
Omnipotence. ‘They constrainedHim.’
Do you remember who it was that was called ‘a prince with God’ and how he
won the title and was able to prevail? We, too, have the charter given to us
that we can-I speak it reverently-guide God’s hand and compelOmnipotence
to bless us. We master Nature by yielding to it and utilising its energies. We
have powerwith God by yielding to Him and conforming our desires to the
longings of His heart and asking the things that are according to His will.
‘Concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.’ And what we, leaning
on His promise and in unison with His mighty purpose of love, desire, that will
as certainly come down to us as every stream must pour into the lowestlevels
and fill the depressions in its course.
You can make sure of Christ if two things are yours. He will always remain
with us if, on the one hand, we wish for Him honestly and really to be with us
all the day long, which would be extremely inconvenient for some of us; and if,
on the other hand, we take care not to do the acts nor cultivate the tempers
which drive Him away. For‘How can two walk togetherexceptthey be
agreed?’And how can we ask Him to come in and sit down in a house which is
all full of filth and worldliness? Turn the demons out and open the door, and
anything is more likely than that the door will stand gaping and the doorway
be unfilled by the meek presence of the Christ that enters in.
The old prayer is susceptible of application to our community and to our
individual hearts. When Israelprayed, ‘Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou
and the Ark of Thy strength,’ the answer was prompt and certain. ‘This is My
rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.’ But the divine desire was

not accomplishedtill the human desire opened the Temple gates for the
entrance of the Ark.
‘He made as though He would have gone further’; but they constrainedHim,
and then He entered in.
BensonCommentary
Luke 24:28-31. And they drew near unto the village, &c. — His discourse
made so deep an impression upon them, and engrossedtheir attention to such
a degree, that they neither thought of the length of the journey, nor
consideredthe countenance of him who spake to them, so that, ere they were
aware, they arrived at the village whither they went. And he made as though
he would have gone farther — When the disciples turned aside from the road
to go to their lodging in the village, Jesus walkedforwardas if he were going
on, as he would have done, had they not pressedhim to stay. But they
constrainedhim — Being loath to part with a personwhose conversationhad
charmed them so much, they beggedhim to go no farther, but to abide with
them; for, they said, it is toward evening — Namely, the first evening of the
Jewishday, which began at three o’clock. See onMatthew 14:15;and the day
is far spent — Greek, κεκλικενη ημερα, the day has declined. That this is the
meaning of the expressionis evident, for, on any other supposition, the two
disciples could not have returned to Jerusalemafter dining at Emmaus, so as
to have been present, (as it appears from Luke 24:33 they were,)when Jesus
showedhimself to his disciples the same day, which ended at sun-setting. And
he went in to tarry with them — By their pressing invitations the disciples
prevailed with their fellow-travellerto turn in with them. And their humanity
met with an abundant recompense. As he sat at meat with them he took
bread, &c. — Some have inferred from this, that he gave these two disciples
the sacramenton this occasion, adding it to the ordinary meal they were
eating, as at the first institution of the rite. But in the Greek there is no
foundation for the conjecture, the words signifying properly, And it came to
pass, when he sat down at the table with them, taking bread he blessedit, &c.
— Among the Jews, the giving of thanks at table for their food, and the

distributing of it to the guests, was the office of the head of the family. This
office Jesus now assumed, though he only appeared as a guestat this table,
and, looking up to heaven, blessed, or gave thanks over it, just in the manner
he had formerly done: And their eyes were opened— The supernatural cloud,
or the miraculous influence which before prevented their knowing him, was
removed, partly, perhaps, through the action just mentioned, of his taking,
blessing, and breaking the bread in the manner they had known him
frequently to do, a manner probably peculiar to him. And they knew him —
To their unutterable astonishment, plainly seeing that it was Jesus their
Master;and, as they were preparing to acknowledgehim as such, he vanished
out of their sight — Rather, suddenly became invisible, or ceasedto be seenby
them, as the original words, αφαντος εγενετο απ’ αυτων, literally signify. For
certainly he did not vanish as a mere spectre.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
24:28-35 If we would have Christ dwell with us, we must be earnestwith him.
Those that have experiencedthe pleasure and profit of communion with him,
cannot but desire more of his company. He took bread, and blessedit, and
brake, and gave to them. This he did with his usual authority and affection,
with the same manner, perhaps with the same words. He here teaches us to
crave a blessing on every meal. See how Christ by his Spirit and grace makes
himself knownto the souls of his people. He opens the Scriptures to them. He
meets them at his table, in the ordinance of the Lord's supper; is knownto
them in breaking of bread. But the work is completed by the opening of the
eyes of their mind; yet it is but short views we have of Christ in this world, but
when we enter heaven, we shall see him for ever. They had found the
preaching powerful, even when they knew not the preacher. Those Scriptures
which speak of Christ, will warm the hearts of his true disciples. That is likely
to do most good, which affects us with the love of Jesus in dying for us. It is
the duty of those to whom he has shownhimself, to let others know what he
has done for their souls. It is of greatuse for the disciples of Christ to compare
their experiences, andtell them to eachother.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible

He made as though he would have gone further - He did not "say" he would
go farther, but he kept on as if it was not his intention to stop, and doubtless
he "would" have gone on if they had not constrainedhim to tarry.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
28-31. made as though, &c.—(Compare Mr6:48; Ge 18:3, 5; 32:24-26).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Ver. 28,29. I do not understand how some conclude from hence the lawfulness
of dissembling, or telling a lie, in some cases,becausethe evangelistsaith our
Saviour
made as though he would have gone further, and did not; for without doubt
our Saviour had gone further if the disciples had not been urgent with him to
have staid: nor did he stay long there, as we shall hear by and by.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And they drew nigh unto the village,.... Of Emmaus, before they were aware;
their conversationwas so very agreeable, thatthe way did not seemtedious,
nor the time long:
whither they went: where they intended to go, when they setout; this was the
end of their journey; wherefore this village was not some intermediate place
betweenJerusalemand Emmaus:
and he made as though he would have gone further; when they were come to
Emmaus, and to the house where the two disciples intended to make their
abode that night: whether it was a public house, or an house of one of their
friends, or one of their own, it matters not; Christ stopped not, nor attempted
to go in with them, but stepped a few steps onward, taking his leave of them.
The Ethiopic version renders it, "he beganto pass by them": which carried in
it an appearance as if he intended to have travelled further; and in it there
was no fraud, dissimulation, or collusion:he would have gone some little way

further, doubtless, had they not detained him; and he intended to staywith
them, provided they should ask him, as he did, though not all night, which he
never designed: the whole of it is nothing else but a piece of modesty, civility,
and prudence; for guile was never found in his mouth.
Geneva Study Bible
And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as
though he would have gone further.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Luke 24:28-29. Ἐσχηματίζετοποῤῥωτέρω πορεύεσθαι ὡς ἁπλῶς
συνοδοιπόρος, Euthymius Zigabenus. He desired to prompt the invitation,
which was a matter of decorum, but knew that it would follow. Comp. Mark
6:48. The imperfect προσεποιεῖτο (He feigned, gave Himself the air) and then
the aoristπαρεβιάσαντο:a lively representation.
πορεύεσθαι]not: that He is constrained or wishes to go farther, but we must
conceive that for appearance’sake He actually beganto move forward.
Luke 24:29. On παρεβιάσ., they constrained, to wit, by means of urgent
entreaty, comp. Acts 16:15;Genesis 19:3;also ἀναγκάζειν, Luke 14:23;
Matthew 14:22. They felt their holiestinterests engagedto this stranger(Luke
24:32). That these two disciples dwelt in Emmaus is possible, but follows just
as little from μεῖνον μεθʼ ἡμῶν(comp. τοῦ μεῖναι σὺν αὐτοῖς)as from εἰσῆλθε.
For to the latter expressionis not to be supplied εἰς τὴν οἰκίαναὐτῶν, but
from Luke 24:28 : εἰς τὴν κώμην;that invitation, however, does not of
necessitymean: stayin our lodging, but may just as wellsignify: stay in our
company, pass the night with us in the house of our host. Comp. John 1:39 f.
Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 24:28. προσεποιήσατο, He assumedthe air of one going farther. The
verb in the active means to bring about that something shall be acquired by
another, in middle, by oneself= “meum aliquid facio” (Alberti, Observ. Phil.,
ad loc.). Jesus wishedto be invited to stay.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
28. he made as though he would have gone further] Rather, would go. It is of
course implied that He would have gone further, but for the strong pressure
of their entreaty. Comp. Mark 6:48. We learn from these passageshow
needful it is to win Christ’s Presenceby praying for it.
Bengel's Gnomen
Luke 24:28. Προσεποιεῖτο)He made (acted)as though He was about to go
farther; and He had been about to go farther, had not they besoughtHim, and
perhaps had been about to appear to them in another way.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 28. - And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he
made as though he would have gone further. This was no feint or deception.
The Lord would have left them then to themselves had they not prayed him
with real earnestnessto abide with them. "How many are there," says Stier,
"to whom he has drawn near, but with whom he has not tarried, because they
have suffered him to 'go awayagain,'in his living and heart-moving words!
How comparatively rare is it for men to reachthe full blessing they might
receive (see, for example, the striking historicalinstance, 2 Kings 13:14, 19)!"
But these were not content to let the unknown Teacherpass on, and see no
more of him, and hear no more of his strange powerful teaching. It is the
words of, and the thought containedin, this verse which suggestedthe idea of
the well-knownhymn -
"Abide with me; fast falls the eventide."
Vincent's Word Studies

They went (ἐπορεύοντο)
Imperfect, were going. So Rev,
Made as though (προσεποιήσατο)
The verb means originally to add or attachto; hence to take to one's selfwhat
does not belong to him; and so, to pretend; though pretending as implying
anything false, does not attach to this actof Jesus. He was going on, and would
have gone on but for their invitation. Only here in New Testament.
STUDYLIGHTRESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
He made as though he would have gone farther - That is, he was going on, as
though he intended to go farther; and so he doubtless would had they not
earnestlypressedhim to lodge with them. His preaching had made a deep
impression upon their hearts, Luke 24:32, and now they feelit their greatest
privilege to entertain the preacher.
This is a constanteffectof the doctrine of Christ: wherever it is felt, the
Author of it, the ever-blessedJesus, is earnestlyentreatedto dwell in the
heart; and he who preaches it, is amply provided with the necessariesoflife
by those who have receivedhis testimony.

Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/luke-
24.html. 1832.
Return to Jump List return to 'Jump List'
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
He made as though he would have gone further - He did not “say” he would
go farther, but he kept on as if it was not his intention to stop, and doubtless
he “would” have gone on if they had not constrainedhim to tarry.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon Luke 24:28". "Barnes'Notesonthe Whole
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/luke-24.html.
1870.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they were going:and he made as
though he would go further. And they constrainedhim, saying, Abide with us;
for it is towardevening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to abide with
them.
As though he would go further ... There was no deceit in this, because Christ
would have gone further had they not invited him to be their guest. See
comments in my Commentary on Mark, under Mark 6:48, where the Lord
would have passedby even the Twelve themselves if they had not invited him
to come aboard. The Lord's blessings are always to be askedfor and sought
after by the men who would receive them.
Copyright Statement
James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/luke-24.html. Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And they drew nigh unto the village,.... Of Emmaus, before they were aware;
their conversationwas so very agreeable, thatthe way did not seemtedious,
nor the time long:

whither they went: where they intended to go, when they setout; this was the
end of their journey; wherefore this village was not some intermediate place
betweenJerusalemand Emmaus:
and he made as though he would have gone further; when they were come to
Emmaus, and to the house where the two disciples intended to make their
abode that night: whether it was a public house, or an house of one of their
friends, or one of their own, it matters not; Christ stopped not, nor attempted
to go in with them, but stepped a few steps onward, taking his leave of them.
The Ethiopic version renders it, "he beganto pass by them": which carried in
it an appearance as if he intended to have travelled further; and in it there
was no fraud, dissimulation, or collusion:he would have gone some little way
further, doubtless, had they not detained him; and he intended to staywith
them, provided they should ask him, as he did, though not all night, which he
never designed: the whole of it is nothing else but a piece of modesty, civility,
and prudence; for guile was never found in his mouth.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "The New JohnGill Exposition of
the Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/luke-
24.html. 1999.

Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
Made as though (προσεποιησατο — prosepoiēsato). Firstaoristactive middle
(Some MSS. have προσεποιειτο — prosepoieito imperfect) indicative of
προσποιεω — prospoieō old verb to conform oneselfto, to pretend. Only here
in the N.T. Of course he would have gone on if the disciples had not urged him
to stay.
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "Robertson's WordPictures
of the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/luke-24.html. Broadman
Press 1932,33. Renewal1960.
Vincent's Word Studies
They went ( ἐπορεύοντο )
Imperfect, were going. So Rev,
Made as though ( προσεποιήσατο )

The verb means originally to add or attachto; hence to take to one's selfwhat
does not belong to him; and so, to pretend; though pretending as implying
anything false, does not attach to this actof Jesus. He was going on, and would
have gone on but for their invitation. Only here in New Testament.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentaryon Luke 24:28". "Vincent's Word
Studies in the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/luke-24.html. Charles
Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
He made as though he would go farther — Walking forward, as if he was
going on; and he would have done it, had they not pressedhim to stay.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.

Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "JohnWesley's Explanatory
Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/luke-24.html. 1765.
The Fourfold Gospel
And beginning from Mosesand from all the prophets1, he interpreted to them
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself2.
And beginning from Mosesand from all the prophets. The counselof the
Father revealedin the Scriptures shows that Jesus should enter into his glory
through suffering. The books ofMoses foretellChrist largely in types, such, as
the passover, the rock in the wilderness, Abraham's sacrifice ofIsaac, the day
of atonement, etc. The prophets show him forth in clear-cutpredictions and
descriptions.
He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Jesus evidently applied both these divisions of Scripture to himself, making it
plain to these two who were both thoughtless in mind and slow in heart. Those
lacking in a knowledge ofthe Christologyof the Old Testamentare slow to
believe in it. Those who know that Christology, and yet doubt the Old
Testament, do so because they lack faith in the Christ therein portrayed.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website. These files
were made available by Mr. Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 at
The RestorationMovementPages.

Bibliography
J. W. McGarveyand Philip Y. Pendleton. "Commentaryon Luke 24:28".
"The Fourfold Gospel".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tfg/luke-24.html. Standard
Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1914.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
28.And they drew near to the village. There is no reasonfor supposing, as
some commentators have done, that this was a different place from Emmaus;
for the journey was not so long as to make it necessaryforthem to take rest
for the night at a nearer lodging. We know that seven thousand paces—even
though a personwere to walk slowlyfor his own gratification—wouldbe
accomplishedin four hours at the utmost; and, therefore, I have no doubt that
Christ had now reachedEmmaus.
And he seemedas if he would go farther. Now as to the question, Can
insincerity apply to him who is the eternaltruth of God? I answer, that the
Son of God was under no obligation to make all his designs known. Still, as
insincerity of any kind is a sort of falsehood, the difficulty is not yet removed;
more especiallyas this example is adduced by many to prove that they are at
liberty to tell lies. But I reply, that Christ might without falsehoodhave
pretended what is here mentioned, in the same manner that he gave himself
out to be a strangerpassing along the road; for there was the same reasonfor
both. A somewhatmore ingenious solution is given by Augustine, (in his work
addressedTo Consentius, Book II., chap. 13, and in the book of Questions on
the Gospels,chap. 51,)for he choosesto enumerate this kind of feigning
among tropes and figures, and afterwards among parables and fables. For my
own part, I am satisfiedwith this single consideration, that as Christ for the
time threw a veil over the eyes of those with whom he was conversing, so that
he had assumeda different character, and was regardedby them as all

ordinary stranger, so, when he appeared for the time to intend to go farther, it
was not through pretending any thing else than what he had resolvedto do,
but because he wished to concealthe manner of his departure; for none will
deny that he did go farther, since he had then withdrawn from human society.
So then by this feigning he did not deceive his disciples, but held them for a
little in suspense, till the proper time should arrive for making himself known.
It is, therefore, highly improper to attempt to make Christ an advocate of
falsehood;and we are no more at liberty to plead his example for feigning any
thing, than to endeavorto equal his divine powerin shutting the eyes of men.
Our safestcourse is to adhere to the rule which has been laid down to us, to
speak with truth and simplicity; not that our Lord himself ever departed from
the law of his Father, but because, withoutconfining himself to the letter of
the commandments, he kept by the true meaning of the law;but we, on
accountof the weaknessofour senses,needto be restrainedin a different
manner.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "Calvin's Commentary on the
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/luke-24.html.
1840-57.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as

Ver. 28. And he made as though he would, &c.] So did the angels to Lot,
Genesis 19:2. See the like, Joshua 8:5-6, 1 Kings 3:24. If Solomonmight make
as though he would do an actthat was unlawful, we may surely do the like in
things indifferent. Yet this was never done, as is well observed, but, 1. By
those that had authority over others; 2. For some singular goodto them with
whom they thus dealt.
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/luke-
24.html. 1865-1868.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
Luke 24:28. προσεποιεῖτο)He made (acted) as though He was about to go
farther; and He had been about to go farther, had not they besoughtHim, and
perhaps had been about to appear to them in another way.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". Johann Albrecht
Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/luke-24.html. 1897.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
Ver. 28,29. I do not understand how some conclude from hence the lawfulness
of dissembling, or telling a lie, in some cases,becausethe evangelistsaith our
Saviour
made as though he would have gone further, and did not; for without doubt
our Saviour had gone further if the disciples had not been urgent with him to
have staid: nor did he stay long there, as we shall hear by and by.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon Luke 24:28". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/luke-24.html. 1685.

Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
Made as though he would have gone further; he kept on, giving no intimation
that he would stop, till they entreatedhim to do so.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Edwards, Justin. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "Family Bible New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fam/luke-
24.html. American TractSociety. 1851.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
28. προσεποιήσατο. It is of course implied that He would have gone further,
but for the strong pressure of their entreaty. Comp. Mark 6:48. We learn
from these passages how needful it is to win Christ’s Presence by praying for
it.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
"Commentary on Luke 24:28". "Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools
and Colleges".https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/luke-
24.html. 1896.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
28. Made as though—Ratheractedas though. Moved on his course, not in
dissimulation, for he would have gone on his waysorrowfully and justly if
they had not detained him with loving violence.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "Whedon's Commentary on
the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/luke-24.html.
1874-1909.
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible
‘And they drew nigh to the village, to which they were going, and he made as
though he would go further.”

We canimagine the fascinationwith which they listened to Him and
recognisedhow little knowledge ofthe Scriptures they really had, and may
well have regrettedreaching their village so quickly. They no doubt saw Him
as one of those people that the Masterhad regularly met and talkedwith, like
for example Nicodemus (John 3:1-7). And on their arrival the Stranger made
as though to take His leave of them. He would not presume on their
hospitality.
Jesus rarely forces Himself on us. Had they not issuedan invitation to Him to
stay with them that would have been the lastthat they saw of Him, and they
would not have experiencedwhat was to come. And they would have deserved
it. Jesus behavedperfectly correctlyin view of the fact that He did not yet
want to reveal Himself, but wanted them to see Him as a Stranger.
‘Made as though.’ This a goodtranslation. It is not the same thing as
pretending (which the word can mean) but makes clearthat He expectedto be
invited in. It would in fact have been gross discourtesyin the light in which He
was depicting Himself had He not been so. It would have been bad manners to
indicate that He expectedhospitality.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Pett, Peter. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "PeterPett's Commentaryon the
Bible ". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/luke-24.html.
2013.

Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luke 24:28. He made as though, etc. It is not implied that He said He would
go further, but was about to pass on. As a matter of decorum He must thus do,
until they should invite Him to stop. This calledforth their desire and request.
It was still concealing to revealmore fully.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Schaff, Philip. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "Schaff's Popular
Commentary on the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/scn/luke-24.html. 1879-90.
The Expositor's Greek Testament
Luke 24:28. προσεποιήσατο, He assumedthe air of one going farther. The
verb in the active means to bring about that something shall be acquired by
another, in middle, by oneself= “meum aliquid facio” (Alberti, Observ. Phil.,
ad loc.). Jesus wishedto be invited to stay.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Nicol, W. Robertson, M.A., L.L.D. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". The
Expositor's Greek Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/egt/luke-24.html. 1897-1910.
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
unto. Greek. eis. App-104. went = were going. made, &c. i.e. was going farther
(but for their constraint). There was no deception. Literally, added to go.
Greek. prospoieoniai. Onlyhere.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on Luke 24:28". "E.W.
Bullinger's Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/luke-24.html. 1909-1922.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And they drew nigh unto the village where they went - or 'were going'[
eporeuonto (Greek #4198)].
And he made as though he would have gone further - but only "as though;"
for He had no intention of going further. So when He walkedtoward them on
the sea ofGalilee, "He would have passedby them" - but never meant to do it.
So Genesis 32:26. (Compare Genesis 18:3;Genesis 18:5;Genesis 42:7.)
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on
Luke 24:28". "CommentaryCritical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -
Unabridged". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfu/luke-
24.html. 1871-8.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(28) He made as though he would have gone further.—This was, it is obvious,
the crucialtest of the effectof the Lord’s previous teaching. Did they feela
new light flowing in upon their souls, bringing new meanings into what had
before been obscure and hard sayings? Were they contentto let the unknown

Teacherpass on, and see no more of Him? Their answershowed, in words
that meet us afterwards, that their “hearts” already“burnt within them.”
Here, also, we note the method of the Divine Teacheras an example for other
teachers. We oftenimpress truth more effectively, and ‘stimulate the desire
for further knowledge, by suspending for a time the continued inculcationof
it.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Luke 24:28 And they approachedthe village where they were going, and He
actedas though He were going farther.
Ge. 19:2; 32:26; 42:7. Mark 6:48.
Luke 24:13-32 Christ: The Living Expositor, Part1 - John MacArthur
Luke 24:13-35 Disappointment and Hope - StevenCole
Luke 24:28, 29 The BlessedGuestDetained - C H Spurgeon
Luke 24 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
DISCIPLES NEARING
HOME
He acted as though He were going farther - In other words, Jesus did not say
He would not go further, but simply kept on as if it were not His intention to

stop. Had they not sought Him to stay, doubtless He would have kept on.
While Jesus is omnipresence today, He will not force Himself on us. If we
desire His fellowship daily, all through the day, we must beseechHim to walk
with us and stay with us. Then we are abiding in the Vine and He in us. We
are communing with Him via His Spirit. Jesus desires to abide. The hindrance
is us. We are too often like the church at Laodicea which Jesus describes in
the Revelation
Behold, I stand at the door and knock;if anyone hears My voice and opens
the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Rev
3:20+).
MacArthur proposes "He did so for the same reasonHe had questioned them,
to elicit a response that would demonstrate the effectof the Scriptures on their
hearts. And it did. They wantedmore instruction and did not want the
thrilling teaching to end."
Spurgeon- No doubt he would have done so if they had been indifferent to his
company: Jesus neverforces his societyupon us.
Ray Pritchard - The word “acted” means “pretended.” What a thought that
is. Was Jesus trying to deceive his own disciples? No, that can’t be right. Was
Jesus planning on leaving his disciples alone on the road of doubt? No, but he
makes them think he is going to leave them behind so that they will invite him
to stay. Think about that for a moment. Our Lord sometimes seems to leave
us so that we will ask him to stay. He seems to leave us behind so that we will
seek him all the more. Those days when we feelalone and confusedare part of
God’s plan to weanus awayfrom the things of the world and bring us to a
place where we say, “O Lord, it is you and you alone that I seek.”

Acted (4364)(prospoiéomaifrom prós = to, besides + poiéō = to make. To
make, acquire, claim or appropriate for oneself, to make pretension. In the
NT, only in the middle voice meaning to make a show of being or doing
something, to feign, pretend (Used only in Luke 24:28). To act or appear as if
having certainqualities or a particular state of mind. Used twice in the
Septuagint - 1 Sam. 21:13; Job 19:14
Spurgeon- And sorry, I have no doubt, they were to do so. One would like to
walk on to all eternity with Christ thus talking by the way. Neverhad they
had a shorter walk in their lives; his holy talk had made the journey seemas
nothing, and sorry they were to see the village, and especiallywhenthey
found, that their companion had an idea of going further.
Spurgeon- For Christ never forces his company upon anyone; and if we are
willing to let him go, he will go, nor will he return until we are heartily sick of
having treatedhim coldly. When we can no longer bear the absence ofChrist,
then he will speedily return to us. There is an instance of this in the life of
Christmas Evans, which impressed me very much when I read it.
Sandemanianism had spread very much through Wales, and he had been very
busy attacking it; but it seemedas if, in doing so, his sermons had lost all their
former powerand unction, and his own soulalso grew very dry and barren,
and he had little or no fellowshipwith Christ. He said that, at last, his soul
grew utterly wearyof being absentfrom his Lord and he could not endure it
any longer, but felt that he must once again enjoy communion with his Lord,
and experience the power of the Holy Spirit in his preaching. So he stopped at
the footof CaderIdris and spent some three hours in an intense agonyof
prayer; and the result was that, when he next preached, he did so with all the
unction and powerwhich had formerly rested upon him. He had grownweary
of the absence ofChrist and therefore Christ returned to him. O brethren, if
Christ makes as though he would go further, do not let him go, but hold him
fast!

Spurgeon- They were sorry to be nearing their destination. They would have
liked to walk to the ends of the earth in such company, and listening to such
conversation. Christ intended to go further unless the two disciples
constrainedhim to tarry with them.
F Whitfield - Is not God always acting thus? He comes to us by His Holy
Spirit as He did to these two disciples. He speaks to us through the preaching
of the gospel, through the Word of God, through the various means of grace,
and the providential circumstances oflife; and having thus spoken, He makes
as though He would go further. If the ear be opened to His voice and the heart
to His Spirit, the prayer will go up “Lord, abide with me.” But if that voice
makes no impression, then He passes on, as He has done thousands of times,
leaving the heart at eachtime harder than before, and the earmore closedto
His Spirit’s call. (Moody - One Thousand and One Thoughts from My
Library)
Luke 24:29 But they urged Him, saying, "Staywith us, for it is getting toward
evening, and the day is now nearly over." So He went in to stay with them.
Luke 14:23. Ge. 19:3. 2 Ki. 4:8. Acts 16:15.
Luke 24:13-35 Disappointment and Hope - StevenCole
Luke 24:28, 29 The BlessedGuestDetained - C H Spurgeon
Luke 24:29 Communion Preserved - C H Spurgeon
Luke 24 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
ABIDE WITH US

DEAR JESUS!
Hendriksen explains that "When the three neared Emmaus Jesus actedas
though he would go farther. And he would have done so, had they not
prevailed upon him to staywith them. The plan of God for our lives does not
canceldecision-making onour part....But by now, for a very understandable
reason, they could not think of letting Him go. So, He allowedHimself to be
persuaded. And having entered their home, the two even honored their
unknown but very remarkable guestby asking Him to perform the duties of a
host." (Ibid)
Jamieson, Faussett, Brownon they urged - But for this, the whole designof
the interview had been lost; but it was not to be lost, for He who only wished
to be constrainedhad kindled a longing in the hearts of His travelling
companions which was not to be so easilyput off. And does not this still repeat
itself in the interviews of the Saviour with His loving, longing disciples? Else
why do they say,
Abide with me from morn to eve,
Forwithout Thee I cannot live;
Abide with me when night is nigh,
Forwithout Thee I cannot die.
——Keble
But they urged (3849)(parabiazomaifrom para - beside, unto, implying
movement towarda point + biazo = to force, impel) literally means to use
force against, to press and figuratively to urge strongly, to constrain one by
entreaties, to compel, to coerce,to persuade, "to speak in such a way as to
encourage a particular type of behavior or action." (L-N) They "pressingly
invited him." (Barnes)

Spurgeonon parabiazomai - It is a very strong word that, ‘they constrained
him’; it is akin to the one which Jesus used when he said, ‘The kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence.’They not only invited him, but they held him, they
graspedhis hand, they tugged at his skirts, they said he should not go.”
The only other NT use is Acts 16:15-note - And when she (Lydia) and her
household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to
be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed
upon us.
Spurgeon- Love can always find a plea to which her Lord will yield, for he is
always most willing to commune with his people
Ryle on stay with us - Let it be noted that we have severalinstances of
expressions like this in Scripture used upon similar occasions.Abraham said,
“Pass notaway, I pray thee, from thy servant.” (Gen. 32:26.) Gideonsaid,
“Departnot hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee.” (Judges 6:18.)
Manoahand his wife said, “I pray thee, let us detain thee.” (Judges 13:15.)All
show that God loves to be entreatedof His people, and that those who would
have much must ask much, and even use a holy violence.
Yes, life is like the Emmaus road, and we tread it not alone
For beside us walks the Son of God, to uphold and keepHis own.
And our hearts within us thrill with joy at His words of love and grace,
And the glorious hope that when day is done we shall see His blessedface.
—Avis Christiansen
Stay (aoristimperative)(3306)(meno)is a plea to abide or remain (as the
branch abides in the Vine - Jn 15:5, 7), even as Jesus saidto Zaccheus "I must

stay in your house." (Lk 19:5+). Their earnestrequestwas granted. Do you
feel close to Jesus today? Perhaps you need to request Him to "stay," making
sure of course that you have no unconfessedsins. You may not experience any
feelings, but you can be confident that He is there, walking through your day
with you. O that the prayerful song of our heart eachday would be the words
of this greatold hymn (take a moment and Play and pray this beautiful hymn
to Him...He will answer!)...
Abide with me from morn till eve,
For without Thee I cannotlive;
For without Thee I dare not die.”
THOUGHT - HERE IS BACKGROUND FOR THIS GREAT HYMN
WRITTEN IN 1847:In 1818 minister Henry Francis Lyte found himself in a
curious position: he was giving comfortto a dying clergyman and found, to his
shock, that the clergyman was unsure of his own salvation. Lyte was painfully
aware that he himself was in the same position. Both men beganto searchthe
Bible, and both underwent a conversion. Lyte from that time on beganto take
his duties as a pastor more seriously. The typical Church of England pastor of
that time was contentto baptize, marry, bury, and preacha brief Sunday
sermon for which he had little enthusiasm. Lyte could not be satisfiedwith
this: he became a devoted spiritual counselorto his parish in a coastaltownin
southwestEngland. He wore himself out for this church, composedof
fishermen and their families, counseling with them, organizing Sunday
schools, training teachers, and writing hymns, many of which are still
popular. The most famous of his hymns was written just a few weeksbefore
he died. On September4, 1847, Lyte took a walk along the seashore and
contemplated the sunset. Returning home, he quickly wrote down “Abide with
Me” with its memorable first lines: “Abide with me! Fastfalls the eventide; /
The darkness deepens;Lord, with me abide.” The hymn was basedon the

scripture he had preached on earlier that day, Luke 24, the story of the risen
Jesus encountering two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:29 reads,
“Theyconstrained him, saying, ‘Abide with us, for it is toward evening; the
day is far spent.’ And he went in to tarry with them” (KJV). Lyte’s health had
been failing for severalyears, and it is possible that when he wrote “Abide
with Me,” he knew it would be his last hymn and that he would soonbe
abiding with the Lord forever. He died on November20 that same year.
HERE IS ANOTHER VERSION BY KENNETHOSBECKFROM
"AMAZING GRACE - 366 HYMN STORIES"- The author of this text,
Henry F. Lyte, was an Anglican pastor. Though he battled tuberculosis all of
his life, Lyte was knownas a man strong in spirit and faith. It was he who
coined the phrase “it is better to wearout than to rust out.” During his later
years, Lyte’s health progressivelyworsenedso that he was forcedto seek a
warmer climate in Italy. Forthe last sermonwith his parishioners at Lower
Brixham, England, on September 4, 1847, itis recorded that he nearly had to
crawlto the pulpit. His final words made a deep impact upon his people when
he proclaimed, “It is my desire to induce you to prepare for the solemn hour
which must come to all, by a timely appreciationand dependence on the death
of Christ.” (WHAT GREAT LAST WORDS!)
Barnes - They did not yet perceive that it was Jesus, but they had been
charmed and delighted with his discourse, and they wishedto hear him
farther. Christians are delighted with communion with the Saviour. They seek
it as the chief objectof their desire, and they find their chief pleasure in
fellowship with him.
Spurgeon- O wise disciple, when thou hast thy Masterto hold him. “I held
him,” says the spouse;“I held him, and I would not let him go.” So may it be
with us.

Spurgeon- That is our prayer to the Lord Jesus tonight, “Abide with us, dear
Master;we had thy blessedcompany this morning; and now the sun is almost
down, abide with us!” Let eachone of us pray the prayer that we often sing,
for, morning, noon, and night, this is a suitable supplication:-“
Now The Day is Over
Now the day is over, Night is drawing nigh, Shadows of the evening Steal
across the sky.
Jesus, give the weary Calm and sweetrepose;With thy tend'rest blessing May
our eyelids close.
Grant to little children Visions bright of thee; Guard the sailors, tossing On
the deep blue sea.
Comfort ev'ry sufferer Watching late in pain; Those who plan some evil From
their sin restrain.
Through the long night watches Maythine angels spreadTheir white wings
above me, Watching round my bed.
Glory to the Father, Glory to the Son, And to thee, blest Spirit, Whilst all ages
run.

Thomas Goodwinon their callto stay - Whereas otherwise he would have
gone further, and certainly would. When the keys are laid aside that should
unlock the cupboard, whence the children should have bread, they are like to
lose their suppers. Now these keys are prayers. If Paul be given them, it must
be by prayer, Philemon 1: 22.
Richard Sibbes - Beg of Christ likewise that he would staywith us; as they in
the gospel, whenhe made as if he would have gone forward from them, Luke
24:29, constrainedhim to stay, saying, ‘Abide with us: for it is towards
evening, and the day is far spent;’ and he went in to tarry with them. So, lay
we hold on Christ, by the means of salvation;stay him with us by prayer and
importunity, especiallywhenthe night of death, and error, and superstition
comes. Say, ‘Lord, night is near, stay with us, depart not from us.’ Lay an
holy violence upon God, as Jacobdid: ‘Thou shall not go hence.’Lay hold on
him by prayer, and do not leave him till we have drawn virtue and gotsome
blessing from him; he must be kept by entreaty.
Charles Erdman - No story tells us more impressively the truth that a divine
Saviour walks beside us all the way of our earthly journey. It is pathetic that
our eyes are so often dimmed by unbelief that we fail to realize his presence.
We walk and are sad while we might be rejoicing in his companionship. It
may be as the Scriptures are opened to us, or as we meet to break bread in his
name, that our blindness will be removed; and surely when the journey ends
and we enter the home toward which we are moving, we shall see him face to
face, and the vision will not fade in deepening twilight, but grow more glorious
through the eternalday. (Gospelof Luke)
J C Ryle - Let us mark, finally, in these verses, how much Christ loves to be
entreatedby His people. We are told, that when the disciples drew nigh to
Emmaus, our Lord “made as though he would have gone further.” He desired
to see if they were wearyof His conversation. But it was not so. “They

constrainedHim, saying, abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is
far spent. And He went in to tarry with them.”
Cases like this are not uncommon in Scripture. Our Lord sees it goodfor us to
prove our love, by withholding mercies till we ask for them. He does not
always force His gifts upon us, unsought and unsolicited. He loves to draw out
our desires, and to compel us to exercise our spiritual affections, by waiting
for our prayers. He dealt so with JacobatPeniel. “Let me go,” He said, “for
the day breaketh.” And then came the noble declarationfrom Jacob’s lips, “I
will not let thee go exceptthou bless me.” (Gen. 32:26.)The story of the
Canaanitishmother, the story of the healing of two blind men at Jericho, the
story of the nobleman at Capernaum, the parables of the unjust judge and
friend at midnight, are all meant to teachthe same lesson. All show that our
Lord loves to be entreated, and likes importunity.
Let us acton this principle in all our prayers, if we know anything of praying.
Let us ask much, and ask often, and lose nothing for want of asking. Let us
not be like the Jewishking who smote three times on the ground, and then
stayed his hand. (2 Kings 13:18.) Let us rather remember the words of
David’s Psalm, “Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.” (Psal. 81:10)It is the
man who puts a holy constrainton Christ in prayer, who enjoys much of
Christ’s manifested presence.
Abide with us! - James Smith, "Foodfor the Soul" 1867
So said the disciples when Jesus was aboutto leave them — and so shall we
say, if we know the sweetnessofHis presence. WhenJesus comes and
manifests Himself, when He draws out our souls into sweetcommunion with
Himself — then . . .
we enjoy a Heaven on earth,
our hearts glow with gratitude and burn with love,
we are filled with joy, and

dread nothing so much as His leaving us!
Then we cry, "Abide with us!"
Precious Lord Jesus . . .
come and visit my soul,
reveal Your glory,
shed abroad Your love in my heart, and
draw me into the closest, sweetestcommunion with Yourself!
It was getting towardevening - Vance Havner alluded to the Roadto Emmaus
in his devotional - Home Before Dark - I have been intrigued by the title of a
fine book about the hereafter. It reads, Home Before Dark. When I was a little
boy, it was an unwritten law of the Medes and Persians that I should always
be home before dark. No exceptions, no argument. Father and I didn't
dialogue much in those days!
Now I'm at the other end of my life span and I still want to gethome before
dark in more ways than one. For one thing, I pray it will be before dark comes
in the loss of my faculties so that I become a helpless vegetable like the sad
sights I see in some homes for the aged—poorhunks of flesh keptgoing by
machines that prolong death instead of life. I have no control over such a
possibility, but I'd like to go home before that dark sets in.
I want to go home before the dark when I can no longer preach. "I must work
the works ofhim that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man

can work" (John 9:4). Samuel Johnsoncarried a watchwith an inscription
inside that read THE NIGHT COMETH.
DoctorWilliam Culbertson of MoodyBible Institute cherisheda poem by
John Oxenham which ran like this:
Lord, when Thou seestthat my work is done,
Let me not linger on,
With failing powers,
Adown the weary hours,—
A workless workerin a world of work.
But, with a word,
Just bid me home,
And I will come
Right gladly,—
Yea, right gladly
Will I come.
I want to go home before dark, before some big blunder on the home stretch,
some tragic mistake in old age, whether within or beyond my control, which
everyone, forgetful of all the goodthings of the years before, would remember.
There is no fool like an old fool. I remember the prayer of one dear saint,
"Lord, keepme from becoming a wickedold man!" Christians are saved but
never safe so far as witness and example are concerned, never until we reach
heaven. The bark can perish in the haven's mouth!

I want to go home before darkness settles onthis world. The lights are going
out everywhere these days. It is the darkness that precedes the dawn.
Abide with me, fastfalls the eventide;
The darkness deepens;Lord, with me abide.
HENRY F. LYTE
Like the wearydisciples on the road to Emmaus, I would say, "Lord, it is
toward evening and the day is far spent" (see Luke 24:29), not only the day of
my life but the day of this age. Be not only Guest but Host at my table and
make Thyself known in the breaking of the bread.
O. Henry, the famed short-story writer, uttered as his lastwords, "I don't
want to go home in the dark." Neither do you nor I! I want to make it to that
better land of which I read, "... there shall be no night there" (Revelation
21:25).
Whateveryou do, make sure that you get home before it is dark, while the day
of grace is still yours. When that day passes, itwill be too late. "Judas went
out... and it was night" (John 13:30). The soul that departs from Jesus Christ
always walks into the night. Get home before dark. (from Chapter 28 - Hope
Thou in God)
Vance Havner - The Christ of the Emmaus Road
Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent (Luke 24:29)

Jesus had been crucified and buried, and now, three days later, two lonely
disciples were trudging home to Emmaus, sevenmiles out of Jerusalem. They
should have been singing, but instead they were sad. They had a heartache
instead of a hallelujah. What was meant to be the ground of their hope had
become the cause of their doubt, and what should have been a reasonfor
delight had become their despair. They said, "Todayis the third day," and
because it was, they should have been hilarious. Both the written Word and
the living Word had said He would rise on that day. But they were half-
believing and half-doubting: "... we trusted that it had been he which should
have redeemedIsrael..."—there wastheir faith; "... to day is the third day
since these things were done" (Luke 24:21)—there lay their doubt.
They were right in their facts but wrong in their conclusion. It was the third
day, and exactly because it was, they should not have been sad. The womanat
Jacob's wellwas right in her facts: "... thou hast nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep...," but wrong in her conclusion:"... whence then hast thou that
living water?" (John 4:11). These disciples had their chronologyright and
their theologyright, but they had no doxology!
All overAmerica I meet modern disciples of the Emmaus Road. Some admit
their condition; they come forward in meetings with wet eyes or write letters
full of doubt and despondency. Others are too proud or afraid to admit the
truth that they are disappointed, not in the Lord, but in their experience of
Him. "Theytrusted," like the Emmaus disciples, but delight has become
despair. They wouldn't have anyone in the world know that their experience is
not real, so they keepgoing through the motions of religious activity in a form
without force. They saythe words and sing the songs, but they are like
fountains in public squares where water gushes out of lips that never taste it.
These disciples would be awfully embarrassed, afterall these years, to confess
that they are Emmaus Christians. Yet, when they are alone with their souls
and absolutelyhonest, they know that they live in the bitterness of Romans 7,
not in the blessedness ofRomans 8. It is not that they don't believe the

doctrines; a fundamentalist canbe as dry as a modernist. Some are not
burdened any more about it. They are resignedto live at a poor dying rate,
their love so faint, so cold to Christ, and His love for them so great. At least
the Emmaus disciples were troubled over the situation!
Some of the Emmaus disciples are ministers. Some are just out of school, half-
believing, half-doubting, having been taught to doubt the Bible instead of
believing it. Others are older and have grown disillusioned, disappointed in
men they once trusted, cynical over the inconsistencies andhypocrisies of
church life. They started out with starry eyes but their golden dreams have
lost their glow in the rat-race of religious politics. Too many have tended the
vineyards of others to the neglectof their own; they work harder than ever
trying to pump waterout of a dry well. My heart goes out to them. They do
not want to be this way. I do not believe a man would enter the ministry at all
unless he had some sortof heavenly vision. But there are more ministers than
we realize who secretlyhunger for a deeper experience of Jesus Christ, and
whose jaded spirits need quickening because they have left their first love and
lost the joy of their salvation. Some of them show up in strange meetings and
sample queer doctrines and fall in with odd sects, allin desperation, like a
drowning man clutching at a straw.
I am convincedthat our greatesttrouble is not false doctrine or worldliness
but an inadequate experience of Jesus Christ. A handful of men and women
who loved Jesus and were filled with the Spirit shook the world one time. It
could be done again, but never by Emmaus disciples like those who were
living on the memory of a dead Christ instead of in communion with the living
Lord. And yet, within an hour or two, the same disciples became radiant
witnesses.It was said of Thomas Chalmers that he had "an original
experience of Jesus Christ." It was his own, not somebody else's. Some ofus
live on a mosaic of other people's experiences, getting our spiritual thrills by
proxy. We read of John Wesley's heartwarming and Hudson Taylor's crisis

and Dwight L. Moody's enduement, but if we get no further, these men
become not our inspiration but our despair.
The living Christ walks beside us, ready to change us from weaklings to
witnesses,to give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He may
not meet us in a blinding vision or in thrilling ecstasy, but if we have trusted
him, and yet our faith has grown dim and dry and disappointing, we have a
right to a brand-new experience of the living Christ which will turn us around
on the Emmaus Road, straighten our drooping shoulders, and start us out in
another direction to bless others even as we have been blessed.
Lord Jesus, make thyself to me
A living, bright reality,
More pleasantto faith's vision keen
Than any outward objectseen;
More dear, more intimately nigh
Than e'en the sweetestearthlytie.
When it comes to a deeper experience of Christ, too many only deplore the
lack of it; some discuss theories about it, a few describe how to have it, but too
few demonstrate it. Actually, however, we should not talk so much about "it."
Too many are seeking "it" and when they find "it" they think they have
arrived. What we need is not merely "it," an experience, but "Him." Some
make much of experiences ofthe Holy Spirit, but F. B. Meyersaid long ago
that we should beware of making the Holy Spirit the figurehead of any
movement. The Holy Spirit testifies of our Lord, not of Himself. The Spirit
was not yet given because Jesus wasnot yet glorified (John 7:39). That speaks
of Pentecost, ofcourse, but it is also true that the Holy Spirit never comes in

blessing until Jesus is glorified, whether in individual blessing or in church
revival. We would do well to study these two not yets.
The Emmaus experience had four characteristics thatmark every genuine
meeting with the Lord. First, it was true to the Scriptures. The risen Lord
reproved those disciples for being slow of heart to believe the prophets, and
"beginning at Moses andall the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). Not only does the
Spirit testify of our Lord, but so do the Scriptures. Our Lord openedthe
Scriptures, opened the disciples'eyes, and opened their understanding—and
He began by opening the Scriptures. We err because we know not the
Scriptures. Our eyes are holden if we do not searchthe Scriptures that testify
of Him. Betterto be slow of head to understand than slow of heart to believe!
The Scriptures are like a railroad track;some dear souls are like a locomotive
off the track, stuck in the mud, with only the whistle blowing.
Let it be noted that our Lord beganwith Moses. If men will not believe Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though One rose from the
dead. Men who doubt or deny the inspiration of the Old Testamentpart
company with Jesus Christ. A genuine experience of Him begins with an open
Bible: "... faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans
10:17). I do not agree with those who think we should not begin with the Bible
but should relate our experience when dealing with an unsaved man. Philip
beganat an Old Testamentverse and preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch.
Our Lord defeatedthe devil with three verses from Deuteronomy. Our
weaponis the Word of God.
The living Word manifests Himself in line with the written Word. Any
spiritual experience that is not Bible-basedis not of God but of the devil. It
may be spiritual, but it is the wrong spirit!

In the secondplace, the experience of the Emmaus disciples stirred their
hearts. They said one to another, "Did not our heart burn within us, while he
talkedwith us by the way, and while he openedto us the scriptures?" (Luke
24:32). He gave them holy heartburn. A genuine experience of the Lord is
basedon Scripture, not our feelings, but that does not mean that our feelings
are unaffected. We are so afraid of feeling these days that it has become
almost the unpardonable sin to say"Amen" at prayer meeting. We are not
savedbecause we feelsaved, but being savedought to make us happy. There
never was a real revival that did not produce heartburn and hallelujahs. For
some years now we have been having "revivals" speciallydesignednot to
arouse anybody, and they are certainly working out as planned. Plenty of
church members are shakyabout what they believe, while not many are
shakenby what they believe. The church militant has become the church
complacent. We are so afraid of too much feeling that we are almost past
feeling. Afraid of too much, we make out with too little. Deadmen do not sing
or cry; one has to be alive to have feeling, which is true of churches as well.
We have moved from burning hearts to itching ears.
John WesleysetEngland on fire after his heart was strangelywarmed. In that
drab period betweenthe death of the Puritans and the birth of the Methodists
it was an Emmaus heartburn that changedthe course ofhistory.
Thy soul must overflow if thou
Another's soulwouldst reach;
It takes the overflow of heart
To give the lips full speech.
Furthermore, the Emmaus experience showedup at home. "Abide with us,"
the wearydisciples besoughttheir Lord, "for it is toward evening, and the day
is far spent" (Luke 24:29). It is toward evening in the lives of many of us; it is

toward the end of the age with all of us. It is later than we think. The time is
short and we need to pray:
Abide with me from morn till eve,
For without Thee I cannotlive;
For without Thee I cannotdie.
Neverwas the old hymn more timely:
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys growndim, its glories pass away;
Change and decayis all around I see;
O Thou, who changestnot, abide with me."
It is not enough to see the Lord in the Scriptures. It is not enough that He stirs
our hearts. Feelings will rise and fall, and zeal will flag. We need His abiding
presence all the time. Mind you, He did not manifest Himself at Emmaus in a
greatsermon or a dazzling performance, but in the breaking of bread, the
simplest and plainest of things. That was not a miraculous meal like the
feeding of the multitude, nor a specialmeal like the Lord's Supper. It was a
common household meal, and yet it was miraculous and specialbecause His
presence made it so.

If ever our homes needed the Lord, it is now. The domestic life of America is
one vast disasterarea. Our homes have gone to pieces, andunless Christ gets
into more of them we face worse evils here than any abroad.
Christians need a fresh revelationof the Lord in their homes. Too often we lay
aside our Christian professionwith our Sunday clothes, behaving worstbefore
those who love us most. He is a poor saint who smiles at everybody else's table
and sits at his own like such a sonof Belialthat one cannot speak to him.
Some have Sunday-morning grace and Bible-conference grace, but no kitchen
or living-room grace. If the Saviour cannotmanifest Himself at your
breakfasttable He will not shine through you at any other table. If it takes
two cups of coffee to make you fit to live with of a morning, you need the
Emmaus experience.
Finally, this experience of the lonely disciples sent them out to witness:"...
they told what things were done in the way..." (Luke 24:35). They did not sit
with folded hands and congratulate eachother. It was a day of goodtidings
and they did not hold their peace. One thinks of the spiritual with the constant
refrain, "I couldn't keepit to myself." The disciples hurried back to
Jerusalemto tell others, and as they witnessed, the Lord appeared again!He
said to them, "... ye are witnessesofthese things" (Luke 24:48).
We are awfully short on the kind of Christian experience that makes us tell
about Him. Some want to be His lawyers, arguing His case,but while He
sometimes needs apologists,He needs apostles more. We do not have a secret
to be hidden but a story to be heralded. Sometimes it is easierto give a check
for the telling of the story in Africa than to tell it around the corner. A fresh
experience of the Lord gives witnessing its dynamic. Some have the desire and
know the directions, but they don't do it because they lack dynamic. When the
Lord takes overHe cures us of believing the heresy that only a few special
people are missionaries.

How does one come into the Emmaus experience? What did those disciples
do? Forone thing, they were concerned. At leastthey were discussing it; it
was on their minds and lay heavy on their hearts. Too many of us do not care.
Then they constrainedHim when "he made as though he would have gone
further" (Luke 24:28). Our Lord does not force Himself upon us—He will go
on if we do not constrainHim—yet He longs to abide with us. Have you not, in
the company of someone you loved, moved as though you would be going, yet
inwardly you hoped you would be askedto remain? He is the Guestwho
would go on. The deeperthings of God pass on if we do not lay hold upon
them. But He is also the Guest who will come in: "Behold, I stand at the door,
and knock:if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in..."
(Revelation3:20). Moreover, He is the Guestwho becomes the Host: "I... will
sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation3:20). He comes in as the Guest;
He abides as the Host. It was that way at Cana and Emmaus. It will be so with
you.
For most of us the top item on the agenda of life is a new experience of the
living Christ, one that is true to the Scriptures, stirs our hearts, shows up at
home, and sends us forth to witness until, in the glow of that testimony, He
appears again!
HYMNS RELATED TO LUKE 24:29
Abide with Me (Lyte)
Abide with Me, ’Tis Eventide
Abide with Us, Our Savior
Abide with Us, the Day Is Waning
As Now the Sun’s Declining Rays
Come In and Abide

Day, O Lord, Is Spent, The
Day Is Gently Sinking to a Close, The
Hail, Tranquil Hour of Closing Day
Jesus, Savior, HearMy Call
PentecostalPower, The
Since Without You We Do No Good
Tarry with Me (Scott)
Tarry with Me (Smith)
WILLIAM BARCLAY
This is another of the immortal short stories of the world.
(i) It tells of two men who were walking towards the sunset. It has been
suggestedthat that is the very reasonwhy they did not recognize Jesus.
Emmaus was westof Jerusalem. The sun was sinking, and the setting sun so
dazzled them that they did not know their Lord. Howeverthat may be, it is
true that the Christian is a man who walks not towards the sunset but towards
the sunrise. Long ago it was said to the children of Israelthat they journeyed
in the wilderness towards the sunrising. (Numbers 21:11.)The Christian goes
onwards, not to a night which falls, but to a dawn which breaks--and that is
what, in their sorrow and their disappointment, the two on the Emmaus road
had not realized.

(ii) It tells us of the ability of Jesus to make sense ofthings. The whole
situation seemedto these two men to have no explanation. Their hopes and
dreams were shattered. There is all the poignant, wistful, bewilderedregret in
the world in their sorrowing words, "We were hoping that he was the one who
was going to rescue Israel." Theywere the words of men whose hopes were
dead and buried. Then Jesus came and talked with them, and the meaning of
life became clearand the darkness became light. A story-tellermakes one of
his characters sayto the one with whom he has fallen in love, "I never knew
what life meant until I saw it in your eyes." It is only in Jesus that, even in the
bewildering times, we learn what life means.
(iii) It tells us of the courtesyof Jesus. He made as if he would have gone on.
He would not force himself upon them; he awaitedtheir invitation to come in.
God gave to men the greatestandthe most perilous gift in the world, the gift
of free-will; we can use it to invite Christ to enter our lives or to allow him to
pass on.
(iv) It tells how he was knownto them in the breaking of bread. This always
sounds a little as if it meant the sacrament;but it does not. It was at an
ordinary meal in an ordinary house, when an ordinary loaf was being divided,
that these men recognizedJesus. It has been beautifully suggestedthat
perhaps they were present at the feeding of the five thousand, and, as he
broke the bread in their cottage home, they recognizedhis hands again. It is
not only at the communion table we can be with Christ; we can be with him at
the dinner table too. He is not only the host in his Church; he is the guestin
every home. Fay Inchfawn wrote,
Sometimes, when everything goes wrong;
When days are short and nights are long;

When wash-day brings so dull a sky
That not a single thing will dry.
And when the kitchen chimney smokes,
And when there's naught so 'queer' as folks!
When friends deplore my faded youth,
And when the baby cuts a tooth.
While John, the baby last but one,
Clings round my skirts till day is done;
And fat, good-temperedJane is glum,
And butcher's man forgets to come.
Sometimes I sayon days like these,

I geta sudden gleam of bliss.
Not on some sunny day of ease,
He'll come ... but on a day like this!
The Christian lives always and everywhere in a Christ-filled world.
BRIAN BELL
FROM MOURNERS TO MISSIONARIES!(28-25)
2.1. WELCOMING HIM! (28,29)
2.2. Indicated he would have gone further – Christ testing them to see if they
really
desired to abide with Him.
2.2.1. He awaitedtheir invitation to come in.
2.3. What a blessing for them that they were given to hospitality!
2.3.1. Whatthey would have missed had they not been!
2.4. Abide with us –
2.4.1. Didyou know that the word religion implies a bond.
2.4.2. The 2nd ½ of the word comes from the Latin root ligare “to bind”.

2.4.3. Like our word ligament (the bond of fibrous tissue that holds the bones
together)
2.4.4. The Christian religion then implies our link/bond w/Christ (that which
bonds us togetherw/Him in a love-relationship).
2.4.4.1. Now, thatlove-relationship canhardly be maintained w/a dead
person who lived 2000 yrs ago, & now has passedentirely
beyond human contact???
2.5. Abide Illustration: Dr. Howard Hendricks tells of a small town in Texas
where
one year the schoolburned to the ground with the loss ofmore than 200 lives,
because they didn’t have a sprinkler system. They beganto rebuild after the
initial
shock had passedand calledin the foremostcompany in fire prevention
equipment
to install a sprinkler system. When the new schoolwas openedfor public
inspection, guides pointed out the new sprinklers in eachroom, to alleviate
fears of
another disaster. The school operatedwithout incident for a number of years,
then
they needed to add on to the existing structure. As work progressed, they
made a
startling discovery. The new fire extinguishing equipment had never been
connectedto the water supply! They had the latestin technologyand
equipment,
yet it was entirely useless!

2
2.5.1. Jn.15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me,
and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
2.5.2. Or, using the analogyabove, “I am the water supply, you are the
piping system. He who is connectedto the watersupply, and I
connectedto him, their sprinkler heads work properly; for without
Me you can do nothing.”
2.6. DISCERNING HIM! (30,31)
2.7. They offered Him hospitality, & He acceptedit; & then He gave them
hospitality!
2.7.1. A common meal turned into a communion meal.
An ordinary meal turns into a sacramentalmeal.
2.8. Took, blessed, broke, & gave – a familiar act.
2.9. Jesus came & talked to them, when their hopes were dead & buried.
2.9.1. Butnow the meaning of life became clear& the darkness became light.
2.10. Some ordinary disciples, on an ordinary road, to an ordinary town, in an
ordinary
home, eating an ordinary meal, but who invited an extraordinary guest…in!
2.10.1.And He vanished from their sight!
2.11. Here were 2 people in a very distressedstate, unable to think straight.
2.11.1.1stof all Jesus askedquestions:He gotthem to talk, establisheda
relationship, and so made them receptive to what He had to say.
2.11.2.2nd He explained the Scripture - showing them that what had been

puzzling them.
2.11.3.Finally, He revealedhis presence. “Staywith us” they had said to
him on reaching Emmaus. In the deepestsense He did, even after
they ceasedto see Him.
2.12. REJOICING IN HIM! (32)
2.13. Heartburn within us….the goodkind!
2.13.1.Didn’t you feel something different when we spoke with Him?
2.13.2.This is experiential – I guess Experience canbe legit!
2.13.2.1.Weusually hear of it in the negative.
2.14. While other teachers only touch the ear, He penetrates & touches the
heart.
HENRY BURTON
They had now reachedEmmaus, the limit of their journey, but the two
disciples cannot lose the company of One whose words have opened to them a
new and a bright world; and though He was evidently going on farther, they
constrainedHim to abide with them, as it was towards evening and the day
was far spent. And He went in to tarry with them, though not for long. Sitting
down to meat, the StrangerGuest, without any apology, takes the place of the
host, and blessing the bread, He breaks and gives to them. Was it the uplifted
face threw them back on the old, familiar days? Or did they read the nail-
mark in His hand? We do not know; but in an instant the veil in which He had
enfolded Himself was withdrawn, and they knew Him; it was the Lord
Himself, the risen Jesus!In a moment the hush of a greatawe fell upon them,
and before they had time to embrace Him whom they had loved so

passionately, indeedbefore their lips could frame an exclamationof surprise,
He had vanished; He "became invisible" to them, as it reads, passing out of
their sight like a dissolving cloud. And when they did recoverthemselves it
was not to speak His name-there was no need of that-but to say one to
another, "Was not our heart burning within us while He spake to us in the
way, while He opened to us the Scriptures?" It was to them a bright
Apocalypse, "the Revelationof Jesus Christ," who was dead, and is alive for
evermore; and all forgetful of their errand, and though it is evening, they
leave Emmans at once, their winged feet not heeding the sixty furlongs now, as
they haste to Jerusalemto announce to the eleven, and to the rest, that Jesus
has indeed risen, and has appeared unto them.
THOMAS CONSTABLE
Verse 28-29
Jesus did not force these disciples to believe or to entertain Him. He whetted
their spiritual appetites and then left those decisions up to them. However,
God"s Spirit had been at work in their hearts, and they did not resist His
working. Consequentlythey wanted to hear more. They urged Him to stay
with them for further fellowship and illumination. This was obviously more
than just a gracious offerreflecting easternhospitality. Jesus naturally
acceptedtheir invitation. He always gives more to those who receive and
believe His words (cf. Revelation3:20).
HOW CLOSE IS GOD TO MAN

Dr. W. A. Criswell
Luke 24:28-31
2-28-65 10:50 a.m.
I am preaching today on How Close Godis to Man, and how close in Him we
can be to eachother; and all of us, all the time, when we have got the love of
the Lord in our souls, happy and triumphant, glad and glorious, singing and
praising; it is that kind of a sermon. And if God will help me, I hope out of
the Word of the Lord you cansee it; if the Lord will bless me as I preach.
Now turn in your Bible to the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospelof Luke;
Luke 24. I am going to read a passagethat will be the backgroundof the
message;Luke 24, verses 28 through 31 [Luke 24:28-31], and then verses 36
through 43 [Luke 24:36-43]. Now the first part, Luke 24:28;what I am
reading here is the Lord Jesus, raisedfrom the dead, resurrected[Luke 24:1-
7]—not in the days of His flesh—immortalized, glorified, He is eating. Watch
Him eat:
And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went—
the two disciples going home to Emmaus—

And He, the unknown Christ, raised from the dead [Luke 24:13-161]:
made as though He would have gone further.
But they constrainedHim, saying, Abide with us: it is towardevening, and the
day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them.
And it came to pass, as He satat meat with them—
as He ate supper with them—
He took bread, and blessedit, and brake, and gave to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their
sight.
[Luke 24:28-31]
Resurrected, raisedfrom the dead at supper table!
Now againat verse 36;the elevendisciples are in the upper room:
And as they talked to one another, Jesus Himself stoodin the midst of them,
and said Shalom, Peace be unto you.

But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed they had seena spirit.
And He said unto them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your hearts?
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself:handle Me, and see;for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see Me have.
And when He had thus spoken, He showedthem His hands and His feet.
And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them,
Have you here any thing to eat, have you here any meat? And they gave Him
a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat
before them.
[Luke 24:36-43]
Jesus, raisedfrom the dead, glorified, immortalized, breaking bread with His
disciples;eating broiled fish and the sweetnessofthe honeycomb [Luke 24:41-
42].
In the twenty-sixth chapter of the First Gospel, the Lord said to His disciples
when He instituted the holy supper, He said, “Verily I sayunto you, I will
drink no more henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink
it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” [Matthew 26:29]. And in keeping
with that promise that even in glory we should rejoice togetherat the table of

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