Two Disciples Went From Despair to Hope, October 15

Two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. Luke 24:13, 14. On the first day of the week after Christ's crucifixion, the disciples had everything to fill their hearts with rejoicing. But this day was not a day of joy to all. To some it was a day of uncertainty, confusion, and perplexity.... The women brought tidings that ... positively affirmed that Christ had risen from the dead, and that they themselves had seen Jesus alive in the garden. But still the disciples seemed unbelieving. Their hopes had died with Christ. And when the news of His resurrection was brought to them, it was so different from what they had anticipated that they could not believe it.... From eyewitnesses some of the disciples had obtained quite a full account of the events of Friday. Others beheld the scenes of the crucifixion with their own eyes. In the afternoon of the first day of the week, two of the disciples, restless and unhappy, decided to return to their home in Emmaus, a village about eight miles from Jerusalem.... They had not advanced far on their journey when they were joined by a stranger. But they were so absorbed in their gloom and disappointment that they did not observe Him closely. They continued their conversation, expressing the thoughts of their hearts.... Jesus knew that their hearts were bound up with Him in love, and He longed to take them in His arms and wipe away their tears, and put joy and gladness in their hearts. But He must first give them lessons that they would never forget.... They told Him of their disappointment in regard to their Master, “how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.” With hearts sore with disappointment and with quivering lips they said, “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.” Why did not the disciples remember Christ's words, and realize that events were to be as they had been? Why did not they realize that the last part of His disclosure would be just as verily fulfilled as the first part, that the third day He would rise again? This was the part they should have remembered. The priests and rulers did not forget this.—Manuscript 113, 1897.