{"id":6601,"date":"2021-07-08T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T00:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6601"},"modified":"2021-10-06T04:14:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T20:14:57","slug":"275-emmaus-messianic-fulfillment-in-saint-lukes-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6601","title":{"rendered":"275. Emmaus: Messianic Fulfillment in Saint Luke\u2019s Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong><sup>44\u00a0<\/sup>Then he said to them, \u201cThese are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you &#8211; that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.\u201d\u00a0<sup>45\u00a0<\/sup>Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,\u00a0<sup>46\u00a0<\/sup>and he said to them, \u201cThus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,\u00a0<sup>47\u00a0<\/sup>and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.\u00a0<sup>48\u00a0<\/sup>You are witnesses of these things.\u00a0<sup>49\u00a0<\/sup>And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.\u201d<\/strong><\/span> [<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Luke 24:44-49<\/span>, <em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Michelangelo-Buonarroti-The-Fall-and-Expulsion-from-Garden-of-Eden-1509-10.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6602\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Michelangelo-Buonarroti-The-Fall-and-Expulsion-from-Garden-of-Eden-1509-10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"899\" height=\"394\" \/>\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden, 1509-10<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Luke\u2019s Gospel begins by affirming that many other writers have set down a record of the events concerning Jesus. The events recorded are referred to as \u201cevents which have been brought to fulfillment among us\u201d (Luke 1:1). Throughout the Gospel, Luke\u2019s use of the concept of fulfillment underlines that all these events are guided by God and that ancient expectations are to be realized. Concerning the Emmaus story, the fulfillment of Scriptures in the death and resurrection of the Messiah is stressed as one of its major themes. As part of the fulfillment of prophecy, the necessity of\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/suffering\">suffering<\/a>\u00a0was made clear by the Risen One.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In a systematic way, Luke strategically places in key moments throughout Chapter 24 the spoken words of Jesus to underscore the fact that the story of Jesus that he has been telling only makes sense as the great climax of the story told by Moses, the prophets and the psalms. The vision of messianic suffering is most clearly evoked by reproducing repetitively the words and images of suffering in the following verses:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Verse 7: <strong><sup>\u201c<\/sup><\/strong>that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Verse 26: \u201cWas it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Verse 44: \u201cThese are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you\u2014that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 15px;\">1. Luke 24 and Genesis 3<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This messianic suffering, in essence, is the story of how the creator God is saving the world through Israel, but specifically through the visible words and actions of Jesus of Nazareth. In <em>The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is<\/em>, N.T. Wright sees Luke\u2019s story-line as clearly inviting the readers to compare and contrast the central theme in Luke 24 with Genesis 3.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the garden of Eden, the (first) man and woman begin their mission on earth, which is to be God\u2019s image and likeness in the world, bringing God\u2019s love and care, beauty and order upon the whole creation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The woman, succumbing to the words of the tempter, took the forbidden fruit and ate it with the man. Thereupon, \u201cthe eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves\u201d (Gen 3:7). In sorrow, what ensued was the explosion of manifestations of self-interests on issues of honour and shame before God. This spurred escapist finger-pointing by both the man and the woman in futile attempts at denying personal responsibility (the man accusing the woman, the woman the snake). In sin, guilt and shame, they were eventually banished to the outside world of thorns and thistles, toil and moil (Gen 3:17-18).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This story of the first man and woman is evoked in the road to Emmaus story, except that Luke represents the Genesis story in reverse. The two disciples (assuming them to be Cleopas and wife, see John 19:25), are likewise now walking in sorrow and shame, with their dreams (hopes) in tatters. After going through a heart-burning experience on the road as Jesus explained the Scriptures to them, and having their eyes \u201copened\u201d to recognize the Risen Lord at the breaking of the bread, they again picked up their mission and got on the road to return to Jerusalem. In so doing, they \u201c<strong><em>thereby become part of the vanguard for God\u2019s project of restoring the world in which his image-bearers take his forgiving love and wise ordering \u2013 that is, his kingdom \u2013 to the whole of creation<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (Wright, p.164).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is as if Luke has systematically inserted the number of meal scenes in his Gospel, so that the Last Supper was the seventh, the number reminding us that the week of the original creation is over. The meal at Emmaus then, was the eighth meal scene, and being on the Easter Day, it marked the beginning of <strong><em>the new creation \u2013 the arrival of God\u2019s new world order<\/em><\/strong>. Israel\u2019s exile is now really over. Humanity\u2019s exile from the Garden of Eden is finally over. Now, starting with Jesus\u2019 disciples, the human race must begin to reckon with the fact that the human race has not only been beneficiaries of a new lease of life in God\u2019s new world order through the work of Jesus Christ, but that they are also its ambassadors and witnesses.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 15px;\">2. Luke 2 and Psalms 42 and 43<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In this new world, there will be a new understanding of who Jesus is.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Staying in the Temple after the Feast of the Passover talking to the religious elders while his parents left Jerusalem for home with family and friends, Jesus said to the worried-sick parents three days later: \u201c<strong><em>Did you not know<\/em><\/strong> that I would be about my Father\u2019s business?\u201d (2:49). His parents had suffered three agonsing days looking for him. They had to rush back to Jerusalem to find him again. And they did not understand what he was saying to them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Some two decades later, so Luke has it, another couple took to the road and left Jerusalem for home in Emmaus. They, too, have waited three agonising days before hitting the road away from Jerusalem. Again, at what they thought was their destination, Emmaus, they heard Jesus say, \u201c<strong><em>Did you not know<\/em><\/strong>\u2026\u201d that the Messiah must suffer all these things before entering into his glory? Then, their eyes were opened at the breaking of the bread, and they rushed back to Jerusalem, full of excitement and joy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Such a framing device by Luke involving a departure from Jerusalem and a rushing return reminds readers of Psalms 42 and 43.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In Luke 2, Mary and Joseph were thirsting to see Jesus their Son and, away from Jerusalem, living with sorrow and tears for not finding him. In Luke 24, another couple in sorrow finally found the true light and truth of God in the person of Jesus, through the exposition of Scriptures, and the breaking of the bread. Then, they too, are led back to Jerusalem, to the city of God, and back to the place of hope, promise, and fulfillment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Evoking the image of return from the place of tears to the place of hope and joy<\/em><\/strong> in Psalm 43:4, Luke concludes his Gospel with these words: \u201cAnd they returned to Jerusalem with great joy,\u00a0and were continually in the temple blessing God.\u201d (24:52-53). On the road to Emmaus, God\u2019s light and truth had come to lead the two disciples into His presence, where despondence gave way to joy, and mourning to dancing. How did that happen? It happened, in the first place, <strong><em>because the Messiah has gone to the place of pain<\/em><\/strong>, where the people of Israel and indeed of the whole world were in distress. It was <strong><em>the place of suffering humanity<\/em><\/strong>. Just as Isaiah\u2019s Suffering Servant had experienced, the Messiah has been cast down, oppressed by the enemies, savaged and disfigured.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He suffered deep rejection and humiliation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In Gethsemane, in agonising prayers, he quoted Psalms 42 and 43, saying, \u201cMy soul is exceedingly sorrowful.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And on the cross, he acted out Psalm 42:9, pleading, \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forgotten me?\u201d (Mark 15:34).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Freely, he entered into deep suffering for the suffering Israel, and he went into exile from the Garden of Eden, to redeem all who were in exile from the Garden. And God accepted all that he has done and stood for in utter human freedom, in full commitment and orientation of the human will to the vision of God. God affirmed them as very good, and raised him from the dead.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jesus\u2019 ministry and passion that climaxed in his crucifixion and resurrection, taken as a whole, makes up the stuff of true Christianity. In his life and work, on the cross and in the resurrection, he has become the very embodiment of God\u2019s light and truth that Psalm 43 speaks of and the Evangelist John writes about \u2013 \u201cThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it\u201d (John 1:5). In our darkest hour, God\u2019s light and truth are always there.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 15px;\">3. From Temple Worship to the Breaking of the Bread<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Today, the Eucharist is firmly established as the paramount symbol where God\u2019s presence is deeply felt. In Luke\u2019s time, he sought to establish the central symbol of Jesus breaking the bread by carefully repeating it in his narrative. It stands at the heart of the Emmaus story where Jesus is recognized when he takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it \u2013 the familiar fourfold meal pattern. The same is related by the two disciples in their excited announcement to the others in Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Luke\u2019s schema is patently clear, considering where he recounted the fourfold meal pattern in the breaking of the bread by Jesus:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Before the Last Supper, Luke narrated Jesus breaking bread in the miracle at the feeding of the five thousand.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">At the Last Supper, Jesus broke the bread with his apostles.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">At Emmaus, he broke bread with the two disciples.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Then, in his summary of the life of the new Church, Luke includes \u201cthe breaking of the bread\u201d as one of the four marks that characterize the communal living (Acts 2:42).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">To include the breaking of the bread in the list that characterizes the communal life in the era of the Church, suggests evidently that <strong><em>bread-breaking carried particular significance<\/em><\/strong>. Luke\u2019s readers in the early church, his original, first readers, would have clearly taken note that Luke has brought together (i) the exposition of Scriptures, and (ii) the breaking of the bread, as <strong><em>Word <u>and<\/u> Sacrament<\/em><\/strong>, which stand for the story and the symbol of the central and normative marks of communal life in the incipient church. Temple worship is henceforth replaced by the breaking of the bread in Jesus\u2019 name.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In all this, Luke is saying that competent exposition of the Scriptures to bring out the true story about the Messiah warms hearts and grows faith, and the Lord of light and truth is known at the breaking of the bread. The two belong together, interpreting each other for understanding and living. Together, they point to the new world, this new creation to which believers are sent to promote the vision and the values of the kingdom of God. Jesus the Messiah was all about inaugurating and advancing the kingdom of God, on earth as in heaven. In whatever they do, disciples of Jesus find their true home in kingdom-promotion work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, July 2021. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><u><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/u> <\/strong>You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>44\u00a0Then he said to them, \u201cThese are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you &#8211; that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.\u201d\u00a045\u00a0Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,\u00a046\u00a0and he said to them, \u201cThus it is written, <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6601\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"44\u00a0Then he said to them, \u201cThese are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you &#8211; that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.\u201d\u00a045\u00a0Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,\u00a046\u00a0and he said to them, \u201cThus it is written,&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6601"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6656,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6601\/revisions\/6656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}