Luke tells us the name of one of those two disciples, Cleopas, but not the other. Were they two of the seventy disciples in addition to the twelve apostles mentioned by Luke in chapter 10? We don’t know. They must have gone to Jerusalem for Passover and were returning home now. Passover was celebrating their ancestor’s liberation from Egypt, but at the time of Jesus Palestine was under the Roman Empire, so it was a time of heightened nationalism and desire for independence. The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, did not live in Jerusalem but in Caesarea on the coast. He always stayed in Jerusalem during Passover because there was often trouble in the city at that time. The nationalistic expectations were further heightened due to the manner of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday with people spreading their cloaks and branches on the street before him (and crying out “Hosanna” which could be very loosely translated, “Please, deliver us,” in Matt 21:9; Mark 11:9; John 12:13).
Those two disciples built their lives and expectations around Jesus, even though their expectations were false, believing Jesus would “redeem Israel,” in other words, gain emancipation from Roman domination of Palestine. (Judas probably betrayed Jesus in the expectation that if Jesus were in a corner, he would liberate Israel. Even forty days after the resurrection and many appearances of the risen Jesus, some of his apostles still held on to this false hope: Acts 1:6) Jesus didn’t gain independence and worse than that, was killed as a criminal by crucifixion, the worst capital punishment. So their lives had fallen apart. We have empathy for them because everyone has hopes and dreams shattered sometime. People suffer all kinds of losses—being let down by a family member or someone else close, suffering illness, relationship difficulties, employer difficulties or any serious loss.
So they left Jerusalem after Passover, presumably going home again. Jesus walked with them but as we often see in other accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, he looked different after his resurrection. They shared their dashed hopes with Jesus and Jesus responded telling them they were slow to believe the prophets. What Jesus suffered was predicted in the prophets. Jesus gave them a lesson from Scripture, what we now call the Old Testament, pointing out all the parts about himself and his sufferings. We can imagine that, above all, Jesus explained what we call the Fourth Servant Song in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, our first reading on Good Friday. This is part of it:
he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us
whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We can imagine that Jesus also explained Psalm 22 to them:
They have pierced my hands and my feet…
they divide my garments among them;
for my clothing they cast
lots. (Ps 22:17, 19)
When they arrived in Emmaus, they went into the house and Jesus broke bread with them. Breaking bread referring to the Eucharist in the early Church means everyone shared from one piece of bread that was consecrated so it brings to mind unity when celebrating the Eucharist. Then Jesus became invisible; Luke doesn’t say Jesus went away but Luke says in his Greek that Jesus became invisible. That is a very important distinction because Luke wants us to understand that Jesus was still with them though invisible just as he is with us during Mass. Then they returned to Jerusalem and told the eleven apostles and the others about their encounter with Jesus.
There is much for us to ponder in what happened on the road to Emmaus. We can empathize with the two disciples having their hopes dashed because everyone suffers disappointment. Jesus addressed their disappointment with appropriate words from Sacred Scripture. There are people in every parish who read Sacred Scripture daily or almost daily. They discovered the grace and joy of Scripture in a prayer group, a pilgrimage, or a retreat and now when they suffer disappointment they can turn to Sacred Scripture for help. For example, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” (Rom 8:18) “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28) “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? (Rom 8:31-32) It would be good to find in Sacred Scripture your own favorite passages that address your own life and see the Lord speaking to you through Scripture as he used Scripture on the road to Emmaus to speak to the two disciples. As well as reading Scripture at home, we listen to Scripture during Mass. Our Sunday readings follow a three-year cycle to give us as much as possible of the Bible over three years. Like the two disciples, we meet Jesus in the Eucharist and are strengthened by Jesus. He is with us under the appearance of bread.
When the disciples returned to Jerusalem, they shared with the others what happened. Can you share with your friends about a pilgrimage or retreat or prayer group or some good experience you had with the Lord that might help them and uplift them? We are all on the road to Emmaus, being uplifted by God after disappointments. Can we share any experience of what God did for us that might help others?
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2026
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Third Sunday of Easter Year A
We meet Jesus at Mass like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus 2008
Attitudes healed on the road to Emmaus by meeting Jesus
Related Homilies: We are the disciples on the road to Emmaus 2013