Emmaus-Nicopolis

Jesus explains the Scriptures to us

St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies, IV, 26, 1, written in late 2nd c. AD

“If any one, therefore, reads the Scriptures with attention, he will find in them an account of Christ.[...] The treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ, since He was pointed out by means of types and parables. [...] For thus it was that the Lord discoursed with the disciples after His resurrection from the dead, proving to them from the Scriptures themselves that Christ must suffer, and enter into His glory, and that remission of sins should be preached in His name throughout all the world...“

(Translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut, "Ante-Nicene Fathers", Vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885, p. 461-462.)

Jesus on the way to Emmaus, Codex Egberti, 10th c., the City Library of Trier

Origen, Homily on Joshua, 9:8, 3d c. AD

“I certainly think that, whenever ‘Moses is read’ to us and through the grace of the Lord ‘the veil of the letter is removed’ and we begin to understand that ‘the Law is spiritual’, then the Lord Jesus reads that law to us. Therefore, Jesus reads the Law to us when he reveals the secret things of the Law. For we who are of the catholic Church do not reject the Law of Moses, but we accept it if Jesus reads it to us. For thus we shall be able to understand the Law correctly, if Jesus reads it to us, so that when he reads we may grasp his mind and understanding. Therefore, [...] they were saying, ‘Was not our heart burning within us, when he laid bare the Scriptures to us along the way?’ when ‘beginning from the Law of Moses up to the Prophets he read all things to us and revealed those things that were written concerning him’.“

( Origen, "Homilies on Joshua", translated by Barbara J. Bruce, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, 2002, p. 104)

St. Bernard, Meditation on the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord, ch. 12, 29-30 (1st half of the 12th c.)

“So walk now with us, Lord, that we shall neither be sorry nor grieve in the way we travel. It were you that once walked in front of the children of Israel as a pillar of cloud by day and as a pillar of light during the night, it was according to your orders that they pitched or took down their tents. What is the cloud marching at the head of the true Israelites, if not your body very real, very sacred that we receive at the altar? [...] This is the pillar of cloud that preceded the children of Israel by day. The pillar of fire that shines at night is the Holy Spirit, who showed himself above the heads of the apostles in tongues of fire, it is he who enlightens our darkness and elevates us to taste, not what is on earth, but what is in heaven. These are the cloud of the day, and the torch of the night, because your flesh tempers for us the ardour of your deity, while the light of the Holy Spirit enlightens the darkness of our minds. Thus, when you were talking with the two disciples, while on the way, with that kind of an unknown cloud covering your face, ‘was it not’, they exclaimed, ‘that all our heart was burning in our bosom when he was talking with us on the road and was opening for us the Scriptures?’ This means that the pillar of fire was warming inside because the pillar of cloud was speaking to them outside.“

(our translation)

Gračanica Monastery, Serbia, 14th c. fresco

Alexander Men, The Son of Man (1969), ch. 21

“And step by step this mysterious Man began to explain to them the Messianic passages of the Bible. What did He speak of? Perhaps of the symbol of the Lamb and His blood, of the Stone which the builders rejected, of the sorrow of the Righteous One and His salvation, of the new Testament, promised by God, but most likely of all of the prophecy of the Book of Isaiah, where the Servant of the Existent is depicted as passing through torment in order to heal the wounds of the world and become the Light of the Nations. It was as if a blindfold were gradually taken off the eyes of Cleopas and his friend. The tragic events of those days were filled with meaning. If they were thus, then the death of Jesus did not signify the end... With these thoughts they approached Emmaus…“

(translation: Samuel Brown, Ωakwood Пublications, 1998, p. 210)

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 601 (1992)

“The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the putting to death of ‘the righteous one, my Servant’ as a mystery of universal redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from the slavery of sin (Isa 53:11). Citing a confession of faith that he himself had 'received', St. Paul professes that ‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures’ (1 Cor 15:3). In particular Jesus' redemptive death fulfils Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering Servant (Isa 53:7-8). Indeed Jesus himself explained the meaning of his life and death in the light of God's suffering Servant (Mt 20:28). After his Resurrection he gave this interpretation of the Scriptures to the disciples at Emmaus, and then to the apostles (Lk 24:25-27, 44-45).“