Jeremy L. Berg

A template for a discipleship journey can be found in Luke 24:13-35 as we observe Jesus and the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. The following essay offers a brief exposition of this rich and multilayered text, a summary I hope to expand into a longer book for pastors wanting to come alongside others in the task of discipleship. Place yourselves in the shoes of the disciples and/or the Good Shepherd, Jesus, as you ponder what it means to walk with others on the long and winding road to greater spiritual maturity.

1. DISCIPLESHIP IS A JOURNEY TO MATURITY

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them…

In the story we come upon two disciples walking together. “It’s not good for man to be alone; let us make a suitable partner for him.” Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, setting the pattern. We don’t follow Jesus on our own; discipleship entails kingdom companionship along the Way. Discipleship and spiritual formation is done in community. Who are you walking out your faith journey alongside?

Next, we find the Good Shepherd not waiting for the disciples to arrive at a destination or meet with God in the holy temple or a steepled building. The Good Shepherd comes alongside the two on the discipleship road. God and his good shepherds walk alongside disciples as friends. Skye Jethani suggests that our faith posture should be one of walking and communing with God. We must guard against running ahead of God with our own plans; or cowering under a cruel or indifferent God armed with lightning bolts far above us; or slogging far behind God due to apathy or getting constantly sidetracked by worldly distractions; or finding our identity in what we do for God.

Where does your conception of God place him in relation to you? How do you feel about a God who comes alongside us on the Way? Remember Jesus’ promise: “I will be WITH you always—even to the end of the Age” (Matt 28). 

Then we read it’s a seven mile geographical journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Let the number seven speak symbolically of the perfect or whole journey toward complete or mature discipleship and rest of the easy yoke. God brought his creation to completion in a perfect seven-day cycle, and brings us to spiritual maturity—not in seven literal days—but over a complete lifetime. Good shepherds resist shortcuts and ministry gimmicks, merely counting conversions or “decisions”, instead embracing the longer, more difficult work of “admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28).

Next, note that the two disciples aren’t wandering aimlessly, but have an intended destination—in this case, a village called Emmaus that sadly is lost to history. Unfortunately, many church ministries today either don’t have a clear destination or goal in mind, or else it’s the wrong goal altogether. The goal for many shepherds today is getting as many sheep into the church for one-hour each week, and for others it’s getting as many sheep into Heaven when they die by counting “decisions.” Neither attendance nor conversions equal discipleship; the good shepherd is leading his or her sheep on a path that ends, God-willing, in spiritual maturity.

2. DISCIPLESHIP IS COMPASSIONATE LISTENING

16 but they were kept from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

Next, the Good Shepherd meets disciples where they are currently at spiritually and emotionally. In this case, with faces downcast and hearts full of doubt, despair, fear, and dashed hopes. The Good Shepherd doesn’t pontificate from a lofty pulpit, but condescends to walk with them as a friend and conversation partner, and patiently listens to them go on and on about what’s on their heart. 

This is the heart of pastoral shepherding: a willingness to walk with people through their cancer diagnosis, marriage problems, unemployment, theological questions, spiritual doubts, etc. We listen and ask questions, and just be present to their present circumstances. At their best, shepherds exude a non-anxious presence.

Also note that the two disciples are busy talking together about certain things weighing heavily on their minds. In this case, the two are consumed with the fate and significance of Jesus of Nazareth, “a prophet powerful in word and deed.” Today, devoted disciples of Jesus will also be found on bike trails, at coffee shops, on airplanes, in Bible studies, near water coolers, etc. discussing Jesus, his Kingdom, and what difference he makes. That said, daily I take a walk down a local bike trail, and meet people discussing all kinds of things as they walk along, but all too often they’re discussing the stock market, national politics, neighborhood gossip, their latest diet and the like. If Jesus were to eavesdrop on our daily conversations with friends, what topics would he find us discussing along the way? 

At first the two disciples are kept from recognizing Jesus, so caught up in their confusion, questions and doubts. Like the women at the tomb, these two “did not see Jesus” even though it was him speaking to them! The Good Shepherd patiently walks with them as long until the hour when their eyes are ready to be opened to see Jesus and the new reality he brings. Shepherds keep company with those who are struggling to see or recognize God’s hand in their lives, withholding judgment because they too remember that “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

Good shepherds help people identify and remove the specific “barriers” preventing them from seeing and embracing Christ’s presence in their lives. This might be church hurt, intellectual doubts, worldly distractions, etc. Pastors wish they could instantly yank the veil off faithless eyes with the perfect sermon series or latest small group curriculum, but only God can remove the veil, and only in His perfect time and often surprising ways. 

Shepherds also help others identify and give language to their emotional and spiritual condition. They do this not from a pulpit, but by gently asking soul-care questions such as, “What are you discussing as you walk along the way?” “Why is your soul downcast?” Good shepherds ask the kind of soul-piercing questions Jesus asked such as: 

“Do you really want to get well?”

“Why are you worried about so many things; only one thing matters?” 

“Why worry about tomorrow, when today has enough troubles of its own?” 

“Why do you call Jesus ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what he commands?” 

“What good is it to gain the whole world at the expense of your soul?”

And so on. 

3. DISCIPLESHIP IS THE CRUCIFORM LIFE

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Sometimes a good shepherd must offer a gentle rebuke, saying with Jesus, “How slow you are to believe that the path to glory passes through suffering.” This opens up a larger, essential conversation about the cruciform nature of faith and the Kingdom of God. Our eyes need to be opened to see that spiritual victory and life come not through power-over conquest or violence or trying harder, but rather through humble sacrifice, suffering, and death. “God brings down the proud, and exalts the humble.” The wise shepherd teaches the pattern of Jesus found in Phil 2:

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he… humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place” (Phil 2:5-11).

Then the wise shepherd opens the Scriptures to those with ears to hear and hearts to receive, tracing the arc of God’s redeeming activity from Genesis to Revelation through preaching and Bible study. They invite weary souls exhausted under the heavy burden of carrying their own destiny, inviting them to leave their self-authored stories behind and find rest in their unique place within the Author’s Story. In this process, shepherds get to serve as spiritual midwives helping give birth to “burning hearts” and blown minds in engaging the sacred Scriptures together. 

4. DISCIPLESHIP IS ABIDING WITH CHRIST

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

Then, even more excitingly, the written Word of the Scriptures becomes flesh and blood—tangible and tasteable—in the meal that manifests Jesus’ mysterious presence. The day is getting late in the story, and the disciples are approaching their place of lodging. When Jesus appears to be moving on down the trail, the two disciples wisely don’t let Jesus out of their sight. They urge him to “remain” or “dwell” with them longer.  Isn’t this the appropriate desire of every disciple? To always keep Jesus at our side and not let him out of our sight? 

At the beginning of John’s gospel, the disciples ask Jesus, “Where are you staying or “abiding” (Gk. meno)?” Jesus says, “Come and see.” John’s Gospel will go on to reveal that Jesus abides or dwells not in a Motel 6 or Super 8, but within the Father’s perfect love and the eternal dance of the Trinity. Likewise, the mature disciple is one who is learning to remain or dwell or abide in Christ, like branches in the Vine (John 15). Here in Luke 24, the role is reversed, as the disciples ask Jesus to come and stay—remain or abide with them—evoking a deeper kind of spiritual communion and cohabitation. (See my essay, “Where Thou Dwelleth?” for more on this theme.)

In our day of event-driven church ministries hoping to bring people a meaningful experience of God in a tight 50-minute service window, we need more pastors helping disciples recover the ancient spiritual practices and rhythms that can foster a deeper abiding and prolonged communion with Christ (retreats, praying the Jesus Prayer all day long, etc.). (I contrast churches as “carwashes” vs. churches as “car repair shops” here.) Discipleship must involve a theology of presence and deeper understanding of mutual indwelling.

5. DISCIPLESHIP IS EUCHARISTIC FELLOWSHIP

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 

Jesus then plays host and sets a table. In a scene evoking the Last Supper, the blinders come off and disciples’ eyes are opened during the breaking of the bread. Likewise, pastors today need to place the Lord’s Table once again at the center of church worship and fellowship. As we break the sacred bread and pass the holy cup, time and eternity collapse into a kairos moment. The invisible and ineffable God kisses sinners through a cracker. We drink in God’s forgiveness from a tiny thimble of juice. 

Protestants especially need to include a theology of the eucharist and the manifold meanings of the Lord’s Table in our discipleship process. Even after the greatest Bible study of all time, resulting in burning hearts, the scales only fell of the disciples eyes when they partook of the sacred meal. Jesus is the Bread of Life as well as the Good Shepherd.

The Eucharist celebrates not just a vertical communion with God, but a horizontal communion with the saints — past, present and future. The Lord’s Table unites disciples across social differences, breaking down societal barriers, knitting us together into a new multi-ethnic, transnational family of all baptized believers, and giving us a foretaste of the Heavenly banquet when all human conflict and inequality will cease. In the breaking of bread, we remember that, “Though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body” (1 Cor. 10:17). The one Loaf reminds us that, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad” (1 Cor. 12:26).

6. DISCIPLESHIP OPENS EYES TO NEW CREATION REALITY

31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 

Then the story reveals that this sacred meal has the potential to usher us out of one plane of existence and into a brand new one. Paul speaks of our spiritual Enemy blinding the eyes of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of Christ; but I think many believers today are also living with blurry and outdated lenses.

The two disciples walking along with eyes cast down upon the cursed ground and minds fixed on the latest tragedy is a picture of all humanity wandering east of Eden with tear-filled eyes and hearts weighed down by the Fall in Genesis 3. This couple (and I like to think it’s Cleopas and his wife) evokes the other famous couple in the Scriptures. The first couple ate of the forbidden fruit and their eyes were opened to a world of sin, shame, and death. From then on, our first parents walked through a world characterized by the curse, and with earth-bound vision and a hopeless outlook. They walked onward down a path under the shadow of death, leaving the Garden of what could have been far behind. 

Now, in this story, another couple eats of the bread of redemption and their eyes are opened to the Risen Jesus and a New Creation garden planted that first Easter at the empty tomb. They can now lift their eyes up and behold God’s New World in the making with limitless possibilities. All who have eyes to see, can now live with Resurrection-vision and a hopeful outlook because the curse brought about by the first Adam has been reversed by the Second Adam, Christ!

The task of good shepherds today, as they walk with people through a world still stained by sin and under the shadow of death, is to help people lift their chins upward and turn their eyes upon Jesus, and to let the Holy Spirit give them fresh New Creation perspective on all of reality. Each day, we get to decide whether we will walk with faces downcast and hearts weighed down by the Fall in the first garden; or choose to turn our eyes upward toward the Risen Christ seated on his Throne, and participate in the difficult but hope-filled task of cultivating the garden of New Creation.

Good shepherds are spiritual eye doctors, joining with the Holy Spirit in helping disciples grapple with the Apostles’ words: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:1-2). “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor 4:18).

7. DISCIPLESHIP LEADS TO SHARING THE GOSPEL

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

After their eye-opening encounter with the Risen Jesus, the disciples’ first instinct was to get up and go at once to share their life-changing experience with others. Two depressed disciples have been transformed into resurrection witnesses and passionate evangelists. They can’t help but tell others, “It is true! He is risen!” They don’t need a seminary degree or training in public speaking; they simply “told what happened on the way” and how Jesus helped give them New Creation vision at the Table.  

SUMMARY

In summary, discipleship is an invitation to walk with Jesus and others on the long and winding path that leads to a fresh vision of reality, as our eyes are slowly turned away from our problems and the pain of the broken world, and to have our eyes turned upward to see a new world—the Kingdom—in the making. This new Kingdom eyesight comes about through fellowship, probing questions and meaningful conversations, and especially an encounter with Jesus through an engagement with Scripture and partaking of the sacrament of Holy Communion.  

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION

1. We’re all walking some road, where does it ultimately lead us?  (“Seven” as perfect journey to mature faith)

2. We’re all walking through this life, who are our walking companions? (“Two of them were going”)

3. We’re all conversing about many things, are they the things of God? (“They talked and discussed these things”)

4. We all have conceptions of God, is He the God who walks along side us? (“He walked along with them”)

5. We all struggle to recognize God’s presence and activity, what are some obstacles in your life keeping us from seeing God? (“They were kept from recognizing him”)

6. We all have emotional disposition and heart posture, what is yours these days? (“Faces downcast”)

7. We’re all invited to find our life inside the Scriptural Story, how well do we know it? (“How foolish and slow you are to believe the prophets”)

8. We all have a concept of God’s Kingship and salvation, but does our path to lead through or around suffering? (“Did not the Messiah have to suffer and then enter into his glory?”)

9. We all can let Jesus slip out of view, how bad do we want his indwelling presence? (“Stay with us! …So he went in to stay with him”)

10. We all have a standing invitation to Jesus’ Table, how often do we show up?

11. We all have a seat at Jesus’ table, do we practice his same scandalous hospitality?

12. We all have our eyes are open and fixed on something, is it New Creation reality or the reality of the Fall? (“Their eyes were opened…” cf. Gen. 3)

13. Why does the story have Jesus disappearing from their sight the very moment they recognized him when he broke the bread? (“They recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight”)

14. How much do our hearts burn for the truth and enlightenment of the Scriptures? 

15. Are we eager to share the good news of the gospel and New Creation with others? 

16. Are we eager to share the good news of the gospel and New Creation with others?