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The Journey to Emmaus
Luke 24:13-35
Prepare to Hear the Word:
Teachers:Read the passage carefully yourself ( Do a close reading of this passage: ie identify any terms, places or rolesyou are not familiar with and check their meaning on
Pupils:[1]
Explain:
This passage was written by Luke. Recall other passages you may have read by Luke and what we know about Luke.
Although this passage is a recount it has many of the features of a narrative: a clear beginning (orientation), a middle section in which a conflict or problem emerges, and a distinct resolution. Recall some of the features of recounts as a literary form.
This passage has two settings:
- a physical, geographical setting: a road out of Jerusalem towards a village called Emmaus
- a ‘time’ setting: the story takes place immediately after the resurrection, on the day we would call Easter Sunday.
Use a map of 1st century Palestine( to situate the places mentioned. Find Jerusalem. Explain that although the story they will hear names a second place, ‘Emmaus’, no-one is sure where the village was. All we know is that it was about 7 miles from Jerusalem. Recall the journey Jesus made from Galilee to Jerusalem in the previous week.
Contextualise the passage by either reading from the start of Chapter 24 or by reminding pupils of what has just happened. It is the third day after the death and burial of Jesus. Some of the women disciples have been to the tomb to put spices around the body and found the stone rolled back and the body gone. Two ‘men in dazzling clothes’ have told them that Jesus is risen! The women rush back to the eleven, who do not believe them, so Peter runs to the tomb to find it exactly as the women have said. It is now later that same day…….
Hear and Encounter the Word
Hear the Word:
Tell this story in your own words using concrete materials if possible.
AND/OR
Put the passage into the IWB and do a close reading with your pupils to ensure they know any difficult terminology.
AND/OR
Ask your pupils to find this passage in the Bible and do a close reading of it.
Encounter the Word:
The passage / Extension to AT1 (i) Level 3:Links to beliefs / Extension to AT 1 (i) Level 4:
Links to other sources / Extension to AT 1 (i) Level 5:
Explain how belief arose
Structure / This story has clear physical
movement. Have pupils draw the
journey of the disciples on a road:
away from Jerusalem, stopping at the
place they ate and their journey back
to Jerusalem.
Illustrate each section with the
characters and what they are doing.
Divide the story into five scenes (See
Resource 1)
Have pupils learn the passage using
some of the following activities:
- Drama
- ‘Mind the Gap’
an unrecognised Jesus and the two disciples. Have the two disciples tell
Jesus ‘what has taken place in these
days’ in their own words Record the dialogue if required.
(see Resource 2 below) / The empty tomb alone does not show
that Jesus rose from the dead. In fact opponents to some of the first
Christians accused them of stealing
the body of Jesus! Belief that Jesus
appeared to some of the disciples after his death gave rise to perhapsthe most fundamental Christian belief:
the resurrection. Find and learn songs that express belief in the resurrection.
/ Some scholars think this story is a
longer version of one added to Mark’s Gospel by someone else. Compare
Lk 24:13-35 to Mk 16:9-18.
Invite pupils to assume that someone
has added this ending to Mark’s work. What have they left out? Have them rewrite the passage with greater
attention to the detail.
The Nicene Creed contains a summary
of the life of Jesus. Compare what it
says with the speech of the two
disciples. / Belief that Jesus rose from the dead confirmed that he was the Messiah:
God in human form. How did this
belief develop in the early community? Have pupils plot the stages: Jesus’ life/death/burial/the women
coming to the tomb and not finding him/Jesus appearing to the disciples.
The passage / Extension to AT1 (i) Level 3:
Links to beliefs / Extension to AT 1 (i) Level 4:
Links to other sources / Extension to AT 1 (i) Level 5:
Explain how belief arose
A Journey… / While making their physical journey
the two disciples make a journey in understanding. They start off confused about what has happened but end up knowing and believing. Use ‘Turning
Point’ to explore the journey the two disciples make.
Invite pupils to think
of their own journeys to new
understanding and to make street
signs to symbolise them.
The turning point for the disciples
was while they were at table with
Jesus. Look carefully at what Jesus
does or says at the table which sparked
the disciples recognition of him.
Luke contrasts the disciples inability
to see at the start of their journey with
their ‘open eyes’ at the end. Have
pupils make up the conversation the
two disciples might have had as they
rushed back to Jerusalem. Use
contrasting statements such as…‘Before/after’, ‘When we set out we…/Now we…’, ‘Can you believe
how we felt then…/Now it feels…’, /
/ The custom of making a journey to a
place of religious significance is part
of Catholic Tradition. Use the
Diocesan website to research the
annual pilgrimage to Lourdes. Try and find personal stories of people who
come to a new understanding of their
faith during their journey.
Invite pupils to consider where these words appear in other passages
(eg the Last Supper or the Feeding of
the 5000) or in the life of the
community (at Eucharist). Have
pupils show the connection by getting them to draw the scene at table that
Luke describes, and then by
drawing a picture ‘overlay’ (on an over head sheet) which shows the same
action in another setting. Use the two pictures as prompts to assist pupils explain the connections they see.
Respond to the Word:
Action
Luke tells us that the disciples walked along with Jesus without recognising him. This could have been because Jesus looked very different or because the disciples were so ‘caught up’ in what was happening to them that they just did not really pay attention to him: they did not ‘see’ him. Christians believe that Jesus walks with us all now in the presence of others – yet we often do not ‘see’ him in them, we are too busy with what is happening to us!
Have pupils write to the people who walk with them on their ‘road’, thanking them for what they do to bring God to them.
Arrange a ‘mentoring’ or ‘storytelling’ programme between older and younger pupils when older pupils ‘walk with’ and tell younger pupilssome of the events of the life of Jesus.
Prayer
Prepare statements about what we learn from each character: Jesus and the two disciples. Use the sentence ‘In the words/actions of …………. we are invited to learn that….’
Use these statements and bring your learning to prayer usingPraise: Humanity 1.
Resources
Resource 1:
The Journey to Emmaus
Luke 24:13-35
This text comes from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible
Scene 1: Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
Scene 2: While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’
Scene 3: They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
Scene 4: As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’
Scene 5: That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Resource 2
The Journey to Emmaus
Luke 24:13-35
This text comes from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible
Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied……
Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’
That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
©Margaret Carswell
Permission is given to schools in the Diocese of Westminster to copy and use.
[1]Use your professional judgment to prepare pupils according to their age and ability