Article November 8, 1941 Issue

On the Way to Emmaus

HAROLD EDWARDS SUTTON

Christ Jesus, in his brief earthly career, made extensive use of parables to teach the multitudes the spiritual facts which underlay his mission. However, he found it necessary to expound the spiritual signification of those parables, even to his nearest followers, so lacking in spiritual perception was the age in which he lived. Today, through Christian Science, there is a wider appreciation of the import of his parables and their application in the everyday affairs of mankind.

Many other recorded events in the Bible also carry messages of practical import to perplexed humanity, their spiritual significance made apparent in the light thrown on the Scriptures by the teachings of Christian Science. Thus the journey of two of Jesus' disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus, as recorded in Luke's Gospel, is revealed in its deeper significance as aglow with an inspired message of hope for today.

These two disciples, on the third day after the crucifixion, had turned their backs on Jerusalem. The depth of their despair is graphically portrayed in their words, "We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done." Staggered by the crushing blow of the crucifixion, their hopes of a redeemed Israel shattered, it seemed that at this moment not a vestige of their faith remained. The coming of the "third day" served only to confirm their worst fears, and not even the message of the women at the sepulcher had brought them any gleam of hope. Their discipleship ended, their Master gone, hopelessness and despair apparently darkened their thoughts at the commencement of this journey to Emmaus. These feelings they poured upon the stranger who joined them on the way, the stranger who seemed to know nothing of the startling events of the last three days.

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