The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
Ver. 17. — And He said unto them. What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another , as ye walk and are sad ? σκυθρωποί, “ sullen ” in the sense of downcast. Christ knew whence their sadness arose, but asks them the cause, in order that He might remove it : “As I followed I heard you speak of some one who was slain at Jerusalem ; tell me therefore who he was, and how, and for what reason he was put to death.”
Ver. 18. — And one of them , whose name was Cleopas , answering said , &c. This Cleopas was the brother of S. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin, the father of S. James the less, and S. Jude, and the grandfather of S. James the greater and S. John, who were the sons of Salome, the daughter of Cleopas. See chap. iii. 23.
Helecas, Bishop of Caesarea, tells us on the authority of S. Jerome, that “Cleopas, or Alphaeus, was the brother of S. Joseph, and one of the seventy disciples, and that he was slain by the Jews in the castle of Emmaus because of Christ.” He was therefore a martyr. Hence, in the Roman Martyrology, the 25th of September is put down as the birthday of Blessed Cleopas, the disciple of Christ, who they say was slain by the Jews for confessing the faith in the very house in which he had entertained the Lord. See also Dorotheus (Lives of the Patriarchs).
Again, Cleopas, in the Greek Κλεόπας, is the same as “all glory,” for the Jews who were subjugated by Alexander and the Greeks, took Greek names. But in the Hebrew the name may be taken to mean “ adding to or increasing the Church,” for קהלה, kehala, is an assembly or church, and EDS), pus, is to multiply. For Cleopas gave many sons and daughters to the Church of Christ.
Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem ? Theophylact and Euthymius translate παροικεῖς ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ, “Art thou (only) a dweller in Jerusalem ?” Others render it, “Art thou (only) a sojourner in Jerusalem?” The meaning is “Art thou such a stranger in Jerusalem, and so ignorant of what has been done in it to Jesus of Nazareth, as to ask who and what he was, about whom we are so sorrowfully conversing ? All know the circumstances of His crucifixion and death, and can talk of nothing else. How is it that thou only art ignorant of these things ? ”
Ver. 19. — And He said unto them, What things ? Christ constrains them to open their grief and to confess their doubts as to His resurrection.
And they said unto him , Concerning Jesus of Nazareth. They acknowledge Him, says Bede, to be a great prophet, but they do not speak of Him as the Son of God, either because their faith was imperfect, or because they feared lest they might fall into the hands of the persecuting Jews. For they knew not with whom they were speaking, and therefore concealed what they believed to be true. Because they say (verse 21) that they trusted that it had been he, as being the Messiah and the Son of God, which should have redeemed Israel.
Mighty in deed and in word. So should every Christian be, especially those who have devoted themselves to a religious life, or have been called to any office in the Church. What they preach they should perform, and teach first by example and then by word.
Ver. 20. — And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him, &c. They do not accuse the chief priests and the rulers, although they were persuaded of the injustice of their actions. For they feared lest this stranger might be a spy, seeking some cause of accusation against them.
Ver. 21. — But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel from the power of their enemies, e.g., from the power of the Romans.
“We trusted that he had been the Messiah who would have restored the kingdom of Israel to the same, or even greater, dignity than it had possessed in the time of David and of Solomon. But now that he has been so unworthily put to death, although we do not despair, we have but little hope.”
This was their grief, the wound which their faith had received, which Christ desired to hear from them, in order to heal.
“O disciples,” says S. Augustine (serm. 140 De Temp.), “ye were hoping, therefore ye do not now hope. Behold Christ lives, but your hope within you is dead ; ” and again, “ He was walking with them as their companion, and yet was their leader and guide.”
And beside all this, to-day is the third day, &c. For Christ was crucified on the sixth day, and after three days rose from the dead. This is an aposiopesis, for the disciples, anxious and perplexed, knowing not what to think about Christ, as good as say, “Jesus when He was alive said that He would rise from the dead on the third day ; but although this is the third day we know not whether He has risen or is yet to rise.” They were doubtful, balanced between hope and fear. “They speak thus,” says Theophylact, “as men in doubt, and seem to me to be very undecided in their minds, for they are not absolutely unbelieving, nor do they believe aright. For their words ‘we trusted that it had been he,’ &c., indicate incredulity, but when they make mention of the third day, they show themselves mindful of the words of Christ, ‘on the third day I shall rise again ;’ ” and again, “ On the whole they spake as men in perplexity and doubt.”
Ver. 22. — Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished (ἐξέστησαν). For what the women had told inspired them with awe rather than fear, and, says Theophylact, “ overthrew their doubting and unbelief, whilst it strengthened their faith and hope in the resurrection of Christ. Their fear therefore struggled with their hope, and between the two they were undecided and in doubt.”
Ver. 25. — Then said He unto them , O fools . Ἀνόητοι, rendered here in the Vulgate “ stulti,” but Gal. iii. 1., “ insensati.” With these keen words Christ as the Master rebukes the disciples for their ignorance and slowness to believe. For a teacher is allowed to stimulate his disciples by sharp reproof to the pursuit of higher or more accurate knowledge. See S. Matt v. 22.
So our nature, frail and dull of understanding, needs some such stimulus to enable it to believe in spiritual things, and to keep itself steadfast in the hope of their realisation.
Ver. 26. — Ought not Christ ... to enter into His glory ? He calls His glorious resurrection and ascension, the sending of the Holy Spirit, His exaltation over every creature, the adoration of His name, the spread of the gospel throughout all the world, and His eternal kingdom, “glory.”
“Ought not,” (“futurum erat,” the Arabic and Syriac). It behoved Christ through the Cross to enter glory :
1. Because the prophets had foretold it.
2. Because God the Father had decreed it from all eternity.
3. Because it was necessary that He should purchase our redemption by His death upon the Cross.
4. Because it was fitting that such glory should be obtained through the merit of such sufferings and labour.
5. Because it behoved Christ, as leader, to become an example to the martyrs, and to all those who strive through much tribulation to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The meaning is, “ My death upon the Cross has shaken your faith and hope in My resurrection, therefore ye said ‘we trusted’ (sperabamus). But ye spake rashly and without cause. For this ought to have confirmed your faith, for there is none other way to the resurrection save through death, nor to glory save through suffering, and the reproach of the Cross.”
Ver. 28. — And He made as though He would have gone further. This was no deceit : for He would have gone on if the disciples had not constrained Him, but as He knew that they would thus constrain Him to abide with them, in this respect he was not willing , but was making as if (προσεποιεῖτο) He would have gone further.
Hence S. Augustine (Quaest. Evang.) says, “When one feigning has reference to a certain meaning, it is not a falsehood, but a certain figure of the truth.” And again, “A fiction founded on truth is a figure ; not so founded, it is a lie.” And S. Gregory (horn. 23 in Evang.) writes, “ By the word ‘fingere’ we mean to put together or form, hence modellers of clay we call ‘ figuli.’ He who was the truth did nothing by deceit. He manifested Himself to them in the body, such as He came before them in their midst. He would prove them whether they could show charity to Him as a stranger, although they might not yet love Him as God.”