28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He [a]indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was [b]known to them in the breaking of bread.
Luke 24:28-35
The Disciples’ Eyes Opened. These disciples, not of the eleven, have been talking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus for some time. Upon reaching their destination, Christ wished to carry on but they invited Him in (hints of Revelation 3:20 here?) to stay with them… At this point He was still a stranger with a strong knowledge of scripture.
After breaking the bread and blessing it, the disciples’ eyes were opened to the truth. Christ had risen and was with them in their time of grief, assuring them of what had come to pass being of God by sharing the scriptures. Shortly after seeing Him as He truly was, Jesus vanished from their sight. Afterwards, both disciples recalled how their hearts burned in His presence.
Their discouraged hearts had faith restored, and they now knew that Jesus was alive. They quickly returned to Jerusalem, to the 11 (not the 12 as Mathias hadn’t been chosen to replace Judas yet) only to discover that the 11 already knew, and Peter had seen Him. Now I’d started down a bit of a rabbit hole with Luke 24:34 as it seemed a little out of place.
Earlier in the book of Luke, it was Mary Magdalene and the other women who first witnessed the empty tomb and were told by angels that Christ was alive. Then Peter saw the tomb next, but there was no mention of a specific interaction between Peter and the risen Jesus just yet as Luke 24:34 indicates.
I’ve seen some explain that Cleopas (one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus) and Cephas (Simon Peter) were conflated here, I’ll keep digging through. I read it mainly as Peter’s denial and doubt being countered by being the first to believe that Christ had risen. I’m open to further discussion / correction here as at first glance I found it curious.