The Road to Emmaus
But we were hoping He was the One who would redeem Israel. And besides all this, it is the third day since these things took place. Luke 24:21 · Berean Standard Bible
They said, 'We had hoped He was the one who would rescue Israel. And now it's already the third day since all this happened.'
Those words — 'we had hoped' — are some of the saddest in the Bible. But they didn't know their hope was about to be resurrected.
The disciples lay bare their crushed expectations to this unknown stranger.
They had dreamed of liberation, of a new beginning for their people. Three days later, all they had was past tense — 'we had hoped.' But hope wasn't dead; it was walking right beside them.
The disciples confess their dashed messianic hope — they had expected Jesus to redeem (Greek: lytrousthai, 'liberate, ransom') Israel — and note it is now the third day since these events.
The verb lytrousthai carries overtones of both political liberation and theological redemption. Their hope was for a Davidic deliverer who would free Israel from Roman oppression.
The disciples express their shattered expectation that Jesus would be Israel's redeemer.
The mention of the 'third day' is loaded with irony: they cite it as evidence that hope is fading, unaware that Jesus had prophesied resurrection on precisely the third day.
19“What things?” He asked.
20Our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death, and they crucified Him.
21But we were hoping He was the One who would redeem Israel. And besides all this, it is the third day since these things took place.
22Furthermore, some of our women astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning,
23but they did not find His body. They came and told us they had seen a vision of angels, who said that Jesus was alive.
Read all of Luke 24 — Two disciples walking home in despair meet a stranger who opens the Scriptures. Their hearts burn. And then they recognize Him.
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