These poor fellas never got past Saturday. Maybe it was Monday when they were walking back to Emmaus, but they were feeling like it was Saturday. They saw what happened on Friday and were in a Saturday state of mind. On that particular Saturday, all the hosts of heaven and people around Jerusalem agreed on one thing. Jesus was dead. These guys were so depressed. “They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend” (Luke 24:18 MSG). Because on Friday they did. They heard something unusual happened on Sunday. But they were feeling like it was still Saturday.

As they were walking, they didn’t know Jesus because the Bible says they were “kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). They had been impressed by Jesus and were hoping he was the one who would restore Israel to its former glory and get them out from under Roman oppression. They were hoping Jesus would give Jews better standing in the world. That hope was dashed on Friday, and they were feeling like it would always be Saturday for them.

So Jesus started from the beginning. He pointed out everything Moses and the prophets said about him. When they invited him for dinner, he showed them it would be Sunday forever in the way he broke bread and handed it to them. When they took the bread, it hit them. “Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?” (Luke 24:32). Jesus lives, and they could feel it.