Tabatha walked with her husband, Cleopas, on the road to Emmaus. Her long, brown hair was in a simple braid, and she wore a few bracelets, and even some earrings- she looked beautiful. Tabatha had married Cleopas a year earlier when she was 14. Since then, they had been following Jesus, listening to His teachings, and watching Him perform miracles. That is, before His death. “I trusted His words,” Cleopas said sadly to her. She nodded, disappointment filling her eyes. “I believed He was the Messiah,” he continued. “I thought... I thought...” “He would save us,” Tabatha whispered, her voice thick and constricted. She looked up at her husband with curly brown hair, thick freckles, and a short stubble of a beard to see the smallest pool of tears in his chocolate brown eyes. She had gotten lucky- marrying Cleopas. Many girls married men with no respect, and no love, like her sisters. Being the youngest of them, she did not know if she would have a good husband. But Cleopas respected her, and their love was growing along with their journey. Tabatha had always leaned on Cleopas’ strong shoulder, but now they both looked weak with sadness and confusion. “How could he have died?” Tabatha asked hopelessly, knowing Cleopas had no answer. “He performed so many miracles- even raises people from the dead!” She continues despairingly. “His teachings were so new, so clear, so...” “Radical.” Now Cleopas finished her sentence. “Who are you talking about?” Said a voice from behind the couple. Tabatha and Cleopas turned around sadly, in sync. They stood silent for a moment as the stranger- an ordinary-looking man with a beard longer than Cleopas’- looked between them. His smile faded as the silence grew longer. Finally, Cleopas answered. “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what has happened?” He asked, trying to sound masculine, but his voice cracked. “What happened?” The stranger asked in innocent confusion. Tabatha remained silent and looked hard at the pebbles by her covered feet. “About Jesus,” Cleopas continued,” who was from Nazareth. He was a... prophet,” Tabatha gasped barely audible, hearing her husband say what they had been rolling around in their minds the whole walk, “a mighty prophet in both works and word, before God and all our people.” A single tear slipped down Tabatha’s face, eloquent with despair*. She closed her hazel eyes as the salty drop cleansed her dusty cheek and the wind ruffled her tunic. “And how our chief priests and rulers,” anger bubbled up in Tabatha at the mention of the priests and rulers but was cooled by another tear, “delivered Him to death. They crucified Him. But we had hoped that Jesus would redeem Israel. Now, it has been three days since all this happened,” Cleopas continued, spreading his hands at his waist. He kept on, “And some of our friends amazed us today. They went to Jesus’ tomb early in the morning, but the body was not there. They came back and said they had seen angels who told them Jesus was alive.” Tabatha remembered the women retelling the story with awe in their eyes. Judith, a friend of Tabatha’s, has given her so many details about what happened as they did chores together- Tabatha for her and her husband, Judith for her parents and brothers. Judith has spoken so certainly, but the story made Tabatha confused. Judith has said she had seen Jesus, alive and talking, which seemed to Tabatha too good to be true, too marvelous to be true. “Some of Jesus’ closest disciples went to the tomb, and it really was empty, but they didn’t see Jesus,” Cleopas finished. Tabatha looked up at the stranger for the first time since Cleopas had started telling the sad story and saw an exasperated man. “Oh, foolish ones!” He said, in a tone that was both disciplinary and reassuring. Cleopas put a protective arm around his wife. “You are slow to believe and understand all that the prophets have said!” Tabatha looked up at her husband to see how he would respond. Cleopas’ jaw was moving in a way Tabatha knew meant her husband was thinking. “Wasn’t it necessary that Christ should suffer through all these things to enter into His glory?” He asked. Neither Tabatha nor Cleopas responded. “Let me help you understand,” the traveler said in a voice that commanded respect as he continued walking. Tabatha clutched Cleopas’ hand as they followed.
"When a lamb had to die to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, which they saw because of sin, wasn’t that a sign that a perfect Lamb would have to die to cover the sins of man? And when God in Heaven put enmity between the deceiver and Eve and said that her offspring would crush the serpent, and the serpent would bite her offspring’s heel, didn’t that mean the offspring would have to suffer before the serpent would die?” The stranger opened the scriptures to them. Tabatha was learning and understanding things she had never known before. Her very heart seemed to burn within her as she learned how Genesis through Malachi pointed to Christ and His life.
Finally, as the sun was setting, they reached Emmaus. The traveler continued walking as the couple stopped at the road leading to their house, and Cleopas did not notice because he was deep in thought. “Please, ask him to stay,” she whispered urgently to her husband.
“Stay with us,” Cleopas said quickly, once he realized what was happening. “It’s almost evening, and the day is spent up.”
The traveler turned around with an odd smile on his face. “If you wish,” he said, and the couple led them to their small, stone house. Tabatha had baked bread and had prepared some food the day before to eat at the Sabbath, and she laid them out on her small table, happy to serve her husband and the wise traveler.
The man picked up the loaf of bread and broke it into three pieces, crumbs falling onto the table. “I bless this food before us,” he said, passing the bread to Cleopas.
Tabatha gasped as a veil was lifted from her eyes, and she recognized who the traveler was. This is Jesus, she thought, a second before He vanished. So many emotions flooded through her, crashing against her bones as she whipped her head around to her husband. Cleopas was staring astonished at the spot Jesus had sat moments earlier.
“Didn’t our hearts burn within our chests while He talked with us on the road? Wasn’t it like He was opening the scriptures to us?” Tabatha asked, nodding her head, and grabbing Cleopas’ arm.
Cleopas stared blankly at her for a long minute, his mouth slightly open. “Yes,” he said, and a smile landed on Tabatha’s face. “Yes,” he said again, nodding. “Yes! Tabatha, yes!” He smiled, standing up and twirling Tabatha around the room. His laughter bounced off the stone walls.
“Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive!” Tabatha sang, and Cleopas shouted. “Let’s go tell everyone,” Tabatha said, her eyes sparkling.
Cleopas planted a kiss on her cheek before agreeing, “We must!” The giddy couple at once left for Jerusalem, ignoring the growing darkness. They talked and talked the whole road long, not stopping even when they were winded. They retold their favorite memories of their time with Jesus, marveling over His miracles, and laughing over their silly confusions.
Tabatha was joyous over the fact that she lived in a world where Jesus, the Messiah, the King was alive. Her beautiful husband lived in a world where Jesus was alive. And one day, her precious children, Cleopas’ strong sons, and beautiful daughters would live in a world where Jesus was alive.
Finally, after hours of walking, the happy couple arrived at the place the disciples of Jesus were staying. There were much yelling and shouting, and they were greeted with shouts of “Indeed, Jesus is alive! And He has appeared to Simon!” Tabatha and Cleopas were surprised by this, but they did not have any worries of being ‘outdone.’
Cleopas told the other men about what had happened at the meal they shared with Jesus, as his wife heard someone yell, “Tabatha! Tabatha!” She looked around to see Judith enthusiastically waving over to her from a corner with the other women. “Judith!” Tabatha yelled, hurrying over to them. She hugged Judith briefly and smiled from ear to ear.
“Let me tell you what happened on the road to Emmaus.”
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This is the scripture this is based on: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A+13-34+&version=ESV
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