Luke 24:26 Commentary: Why Suffering Before Glory?

The verse occurs on the Emmaus road, a journey of about seven miles from Jerusalem. Two disciples, Cleopas and an unnamed companion, are walking home, dejected. They had hoped Jesus was the one to redeem Israel (v.21), but his crucifixion shattered their expectations. Now reports of an empty tomb only confuse them further.

A stranger joins them. When they pour out their disappointment, he responds with a sharp rebuke: “Foolish people, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (v.25). Then comes our verse, a rhetorical question that reframes everything. The word “Christ” (τὸν χριστόν) has the definite article: the Messiah, the anointed one Israel had awaited for centuries.

Most Jews of that time expected a conquering Messiah who would throw off Roman rule. A suffering Messiah seemed like a contradiction. Jesus dismantles that assumption by grounding his identity in the entire Old Testament, “beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (v.27). Calvin notes that the journey of three or four hours gave ample time for a thorough exposition.

The verb edei in Greek is an imperfect tense expressing ongoing necessity, “it was necessary” by God's settled plan, not just a suggestion. The two aorist infinitives, pathein (to suffer) and eiselthein (to enter), frame suffering and glory as two parts of one completed act. “Enter into his glory” does not mean only heaven; it means the full messianic exaltation: resurrection, ascension, and enthronement at the Father's right hand. Cross-references like Acts 17:3 and 1 Peter 1:10-11 confirm that this pattern was the consistent message of the prophets. The disciples' journey from confusion to understanding is a model for Christian discipleship: the Scriptures, opened by Christ himself, reveal that suffering is not the end but the path to glory.

The Greek manuscript tradition is stable for this verse. A minor variant appears in the Byzantine text, which adds the adverb οὕτως (so/thus) after the second infinitive, producing “and so to enter into his glory.” This reading underlies the Douay-Rheims translation. Critical editions (NA28, UBS5) follow the earlier Alexandrian witnesses in omitting the adverb, leaving the two infinitives coordinate: to suffer and to enter. No significant theological issue is at stake. The consulted sources note no further variants.

Throughout church history, this verse has anchored the central Christian conviction that the cross is the only path to resurrection glory. Early church writers such as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus pointed to it as evidence that the Messiah suffering was foretold by the prophets, countering Jewish objections. The Reformers, especially Calvin, highlighted the phrase ouchi edei as proof of the divine necessity of the atonement, inseparable from Christ's role as substitute. In Wesleyan tradition, the verse underscores that redemption could occur no other way: suffering was the gate. Today, the Emmaus road narrative, with this verse as its interpretive key, is widely used to teach Christ-centered Bible reading. It has also been a comfort to believers undergoing trials, reminding them that suffering and glory belong to the same story, and that the one who walked the road still walks with us.

Three-point outline

1. The Divine Necessity of Suffering. Jesus does not say “it was possible” or “it happened that.” He says edei, a binding imperative rooted in the eternal counsels of God. The cross was not an afterthought nor a tragedy; it was the appointed door through which redemption must come.
2. The Fulfilled Word of Prophecy. The disciples had the Scriptures but missed the message. Jesus reopens the entire Old Testament, showing that “all the prophets” spoke of a suffering Messiah. Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Zechariah 13:7, these were not detours but the main road.
3. The Path to Glory. The verse pairs suffering and entering glory with a simple “and” (καὶ). The one leads to the other. As Jamieson-Fausset-Brown puts it, “These very sufferings are the predicted gate of entrance into it.” Glory does not bypass the cross; it comes through it.

Five-point outline

1. Discipleship's First Mistake: Expecting glory without the cross. The disciples' hope was in a political redeemer. They trusted, but they did not understand the shape of their trust.
2. Jesus' Gentle Correction: He does not reveal himself first; he opens the Scriptures first. Understanding the pattern of suffering and glory is foundational to recognizing the risen Lord.
3. The Nature of the Necessity: Barnes emphasizes prophecy; Calvin and Clarke emphasize atonement. Both are true. God's word must be kept, and justice must be satisfied. The cross answers both.
4. The Scope of the Suffering: Gill notes that Christ suffered in his character (accusations of blasphemy, association with sinners), in his body (scourging, nails, thirst), and in his soul (temptation, betrayal, the wrath of God). Nothing was held back.
5. The Certainty of Glory: The same resurrection that vindicated Jesus is the firstfruits of our own. His entrance into glory is not for himself alone but as a forerunner for all who trust him.

Illustration hooks

• A door and its key: The cross is the only key that fits the lock of redemption. We might wish for an easier entrance, but there is none. Jesus himself walked through this door, and he invites us to follow.
• A marathon runner: The finish line only means something because of the pain of the race. To skip the miles would be to miss the point entirely.
• A seed in the ground: Jesus' own metaphor from John 12:24, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. Death is not the end; it is the beginning of fruitfulness.

Questions your congregation is asking

• If God is all-powerful, why did Jesus have to suffer? Couldn't God just forgive without it?
• My own life is full of suffering. Does Luke 24:26 mean I should just accept it as necessary?
• Why didn't the disciples recognize Jesus on the road? What did the “opening of the Scriptures” do that the presence of Jesus alone did not?

Imagine you are walking a familiar road, carrying disappointment heavier than your feet. All your hopes were pinned on someone, and now he is dead. The women say he is alive, but you saw him executed. Then a stranger walks beside you and begins to show you that the very thing that broke your heart was the hinge of history. That is the Emmaus road. Luke 24:26 is the center of Jesus' explanation. Let the questions below help your group walk through this passage together.

Discussion questions

1. Read Luke 24:13-27. What emotions do you see in the disciples, sadness, confusion, hope, doubt? Which of these feel familiar in your own faith journey?
2. Verse 26 uses a question form: “Didn't the Christ have to suffer these things?” What does the Greek word edei (it was necessary) tell us about Jesus' view of his own death?
3. Look at the cross-references: Luke 24:7, Acts 17:3, 1 Peter 1:10-11. How do these passages reinforce the idea that suffering was part of God's plan from the beginning?
4. Before this conversation, the disciples thought they understood the Scriptures. What changed when Jesus explained them? How might we sometimes read the Bible and still miss the point?
5. The verse says Christ entered his glory. What does “his glory” mean here, only heaven, or something more? How does the resurrection connect suffering and glory into one story?
6. If suffering was necessary for Christ, what does that suggest about suffering in our own lives? Read Romans 8:17 and 1 Peter 4:13. How do these verses help without offering shallow comfort?
7. Share one way this passage changes how you read the Old Testament. Which prophet or psalm speaks of a suffering Messiah, and how does that affect your trust in Scripture?