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Cleopas (Disciple, Follower of Jesus)
Meaning
Cleopas was a disciple and follower of Jesus, though he was not one of the apostles. He was present during the crucifixion. After the crucifixion, he travelled to a town called “Emmaus” with another disciple. While on the road to Emmaus, they met an unknown man. This man would later explain the scriptures to them and why Jesus had to come and die on the Cross.
The Bible tells us this unknown man was the risen Lord. God had hid his identity from them until after He explained the scriptures. In addition from other Bible passages and secular history we learn that Cleopas was married to a woman named Mary. And they were the parents of James the less and Joses. James the less and Joses, both had been a follower of Jesus. Moreover, both served as helpers to Jesus’ apostles after His crucifixion an resurrection.
“Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. And He said to them, ‘What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?’ Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, ‘Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?’ And He said to them, ‘What things?’ So they said to Him, ‘The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.’ Then He [the stranger] said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 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. 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. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.” (Gospel of Like 24:13-20, 22-31)
“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” (Gospel of John 19:25)
“There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.” (Gospel of Mark 15:40-41)