John Calvin Commentary Luke 24:28

"And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they were going: and he made as though he would go further." — Luke 24:28 (ASV)

And they drew near to the village. There is no reason for supposing, as some commentators have done, that this was a different place from Emmaus; for the journey was not so long as to make it necessary for them to take rest for the night at a nearer lodging. We know that seven thousand paces—even though a person were to walk slowly for his own gratification—would be accomplished in four hours at the utmost; and, therefore, I have no doubt that Christ had now reached Emmaus.

And he seemed as if he would go farther. Now, as to the question: Can insincerity apply to him who is the eternal truth of God? I answer that the Son of God was under no obligation to make all his designs known. Still, as insincerity of any kind is a sort of falsehood, the difficulty is not yet removed; especially as this example is adduced by many to prove that they are at liberty to tell lies.

But I reply that Christ might, without falsehood, have pretended what is here mentioned, in the same manner that he gave himself out to be a stranger passing along the road; for there was the same reason for both. A somewhat more ingenious solution is given by Augustine (in his work addressed To Consentius, Book II, Chapter 13, and in the book of Questions on the Gospels, Chapter 51), for he chooses to enumerate this kind of feigning among tropes and figures, and afterwards among parables and fables.

For my own part, I am satisfied with this single consideration: that as Christ for the time threw a veil over the eyes of those with whom he was conversing, so that he had assumed a different character and was regarded by them as an ordinary stranger, so, when he appeared for the time to intend to go farther, it was not by pretending anything other than what he had resolved to do, but because he wished to conceal the manner of his departure. For no one will deny that he did go farther, since he had then withdrawn from human society. So then, by this feigning he did not deceive his disciples, but held them for a little while in suspense, until the proper time should arrive for making himself known.

It is, therefore, highly improper to attempt to make Christ an advocate of falsehood; and we are no more at liberty to plead his example for feigning anything than to endeavor to equal his divine power in shutting the eyes of men. Our safest course is to adhere to the rule which has been laid down for us: to speak with truth and simplicity; not that our Lord himself ever departed from the law of his Father, but because, without confining himself to the letter of the commandments, he kept to the true meaning of the law; but we, on account of the weakness of our senses, need to be restrained in a different manner.