Jesus · c. AD 30
Chapter 58
The Road to Emmaus
Their eyes were opened and they recognized him; then he vanished out of their sight.They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
For parents
The two on the road tell how the chief priests and rulers gave Jesus up to be condemned to death and crucified him (Luke 24:20). When Jesus comes to his disciples, he shows them his wounds: his hands and feet in Luke, his hands and side in John. Thomas says he won’t believe until he puts his finger into the prints of the nails and his hand into Jesus’ side (Luke 24:39–40; John 20:20, 25–27).
That very day, two of followers were on the road to , a village sixty stadia from , about seven miles away. On the way they talked over everything that had happened.
While they were talking and asking each other questions, Jesus himself came near and went along with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
“What are you talking about as you walk along, so sad?” he asked them.
One of them, named , answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what has happened there in the past few days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“The things about Jesus the ,” they told him. “He was a , mighty in what he did and in what he said, in the sight of God and all the people. And the and our rulers gave him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. We had been hoping he was the one who would set Israel free. And besides all this, today makes it the third day since it happened.
“And some of the women with us have amazed us. They had been to the tomb early, and they didn’t find his body. They came and told us they had also seen in a vision, and the angels said he was alive. Some of our people went to the tomb and found things just as the women had told us, but they didn’t see him.”
Then he said to them, “Foolish people! How slow your hearts are to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”
Then, starting with and all the prophets, he went through all the Scriptures and explained to them what they said about him.
As they got close to the village where they were going, he acted like he would keep going.
They urged him, “Stay with us. It’s almost evening, and the day is nearly gone.” He went in to stay with them.
When he sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. He broke it and handed it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. Then he vanished out of their sight.
They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning inside us as he spoke to us along the way, and as he opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up that very hour and went back to Jerusalem. The eleven were gathered there, along with the others who were with them, and they were saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to !”
Then the two told them about the things that happened along the way, and how they had recognized him as he broke the bread.
Mark says that after these things, Jesus appeared in another form to two of them while they walked on their way into the country. They went away and told the rest, but the rest didn’t believe them either.
While they were telling these things, Jesus himself stood among them. John tells it this way: it was evening on that day, the first day of the week. Where the had gathered, the doors were locked because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in the middle of them. “Peace be to you,” he said.
But they were terrified and full of fear, and thought they had seen a spirit.
“Why are you troubled?” he said to them. “Why are there doubts in your hearts? See my hands and my feet: it’s truly me. Touch me and see, because a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. John says he showed them his hands and his side, and when the disciples saw the Lord, they were glad.
Their joy was so great that they still couldn’t believe it, and they were amazed. “Do you have anything here to eat?” he asked them.
They handed him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb. He took the food and ate it in front of them.
Mark says that afterward Jesus appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table. He rebuked them for their unbelief and their hard hearts, because they hadn’t believed those who had seen him after he had risen.
Then he said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: all the things written about me in the law of Moses, in the prophets and in the psalms must come true.”
Then he opened their minds so that they would understand the Scriptures.
“This is how it is written,” he told them, “and this is how it had to be: the Christ would suffer, and on the third day he would rise from the dead. And and forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
“Look, I am sending out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”
In John, Jesus said to them again, “Peace be to you. Just as the Father has sent me, I send you.”
When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
But , one of the twelve, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. He was called Didymus, a name that means “Twin.”
The other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the nail prints in his hands, and put my finger into the prints of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.”
Eight days after that, his disciples were inside once more, and Thomas was with them. With the doors locked, Jesus came and stood in the middle of them. “Peace be to you,” he said.
Then he said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and see my hands. Reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Then John says: “Jesus did many other in front of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”