Luke 24:13–49

The Walk to Emmaus

¹³On that same day two of Jesus’ followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about 11 kilometres from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; ¹⁶they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. ¹⁷Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

They stood still, with sad faces. ¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have been happening there these last few days?”

¹⁹“What things?” he asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. ²⁰Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. ²¹And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. ²²Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, ²³but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. ²⁴Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him.”

²⁵Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! ²⁶Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” ²⁷And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; ²⁹but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. ³²They said to each other, “Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

³³They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others ³⁴and saying, “The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized the Lord when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

³⁶While the two were telling them this, suddenly the Lord himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”^f

³⁷They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸But he said to them, “Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you can see I have.”

⁴⁰He said this and showed them his hands and his feet.^{g 41}They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of cooked fish, ⁴³which he took and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms had to come true.”

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and said to them, “This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, ⁴⁷and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ^49*And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you.”