Luke
Chapter 24

1

¹ But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

2

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;

3

but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4

While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.

5

They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, "Why do you seek the living one among the dead?

6

He is not here, but he has been raised. ² Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,

7

that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day."

8

And they remembered his words.

9

³ Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others.

10

The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,

11

but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them.

12

⁴ But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.

13

^{5 6} Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,

14

and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.

15

And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,

16

⁷ but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

17

He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped, looking downcast.

18

One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?"

19

And he replied to them, "What sort of things?" They said to him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,

20

how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him.

21

But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place.

22

Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning

23

and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive.

24

Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see."

25

And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!

26

Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer ⁸ these things and enter into his glory?"

27

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.

28

As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther.

29

But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

30

And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.

31

With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.

32

Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?"

33

So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them

34

who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"

35

Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

36

⁹ While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

37

But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

38

Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?

39

¹⁰ Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have."

40

And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41

While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"

42

They gave him a piece of baked fish;

43

he took it and ate it in front of them.

44

He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."

45

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

46

¹¹ And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day

47

and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

48

You are witnesses of these things.

49

And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father ¹² upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

50

¹³ Then he led them (out) as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them.

51

As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.

52

They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

53

and they were continually in the temple praising God. ¹⁴

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Footnotes

¹ [1-53] The resurrection narrative in Luke consists of five sec tions: (1) the women at the empty tomb (Luke 23:56b-24:12); (2) the appearance to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35); (3) the appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-43); (4) Jesus' final instructions (Luke 24:44-49); (5) the ascension (Luke 24:50-53). In Luke, all the resurrection appearances take place in and around Jerusalem; moreover, they are all recounted as having taken place on Easter Sunday. A consistent theme throughout the narrative is that the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus were accomplished in fulfillment of Old Testament promises and of Jewish hopes (Luke 24:19a, 21, 26-27, 44, 46). In his second volume, Acts, Luke will argue that Christianity is the fulfillment of the hopes of Pharisaic Judaism and its logical development (see Acts 24:10-21).

² [6] He is not here, but he has been raised: this part of the verse is omitted in important representatives of the Western text tradition, but its presence in other text types and the slight difference in wording from Matthew 28:6 and Mark 16:6 argue for its retention.

³ [9] The women in this gospel do not flee from the tomb and tell no one, as in Mark 16:8 but return and tell the disciples about their experience. The initial reaction to the testimony of the women is disbelief (Luke 24:11).

⁴ [12] This verse is missing from the Western textual tradition but is found in the best and oldest manuscripts of other text types.

⁵ [13-35] This episode focuses on the interpretation of scripture by the risen Jesus and the recognition of him in the breaking of the bread. The references to the quotations of scripture and explanation of it (Luke 24:25-27), the kerygmatic proclamation (Luke 24:34), and the liturgical gesture (Luke 24:30) suggest that the episode is primarily catechetical and liturgical rather than apologetic.

⁶ [13] Seven miles: literally, "sixty stades." A stade was 607 feet. Some manuscripts read "160 stades" or more than eighteen miles. The exact location of Emmaus is disputed.

⁷ [16] A consistent feature of the resurrection stories is that the risen Jesus was different and initially unrecognizable (Luke 24:37; Mark 16:12; John 20:14; 21:4).

⁸ [26] That the Messiah should suffer . . . : Luke is the only New Testament writer to speak explicitly of a suffering Messiah (Luke 24:26, 46; Acts 3:18; 17:3; 26:23). The idea of a suffering Messiah is not found in the Old Testament or in other Jewish literature prior to the New Testament period, although the idea is hinted at in Mark 8:31-33. See the notes on Matthew 26:63 and 26:67-68.

⁹ [36-43,44-49] The Gospel of Luke, like each of the other gospels (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-15; John 20:19-23), focuses on an important appearance of Jesus to the Twelve in which they are commissioned for their future ministry. As in Luke 24:6, 12, so in Luke 24:36, 40 there are omissions in the Western text.

¹⁰ [39-42] The apologetic purpose of this story is evident in the concern with the physical details and the report that Jesus ate food.

¹¹ [46] See the note on Luke 24:26.

¹² [49] The promise of my Father: i.e., the gift of the holy Spirit.

¹³ [50-53] Luke brings his story about the time of Jesus to a close with the report of the ascension. He will also begin the story of the time of the church with a recounting of the ascension. In the gospel, Luke recounts the ascension of Jesus on Easter Sunday night, thereby closely associating it with the resurrection. In Acts 1:3, 9-11; 13:31 he historicizes the ascension by speaking of a forty-day period between the resurrection and the ascension. The Western text omits some phrases in Luke 24:51, 52 perhaps to avoid any chronological conflict with Acts 1 about the time of the ascension.

¹⁴ [53] The Gospel of Luke ends as it began (Luke 1:9), in the Jerusalem temple.

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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