"The Lord is risen."--_Luke 24:34._
IT was the first day of the week that our Lord rose from the dead, and
we call that day the Lord's day, and have kept it holy ever since,
instead of the seventh. But on that first day it seemed too wonderful.
The apostles had never understood when their Lord spoke of dying and
rising again; and though the women said they had seen Him, they were
afraid to trust their word, and thought it a mistake.
[Illustration: JESUS APPEARS TO MARY MAGDALENE.--John 20:16.]
Later in the day, two of the disciples were walking to Emmaus, a little
village near Jerusalem, when a stranger came and joined them. He asked
why they were sad, and what they were talking of. They told Him it was
of Jesus of Nazareth, who had been a great prophet, and they had hoped
would have redeemed Israel; but now He had been put to death the day
before yesterday, yet that some of the women said that they had seen a
vision of angels which said that He was alive.
Then the stranger began to show them, as they had never seen before,
that all the Old Testament meant that when the Christ came, the Seed of
the woman, He was to suffer, and save the world before His kingdom and
glory could begin; and their minds understood, for they were opened to
see and know the Scripture, so that they were sure that Jesus was the
Christ.
So they came to Emmaus, and went into a house; and the stranger made as
if He would have gone farther, but they pressed Him to come in.
He sat down with them, and took bread and blessed and broke it; and
then their eyes were opened, and they knew it was JESUS Himself! And
as they knew Him, He vanished out of their sight. And they said to one
another, "Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by
the way?"