WHEN JESUS was seen after he rose from the tomb, it was called an
"appearance" because Jesus appeared to someone. His first appearance, as
you have read, was to Mary Magdalene; his second appearance was to the
other women; and his third appearance was to two men walking out into
the country on that first Easter morning.
Those two men were not among the twelve disciples of Jesus; but they had
believed in him as the Christ, the King of Israel. One of them was named
Cleopas; the name of the other has not been given in the gospel by Saint
Luke, where this story is told. The two men on that morning were walking
out from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus, which was six or seven
miles from the city. As they walked, they talked together of Jesus, of
his death, his burial, and of a report which had just come to them, that
he was living again.
While they were walking and talking, they suddenly saw another man
walking with them. This stranger was Jesus, but they did not know him;
just as Mary Magdalene did not know Jesus when first she saw him. He
said to them:
"What is it that you are talking about, as you walk along?"
They stood still, with sorrowful faces; and Cleopas answered this
stranger.
"What!" said Cleopas, "do you live all alone in Jerusalem, since you
seem not to have heard of the things that have taken place there in the
last few days?"
"What things do you mean?" asked the stranger.
"Why, about Jesus of Nazareth," they answered. "Have you never heard of
him? He was a wonderful prophet, to whom God gave power in his words and
his deeds before all the people. But the chief priests and our rulers
seized him, and gave him up to be sentenced to death, and crucified him.
But it was our hope that he was to be the one to set Israel free from
its enemies, and reign as our King. And now, this is the third day since
he died, and this morning some women of our company have brought to us
news that greatly surprised us. They went to the tomb at daybreak, and
found it open, but did not find his body within it. They told us that
they had seen some angels, who said that Jesus was alive! At once some
of our men went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said,
the tomb thrown open and the body gone; but they did not see Jesus."
"O, foolish men, with hearts so slow to believe, after all that the
prophets have said in the Holy Book!" said the stranger, who was the
risen Jesus. "Do you not know that Christ was bound to suffer all these
things before he could enter his glory as the Son of God?"
Then he began to show them in all the Old Testament books, how Moses in
the law, and David in the psalms, and all the prophets in their
writings, had foretold the things that should take place with Christ
when he should come; and that all these things had come to pass with
Jesus, showing that Jesus of Nazareth was in truth the Son of God and
the King of Israel.
While they went on talking together, they drew near the village of
Emmaus, to which the two men were going. The unknown Jesus seemed as if
he was going further; but they urged him to stop.
"Stay with us," they said to him, "for it is getting toward evening; the
sun is already about to set."
[Illustration: After his resurrection Jesus appears to Simon Peter.]
And Jesus went with them to the village and into the house. They sat
down to supper; and the stranger took the loaf of bread, blessed it,
broke it, and gave it to them. In that instant, their eyes were opened,
and they knew who he was, Jesus their Master! But in that moment he
vanished out of their sight.
"How our hearts burned within us," they said to each other, "while he
was talking to us on the road and explaining to us what is said in the
Holy Book!"
Then they immediately rose up from the table, and went back in haste to
Jerusalem. They found some of the disciples and others in the upper room
at Jerusalem, where Jesus had taken his last supper with his disciples.
Before Cleopas and his friend found a chance to tell their story, those
in the room said to them:
"The Lord has really risen, and has appeared to Simon Peter!"
Then the two men from Emmaus told how the stranger had walked with them
on the road, and had told them many things out of the Old Testament; and
how they had suddenly known that he was Jesus, while he was blessing and
breaking the bread.
These were the third and fourth appearances of Jesus, the third to Simon
Peter; but what Jesus said to him has not been written; and the fourth,
to Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus.
Two Sunday Evenings with the Risen Christ