After Jesus appeared to the women as they returned to Jerusalem and after He spoke with Mary Magdalen, He appeared to others, later in the day. Following are brief descriptions of these encounters.
1. Jesus appears to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Easter afternoon (Luke 24:13-32).
24:13,14 Two disciples were journeying home from Jerusalem to their village of Emmaus. As they walk, they are discussing the overwhelming events of Friday.
24:15,16 A stranger joins them; He is actually Jesus, But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him (24:16). It does not say that He was unrecognizable but that their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him, evidently by an act of God. We are not told why the Lord did this but it may be that He did not want to reveal Himself to them in the flesh until He had first opened their spiritual eyes to see the truth about Him in the word of God.
So we read, Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures (24:27). Jesus opened their eyes to the truth revealed about Him in God’s word and only after that did He open their eyes to His physical presence with them.
This is true for us today — as we encounter Jesus in His word, we recognize His presence in the world. However, the eyes of humanity have been veiled, not by the God of truth but by the lying god of this world, who has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).
Veiled against the light, people suppress and reject truth, love darkness more than light, delight in sin more than righteousness. Blinded to the word of God, disbelieving the testimony of Jesus in the Scriptures, they are unable to recognize His risen presence in the world.
The resurrection is a reality and Jesus is alive, touching lives, blessing, delivering, pouring out grace, calling, walking next to men and women as they move along the pathways of their lives, even as He walked alongside these two men on the way to Emmaus. But those whose eyes are veiled by the cares of this world, by false religion and humanist philosophies neither recognize nor acknowledge Christ’s presence among us.
Only God can remove the veil from our eyes and awaken us to Himself. This is the miracle of spiritual rebirth.
24:17-24 These two men are followers of Christ, had placed their hope in Him as Israel’s Redeemer and were crushed by the arrest and crucifixion of their Lord. When the Stranger asks them what they are talking about, one of them replies, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days? (24:18). Ironically, Jesus is the only One who really does know what happened.
A few hours earlier, they had heard reports of the empty tomb and a vision of angels who said that He was alive. But evidently they had departed before anyone had reported an encounter with the risen Lord (24:22-24). They departed the community of faith before the revelation of God was complete, before faith was formed.
It is not that these men did not believe; rather, they did not understand. They believed that Jesus was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people (24:19). They were hoping that He would be the Redeemer who would fulfill the kingdom expectations of the righteous. But they could not reconcile Jesus’ death with the truth that they believed about Him. A crucified Messiah was completely outside their theological framework. As a result, they were devastated by the events of Friday and unconvinced by the reports on Sunday morning of a resurrection. So they headed home.
24:25-27 As they walked, Jesus opened the Old Testament Scriptures to them, which clearly testified that Messiah would establish His kingdom on earth but that He must first suffer, that the cross was not a failure; rather, it was the outworking of God’s eternal plan. The Scriptures available to these two men validated the events of the past few days. It was not that Jesus failed to fulfill Scripture. It is that these men, and the people of Jerusalem, had failed to understand what Scripture said about the Messiah. Jesus therefore rebuked them, saying, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? (24:25,26).
The cross was necessary to the kingdom purpose of God. If the Lord had established His kingdom on earth without first redeeming sinners, then no man or woman could have entered the kingdom. So Jesus, always the Discipler, taught the two men: Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures (24:27). Can you imagine attending a Bible study taught by Jesus, the very Word of God in human form?
Surely He did explain the Scriptures to them. And I doubt that He concluded the teaching by asking, Are there any questions? No, He explained it perfectly.
24:28,29 They arrive in the little village of Emmaus and Jesus acted as though He were going farther. He entered their home only when they invited Him. It is still this way. He stands at the entrance of our life and offers Himself to us but we must open our life to Him, invite Him in.
24:30,31 As they reclined at the table to eat, He took the bread and blessed it and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.
In that moment, as Jesus blessed and broke the bread, their eyes were opened. It may have been the way that He broke the bread or the prayer that He prayed. Possibly they saw, for the first time, the nail prints in His hands. But there is more to it than this. It says, Then their eyes were opened.
This was a sovereign act of God, the opening of eyes which, in one moment, could not recognize the presence of Christ in their midst, and in the next moment they knew Him. We are reminded that Jesus said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him (John 6:44). In our natural condition, we are dead to God (Eph. 2:1) and blind to spiritual truth (2 Cor. 4:4). Only God can awaken us to the reality of our sin and the possibility of His salvation. Only God can reveal Christ to us, draw us in faith to Christ, make known to us the reality of His saving grace. But He does and all who seek the God who awakens us to seek Him will find Him.
Though a miracle, it was a miracle released through the common blessing and breaking of bread. God often reveals Himself in the communion of common things. He is that way with us and what a miracle of wonder this is — the Creator of the universe meets us in the common hours and tasks of life. A hymn writer once wrote,
“Be known to us in breaking bread but do not then depart;
Savior abide with us and spread thy table in our heart.”
(James Montgomery, 1771-1854)
Notice that God opened their eyes only after they saw the revelation of Jesus in the Scriptures. Only then were they enabled to recognize His presence with them. This is true for us. As the word of God is preached, taught, read and meditated upon, hearts and eyes are opened and we encounter the risen Lord, we discover His mind and purpose. As we encounter the Lord in His word, our eyes are opened to His presence in every step of our journey.
In the moment of revelation, Jesus vanished from their sight (Luke 24:31).
2. Jesus appears to Simon Peter some time on Easter Day (Luke 24:34).
When Jesus manifested Himself to the men of Emmaus, They got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon’ (Luke 24:33,34)
We know nothing of this encounter, only that it happened. (The Apostle Paul validates this meeting between Jesus and Peter in I Corinthians 15:5). To understand the significance and poignancy of this event, we need to remember the background.
When Jesus was arrested, Peter had followed at a distance, all the way to the courtyard of the high priest (Luke 22:54). Under pressure from bystanders, he denied three times that he knew the Lord. In the moment of his third denial, Jesus turned and made eye contact with His disciple (22:61). Realizing his hypocrisy and weakness, Peter went out and wept bitterly (22:62).
Easter morning he heard the news of an empty tomb and he got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened (Luke 24:12). John says that Peter and John entered the tomb but they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead (Jn. 20:9). Peter could not conceive of a resurrection. And if Jesus had risen from the dead, what hope did Peter have of friendship with the Lord whom he had betrayed?
Fallen and ashamed, he needed reassurance that his unfaithfulness had not destroyed his relationship with the Lord, that he was still included in God’s kingdom purpose, that Christ still loved him. Jesus did this privately and no one has ever been privy to the details. No one else was there. There is no record of their conversation. Jesus draws a curtain over this meeting.
Do you hear the tenderness of Jesus in this encounter? Though Peter would later be restored publicly as a leader of the apostles at the Sea of Galilee, this private meeting was for the restoration of personal friendship between Jesus and Peter.
Jesus treasures His relationship with each of us far more than our works or ministries or gifts to His church. When relationship is interrupted by sin or failure, the Lord does not reject us, does not abandon us. He meets us in the secret place of Scripture-inspired prayer and Spirit-led worship and there He lavishes His forgiving grace upon us, enables our repentance and pours out the healing balm of restoring love.
When we fail, stumble, sin or fall, the enemy of our soul pours out shame, guilt, condemnation and whispers the lie, “You have lost the secret place of intimacy with your Lord, you can’t go in, you aren’t worthy and He has rejected you.”
Refuse that lie! Jesus has opened a new and living way into the presence of God for all who repent of sin and place their faith in Christ, our Sacrificed Lamb. He did this by the shedding of His blood long before we were born, before we ever sinned the first time. He came seeking us when we were spiritually dead, blind, separated from Him and rebels against His grace.
He awakened us to the reality of our sin and His forgiving grace, removed the veils from our eyes, granted us grace to repent of our sin, grace to accept the gift of faith in His atoning sacrifice, forgave our sin, reconciled us to Himself, calls us His beloved. Now, when we fail, though He is grieved, He will move heaven and earth to restore fellowship. On the day of His resurrection, Jesus took the time to meet Peter privately. Be assured of Jesus’ immeasurable, compassionate desire to be with you and for you to be with Him.
3. Jesus appeared to the disciples Easter evening (Luke 24:33-53; see also John 20:19-23).
In Luke 24:33,34 we read that the two disciples from Emmaus returned to the meeting place in Jerusalem (possibly the Upper Room). Though it must have been late in the evening by now, they found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.’ (The eleven is a way of speaking of the disciples as a group, though at least one of them, Thomas, was not there).
In Luke 24:35,36 we read that the two who had walked with Jesus to Emmaus and broken bread with Him related their experience and, While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst.
Their initial response was fear (Luke 24:37). There is no record that Jesus was shining with the brightness of glory, as the angels had. So the cause of their fear must have been simply because He stood among them even though the doors were shut. They thought He was a spirit, a ghost, for the walls and doors were no obstacle to Him.
Again, notice the complete lack of expectation even though now they have the witness of the women and Peter and the men from Emmaus. They were not looking for or expecting a resurrected Christ. How could the church invent a lie which no one expected or imagined?
In verses 38-40 Jesus proved the reality of His presence by inviting them to use their physical senses, See My hands and My feet, that it is I; touch me (Luke 24:39). He showed them His hands and His feet which bore the marks of crucifixion.
We read in verses 41-43 that they were still incredulous, not from fear but from joy and amazement. So Jesus asked for something to eat and they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, which He ate in front of them. It was not that He needed the food but desired to verify the reality of His presence.
How marvelous that Jesus used an ordinary piece of fish to prove the reality of His life among them. Expect to meet Him in such common ways.
This body of Jesus was a real body, though a glorified, resurrection body, capable of interacting with the physical world and the spiritual world; capable of standing and talking with His friends and yet able to vanish; able to sit at a table and hold food in His hands and yet able to pass through walls; capable of standing in a garden with Magdalene and yet able to ascend to the Father in heaven. This resurrection body was capable of interaction with living people within the bounds of time and space, yet not limited by time or space, moving at the speed of thought.
What a joy to know that followers of Christ will someday have a resurrection body like our Lord! But we also rejoice in this, that we are living in union with His resurrection life now and in the hard press of our season and our place, He meets us unbounded by time and space.
Having proven the reality of His resurrection, Jesus then instructed His disciples concerning all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44). He not only taught them but supernaturally opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (24:45). He planted His truth in them and it is this truth which results in transformation. The goal was not merely to teach but to transform.
We are reminded that the word of God is living, active, powerful, dynamic (Hebr. 4:12); that the word of God performs its work in you who believe (I Thes. 2:13). Always, the goal of instruction is not only that we learn the truth but that we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, being progressively transformed in His likeness.
The climax of Jesus’ teaching was the Old Testament testimony that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:46,47).
The message is a crucified, risen Savior.
The call is to repentance.
The promise is forgiveness.
The provision is in His name.
The commission is to go to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.
We see this commission exercised in Peter’s first sermon on Pentecost, as he proclaimed to many nations gathered in Jerusalem the message of a Savior, crucified and risen (Acts 2:23,24). Peter called for repentance in Jesus’ name and promised forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38).
Jesus reminded those gathered that they would be His witnesses but He also restrained them from going forth until the promise of my Father has been poured out. He was referring to the Holy Spirit who had not yet been given to the church (24:48,49). We need more than a message. We need Holy Spirit empowerment to proclaim the message.
John’s description of this meeting between Jesus and the disciples, in 20:19-23 of his Gospel, adds two important details. First, John tells us that the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews (20:19). The word shut may be translated locked, as in Acts 5:23 (describing the prison in which the apostles were briefly incarcerated). This gives us a glimpse into the mindset of the disciples. They were hiding, anticipating the possibility of their own arrest. No one was expecting to meet the risen Christ even though by this time there were resurrection witnesses.
John also adds that the apostle Thomas was not present with the others (20:24). This sets up the next recorded appearance of Christ in Jerusalem.
4. Resurrection Appearance to Thomas (John 20:24-29)
For whatever reason, Thomas was not with the other disciples on Easter evening. When they told him of the encounter, he declared famously, Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe (John 20:25).
Then we read, After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, Peace be with you (20:26). Again, this meeting probably took place in the Upper Room. John tells us that it happened after eight days, which, by his method of counting days, would be the following Sunday. Again, the doors are shut (locked) and Jesus is suddenly standing in their midst and greeting them.
In verse 27 Jesus invites Thomas to touch Him, to prove beyond any doubt the reality of His resurrection. It’s not that Thomas was a greater skeptic than the others and it’s not fair to call him “doubting Thomas,” as though his faith was weaker than the others. They had all been thoroughly traumatized by the death of the Lord whom they loved. They were all deeply entombed in grief and despair and none had a capacity to believe in a resurrection apart from a physical encounter with the risen Lord.
There is no indication that Thomas actually did touch the Lord. It seems that the mere sight of Jesus moved him to confess, My Lord and my God! (20:28). He confesses his faith in a truly risen Savior.
We should note that no one had ever before addressed Jesus as, my God. Thomas seems to understand intuitively that the risen Christ can only be God in human form. And now Christ is, to Thomas, not merely My Lord but also my God.
Notice the personal pronoun, my. Encounter with the risen Lord Jesus establishes personal relationship with a living Savior. He is no longer merely the Lord revealed in Bible stories or the God declared in doctrine and creed. He becomes My Lord and my God.
Jesus accepted Thomas’ confession but adds, Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed (20:29).
Peter may have recalled this night when, years later, he wrote, And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls (I Ptr. 1:8,9).
Saving faith in a risen Savior is a supernatural work of God in the heart of all who turn to Him in humble repentance. God awakens us to a salvation which we cannot see, gifts us with the faith to believe what we do not see and this faith gives substance, evidence to that which is unseen (see Hebr. 11:1).
We do not need to see or touch the nail prints for we are assured that the Christ we have confessed has entered through our locked doors and stands beside us as truly as He did with Thomas and with all our brothers and sisters in that Upper Room. As greatly blessed as they were on that night, Jesus says that we who have not seen but have believed are also blessed — blessed with the same outpouring of grace, forgiveness of sin and abundant, everlasting life with our risen Lord.