24 Very early on the first day of the week, they went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' dead body. They took with them the spices that they had prepared. ² They arrived there. They found that someone had rolled the big stone away from the hole. ³ They went inside the hole in the rock, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus there. ⁴ They did not understand this at all. But while they were thinking about it, two men appeared. Their clothes shone brightly like lightning. These men came and stood beside them. ⁵ So the women became very afraid and they went down low with their faces on the ground.

The men said to the women, ‘This is a place to bury dead people. You should not be looking here for someone who is alive. ⁶ Jesus is not here. He has become alive again! Remember what he said to you, while he was still with you in Galilee. ⁷ He said, “It is necessary that someone should give the Son of Man into the power of bad men. They will kill him on a cross. But three days later he will become alive again.” ’

⁸ Then the women remembered the words that Jesus had said in Galilee. ⁹ They left the hole where Jesus' body had been. They went to the 11 apostles. They told them what had happened. They also told all the other people who were there. ¹⁰ It was Mary from Magdala, Joanna, James' mother Mary, and other women who were with them that told the news about Jesus to the apostles. ¹¹ But they did not believe what the women said. They thought that it was just a silly story. ¹² But Peter got up and he ran to the hole in the rock. He bent down and he looked inside. He saw only the pieces of linen cloth that they had put around Jesus' body. There was nothing else. So he went home again. He could not understand what might have happened.

Jesus shows himself to two disciples

¹³ Later on that same day, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village. The village was called Emmaus. It was about 11 kilometres from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking like this, Jesus himself came near to them. He started to walk along with them. ¹⁶ They saw him, but for some reason they did not recognize him. ¹⁷ Jesus asked them, ‘What are you talking about while you walk along the road?’

They stood still and they seemed sad. ¹⁸ One of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘Many things have happened in Jerusalem in the last few days. Are you the only visitor here that does not know about it?’ ¹⁹ Jesus asked them, ‘What things have happened?’

They replied, ‘The things that happened to Jesus who was from Nazareth. He was a prophet from God. He did many great things and he spoke powerful messages. God showed that his message was true. All the people believed him. ²⁰ Then the leaders of the priests and our rulers took hold of him. They gave him to the Roman ruler. They said that he had done bad things and that he ought to die. So they killed him by fixing him to a cross. ²¹ But before that we had hoped that he would save the people of Israel. We hoped that he would make us free again.

There are other things too. Today is the third day since Jesus died. ²² After all this happened, some women in our group surprised us. Early this morning, they went to the place where Joseph had put him. ²³ But they did not find his body there. So they returned to us and said, “Some angels appeared to us. They have told us that Jesus is alive.” ²⁴ So some people from our group went to the place where his body had been. They found everything just the same as the women had said. But they did not see Jesus.’

²⁵ Jesus then said to them, ‘How silly you are! You are very slow to believe everything that God's prophets said long ago. ²⁶ You should have known that the Messiah had to die. Only then would he return to heaven and show how great and powerful he is.’ ²⁷ Jesus then began to explain to them what Moses and all God's prophets had taught. He showed them what they wrote in the Bible about himself.

²⁸ Then they came near to the village that the disciples were going to. It seemed that Jesus would continue his journey. ²⁹ But they wanted him to stop there. They said to him, ‘Please stay in our home with us. It is getting late, and it will soon be night.’

So Jesus went into their house to stay with them. ³⁰ He sat down to eat with them. He took the bread and he thanked God for it. He broke it into pieces and he gave some to them. ³¹ Their eyes became clear and they recognized him. But then he disappeared, and they could no longer see him. ³² They said to each other, ‘When he talked to us, it was like a fire that was burning inside us. We felt it while we were walking along the road. We also felt it when he was explaining God's message in the Bible.’

³³ Immediately they got up and they returned to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 apostles and other people who were with them. ³⁴ The people there told the two disciples, ‘It is true! The Lord Jesus is alive again. He has appeared to Simon!’

³⁵ Then the two disciples spoke to the whole group. They told what had happened to them on the road to their village. They told how they recognized Jesus when he broke the bread into pieces in their home.

Jesus appears to the group

³⁶ While they were still speaking like that, Jesus himself stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

³⁷ But the whole group was very surprised and afraid. They thought that they were seeing a spirit. ³⁸ Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You seem to have trouble in your minds about what you are seeing. ³⁹ Now look at my hands and my feet. It is really me! Touch me. Then you will know that I am not a spirit. A spirit does not have a body with skin and bones. You can see that I have a real body.’

⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ This was such good news, they were very happy. But they could still not really believe it. So he asked them, ‘Do you have anything that I could eat?’ ⁴² They gave him a piece of fish that they had cooked. ⁴³ While they were watching, he took it and he ate it.

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, ‘I told you about these things while I was still with you. Everything that God's servants wrote about me in the Bible had to happen. Moses wrote about me in his book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about me. The book called Psalms also tells about me. And now it has become true.’

⁴⁵ Then he helped them to understand God's message in the Bible. ⁴⁶ He told them, ‘This is what it says there: The Messiah had to die. Then, after three days, he had to rise up and become alive again. ⁴⁷ People in every country of the world must hear God's message. They must stop doing wrong things and change how they live. When they do this, God will forgive them. He will forgive all the bad things that they have done. People need to tell this message about the Messiah in Jerusalem first, then tell people in other countries. ⁴⁸ You are the people who have seen what has happened here. You must tell other people about it. ⁴⁹ Now listen! I will send to you the gift that God my Father has promised to give to you. You must stay here in the city until this happens. Then the power of God will come from heaven and it will cover you.’

Jesus goes up to God in heaven

⁵⁰ Then Jesus led the group of his disciples out of the city. They all went to a place near the village called Bethany. He held up his hands towards them all. He asked God to be good to them. ⁵¹ While he was praying for them like that, he went up away from them. God lifted him up to heaven. ⁵² The disciples praised Jesus for his great power. Then they returned to Jerusalem and they were all very happy. ⁵³ All the time they were in the temple and they were praising God.