The Resurrection^(A)

24 Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, ³ so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them. ⁵ Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? ^6 (B)He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’”

⁸ Then the women remembered his words, ⁹ returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest. ¹⁰ The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. ¹¹ But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the grave cloths but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.^[a]

The Walk to Emmaus^(C)

¹³ On that same day two of Jesus' followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; ¹⁶ they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

They stood still, with sad faces. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have been happening there these last few days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. ²⁰ Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. ²¹ And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. ²² Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, ²³ but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. ²⁴ Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him.”

²⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! ²⁶ Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” ²⁷ And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

²⁸ As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; ²⁹ but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. ³² They said to each other, “Wasn't it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

³³ They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others ³⁴ and saying, “The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵ The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized the Lord when he broke the bread.