|
that
same day two of them were on
their way to a village called Emmaus, which
lay about seven miles from
Jerusalem
, and they were talking together
about all these happenings. As
they talked and discussed it with one another, Jesus himself came
up and walked along with them; but something
kept them from seeing who it was. He asked them, ‘What is it
you are debating as you walk?’ They halted, their faces full of gloom,
and one, called Cleopas, answered,
‘Are you the only person staying in
Jerusalem
not to know what has
happened there in the last few days?’ ‘What do you mean?’ he
said. ‘All this about Jesus of Nazareth,’
they replied, ‘a prophet powerful in speech and action before
God and the whole people; how our chief
priests and rulers handed him over to
be sentenced to death, and crucified him. But we had been hoping
that he was the man to liberate
Israel
. What is more, this is the third day since it happened, and now
some women of our company have astounded us: they went early to the
tomb, but failed to find his body,
and returned with a story that they had seen a vision of angels
who told them he was alive. So some of our people went to the tomb and
found things just as the women had said; but him they did not see.’
‘How dull you are!’ he answered. ‘How
slow to believe all that the prophets said! Was the Messiah not bound to
suffer thus before entering upon his glory?’
Then he began with Moses and all
the prophets, and explained to them the
passages which referred to himself in
every part of the scriptures. By this time they had reached the
village to which they were going, and he made as if to continue his
journey, but they pressed him:
‘Stay with us, for evening draws on, and the day is almost
over.’ So he went in to stay with them.
And when he had sat down with them at table, he took bread and
said the blessing; he broke the bread, and offered
it to them. Then their eyes were opened,
and they recognized him; and he
vanished from their sight. They said to one another, ‘Did we
not feel our hearts on fire as he
talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’ Without
a moment’s delay they set out and returned to
Jerusalem
. There they found that the Eleven
and the rest of the company had assembled, and were saying, ‘It
is true: the Lord has risen; he
has appeared to Simon.’ Then they gave their account of the events of
their journey and told how he had been recognized
by them at the breaking of the
bread.
|
