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NOTES for Luk 24:1-12

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1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
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On the morning of the Resurrection, the women were the first to come to the tomb. It is believed that, according to the customs of that time, women were less threatened than men by reprisals for showing sympathy to one who had been executed, and therefore they were not afraid to come to His grave. Even if that is so, let us not on that basis diminish the degree of their love and devotion to the Teacher. There is a strength that is open, immediately visible and indisputable, but there is also another strength, one that shows itself in apparent weakness. Many times the "weaker" sex has proved strong precisely in situations where this was the exact kind of strength needed, strength made perfect in weakness.

But open strength, required of a man, is not rejected either. We see Peter, who overcame his temporary denial, and again we recognize his character, his decisiveness and impulsiveness. His strength is returning to him.

Opponents of Christianity call it a religion of the weak. No, Christianity makes the weak strong and is itself a source of strength. Only this is not the kind of strength that, like a bodybuilder, shows off pumped-up muscles. The strength of faith is not noticed at once and is often not taken into account. Goliath also never imagined that he would be defeated by the modest young David, who had no heroic musculature.

Other notes

 
For Luk 24:1-12
1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
Hide
At the end of his Gospel, the Evangelist brings together three short accounts of how the disciples learned the most important news of...  Read more

At the end of his Gospel, the Evangelist brings together three short accounts of how the disciples learned the most important news of their lives: that Jesus is alive. These three accounts, very different from one another, may show different stages in coming to this realization. In the first passage, for example, we do not even see Jesus. In His place there is a strange and incomprehensible message that He is not dead: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” The heavenly messengers invite the women to remember earlier days, when Christ said that death would not be able to stop Him. Before seeing the Risen One, they must remember this prophecy, this promise, and believe His word. Faith opens to the women disciples the possibility of experiential knowledge of the Resurrection, and this is the path of all who have not seen the Risen One with their own eyes, but believe the incredible: He is alive!

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For Luk 24:11-12
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
Hide
God calls each of us to act exactly this way. Go and see for yourself. It looks to you like foolishness and the hysteria of nervous women - go and check. You have complaints against God that the world is arranged unfairly - then go and...  Read more

God calls each of us to act exactly this way. Go and see for yourself. It looks to you like foolishness and the hysteria of nervous women - go and check. You have complaints against God that the world is arranged unfairly - then go and ask Him yourself what is going on. Someone told you something that horrified you or seemed absurd to you - find everything out yourself from the One who is the source of this strangeness. But do not sit idle; seek.

There are questions whose answers we can receive only by turning to the One who can answer them. Even if the very thought that we need to turn to Him personally, without intermediaries, meets resistance in us. We should not be satisfied with retellings and other people's opinions. In our relationship with God, we must first of all rely on the fact that He came to restore a direct connection with each person. Including me.

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For Luk 24:11
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
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As can be seen from the evangelist's words, the apostles were far from believing in the Savior's resurrection right away, even when it was testified to them. Of course, the distrust in this case may have been connected with the fact that women told them about such an important event: women's testimony, especially when it concerned...  Read more

As can be seen from the evangelist's words, the apostles were far from believing in the Savior's resurrection right away, even when it was testified to them. Of course, the distrust in this case may have been connected with the fact that women told them about such an important event: women's testimony, especially when it concerned spiritual and mystical experience, was not customarily trusted very much.

And the issue here was not so much distrust of women's testimony as such, as distrust of that emotionality and inclination toward fantasies often characteristic of women, which in spiritual life can easily play a cruel joke on a person. And still, the issue was probably not only this.

The apostles simply did not believe in the possibility of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. In part, perhaps, they were even afraid to believe. Only very recently they had been certain that they would become participants in grand events, in that messianic war everyone was waiting for and which, according to everyone's expectations, was supposed to end with the Messiah and His Kingdom immediately triumphing on earth. A Kingdom, of course, earthly, visible to all, strong, one whose reality no one would be able to doubt, not even its worst enemies.

And those enemies, of course, would be overthrown; they would lie in the dust, asking mercy from those whom they had so recently despised and considered nobodies and nothing. Now all dreams and hopes had collapsed, disappeared like a mirage in the desert, leaving behind an emptiness that seemed impossible to survive. Fear of this very emptiness first made the disciples scatter in Gethsemane at the moment of the Teacher's arrest, and then hide in houses, avoiding any contact with anyone except one another. And now there were some new stories, some continuation of the story that they did not want at all; what they wanted was for everything to end as soon as possible and somehow, if not be forgotten (such things are not forgotten), then at least settle down inside, and for the terrible emptiness to disappear somewhere.

Meanwhile, the continuation of the story seems to promise nothing good; in any case, there is no peace to expect, and the women's stories only reopen recent wounds. Most likely, of course, something had simply appeared to them; their hearts hurt too, and when there is pain, what does not appear?... Here lay the thing that kept them from believing the testimony. None of the disciples of the already risen Savior could fit into their consciousness that emptiness could be not pushed off somewhere it would not be seen, but filled, and filled precisely by the One who had just died on the cross.

And awareness of the new reality came to them far from immediately: after all, the consciousness of fallen man is not adapted to perceive it at all. But when (already after Pentecost) the apostles' consciousness changed, everything became clear to them. Not when their Teacher rose from the dead, but when they themselves came to share in the life of His Kingdom. But it cannot happen any other way: reality becomes reality for a person only when it becomes part of his own life. Or his very life, as the life of the Kingdom he seeks can become a Christian's own life.

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For Luk 24:1-35
1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass therein these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Hide
Reading the Gospel accounts of the disciples' meetings and fellowship with the risen Teacher, many people wonder why, having recognized Him at the moment of the breaking of bread, the apostles immediately lose sight of the Savior...  Read more

Reading the Gospel accounts of the disciples' meetings and fellowship with the risen Teacher, many people wonder why, having recognized Him at the moment of the breaking of bread, the apostles immediately lose sight of the Savior. It would seem that just a moment ago, as they were walking along the road, they saw Him perfectly clearly; He was beside them, and now He is no longer there, and no one knows how or where He disappeared.

Meanwhile, the nearness of the Kingdom entering the world can explain much here. Even before His death and resurrection, Jesus spoke of the Kingdom having drawn near, of its now being close, of its already entering the world. And after His resurrection He again confirms this thought. But now the situation has changed: after the resurrection Jesus already belongs fully to the Kingdom, and He is present in this world insofar as the Kingdom has entered it. He no longer crosses the boundaries of the Kingdom; He does not touch the fallen world, not physical nature as such, but that part of it which has not yet come into contact with the Kingdom. Meanwhile the apostles still belong precisely to the fallen world, and belong to it entirely. For them the situation will change only after Pentecost, when they come into contact with the Kingdom, feel its breath, and enter it; then they will learn to see the Kingdom as it is, to perceive its infinite depth, where there are no distances and where it is therefore easy and simple to meet Christ: one need only call Him.

For now, before Pentecost, the disciples see only, so to speak, the outskirts of the Kingdom, that boundary by which it touches the still untransfigured world. The boundary itself is transparent; it is easy not to notice it. And the risen Savior, who is on the other side of it, appears to be walking the same road as the apostles. He really is walking the same road, but His part of the road runs on the other side of the boundary that separates the Kingdom from the fallen world.

The disciples, of course, notice no boundary: they are sure that the mysterious Stranger is an inhabitant of their world, not a resident of the Kingdom. And as long as He remains as close to the boundary on His side as His disciples are on theirs, the apostles notice nothing. But then the moment of the breaking of bread comes, and Jesus is where He can only be at that moment: at the center of His Kingdom, as befits the King. From the boundary of the Kingdom He goes into its depths.

And, naturally, He becomes invisible to the apostles, because they cannot yet look that far into the depths of the Kingdom. It appears to them that the Teacher disappeared precisely at the moment when they finally guessed Who was before them. In reality, of course, Jesus had not disappeared anywhere: if the apostles had been able to see the Kingdom as it is, they would have seen their Teacher there in glory. But their time had not yet come. Pentecost was still ahead. For now, the apostles could only wonder and guess why their Teacher appeared so unexpectedly and disappeared from sight just as unexpectedly.

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For Luk 24:1-35
1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass therein these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Hide
The message of Jesus' Resurrection forms the heart of apostolic preaching, the center of Christianity...  Read more

The message of Jesus' Resurrection forms the heart of apostolic preaching, the center of Christianity. Today the evangelist shows how uncontainable and overwhelming it was for the first disciples. Luke describes their doubts and hesitations in order to reflect the experience of his community (the local church), but his story can fully apply to us as well. We too have heard more than once about the Resurrection, read about it more than once in the Gospel, heard it in church preaching, and told others ourselves. But, like the two travelers to Emmaus, it is very hard for us to believe in the Resurrection until the Lord Himself, unnoticed by us, widens our hearts and opens to us by His Spirit the Scripture that bears witness to His Resurrection.

The Resurrection is not an abstract theological concept. Faith in it is based on a personal meeting with the Risen One, as the myrrh-bearing women met Him, as the two disciples recognized Him in the breaking of the bread, as He appeared before all the apostles. But it is also based on our meeting: even if we have not yet recognized who was speaking with us on the road of our life, the burning of the heart and joy over the Risen Lord already testify that we are becoming participants in His glory.

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For Luk 24:12-35
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass therein these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Hide
An interesting question: why do the apostles walking on the road to Emmaus not recognize their Teacher? Of course, they were not expecting the Resurrection; it seemed to them that everything was over, and to the One they took for a stranger they bitterly told everything "that had happened in these days in Jerusalem." But how can one fail to recognize...  Read more

An interesting question: why do the apostles walking on the road to Emmaus not recognize their Teacher? Of course, they were not expecting the Resurrection; it seemed to them that everything was over, and to the One they took for a stranger they bitterly told everything "that had happened in these days in Jerusalem." But how can one fail to recognize the One with whom one has spent several years, speaking with Him every day? A changed humanity, not easily perceived by the eyes and senses of fallen man? Perhaps yes, for the Kingdom reveals itself with difficulty, and only in part, to untransfigured sight. But at the moment of the breaking of the bread they see Him with complete clarity. What happened?

A theologian could perhaps build an entire sacramentology on this one fact. But the matter here may be both simpler and more complex: the disciples simply partook of the Kingdom, entered it, and found themselves right at its center, where He, their Teacher, is. And from within the Kingdom the Kingdom can be seen well, so the apostles, of course, immediately made out Jesus without difficulty. But how and why it turns out that the Kingdom now opens to the disciples, then closes again to them, remains something one can only wonder about.

One thing is clear: now it is truly near, so near that one can cross its boundary without even noticing it. Yet, on the other hand, it turns out that one can cross the boundary of the Kingdom without noticing not only the boundary, but even the Kingdom itself. One can pass through it without seeing or sensing anything, without noticing even the One whom, while He still belonged in His human nature to the untransfigured part of creation, it had been impossible not to notice. Apparently what is needed is a relationship actualized here and now, a bond like the one uniting those gathered around the broken bread, in order to experience the reality of the Kingdom. And it turns out to be infinitely great: as soon as the apostles recognized Jesus and found themselves in the same spiritual dimension with Him, He immediately disappeared from sight, dissolving into the infinite distance, for He is at the center of His Kingdom, and the apostles, it appears, are still very far from the center...

And yet the meeting took place. That is the main thing. The rest will follow, for ahead lies an entire life, a life to be lived in the Kingdom.

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