Luke 24 · WEB
The Resurrection, Road to Emmaus, and Ascension
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
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But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.
2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
3They entered in, and didn't find the Lord Jesus' body.
4While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing.
5Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. They said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?
6He isn't here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee,
7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?"
8They remembered his words,
9returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
10Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles.
11These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn't believe them.
12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened.
13Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.
14They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened.
15While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them.
16But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17He said to them, "What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?"
18One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things which have happened there in these days?"
19He said to them, "What things?" They said to him, "The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
20and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
21But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
22Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb;
23and when they didn't find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.
24Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn't see him."
25He said to them, "Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26Didn't the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?"
27Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28They came near to the village where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.
29They urged him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over." He went in to stay with them.
30When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave it to them.
31Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, then he vanished out of their sight.
32They said to one another, "Weren't our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?"
33They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them,
34saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"
35They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
36As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace be to you."
37But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38He said to them, "Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones, as you see that I have."
40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41While they still didn't believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"
42They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.
43He took them, and ate in front of them.
44He said to them, "This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled."
45Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.
46He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48You are witnesses of these things.
49Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high."
50He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
51While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
52They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
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Summary
On the first day of the week, women find the tomb empty and angels announce that Jesus has risen. The risen Christ walks unrecognized with two disciples to Emmaus, opens the Scriptures to them, and is revealed in the breaking of bread. He then appears to the gathered disciples, eats with them to prove his bodily resurrection, opens their minds to understand all that Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms wrote about him, and finally ascends to heaven from Bethany while blessing them.
Themes
- The bodily resurrection of Jesus
- Christ as the key to all Scripture
- Recognition through Word and table fellowship
- The Great Commission rooted in fulfilled prophecy
- Ascension and the promised Spirit
Key verses
- Luke 24:27 — “Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
- Luke 24:32 — “Weren't our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
- Luke 24:46-47 — “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations.”
- Luke 24:5-6 — “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He isn't here, but is risen.”
Context & background
The events of Luke 24 occur in and around Jerusalem (modern Israel) on Easter Sunday and the days following. Emmaus was a village about seven miles (sixty stadia) from Jerusalem, though its exact location is debated — possibly modern Motza or Abu Ghosh in Israel/the West Bank. Bethany sat on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem and home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Jewish thought of the era often viewed "spirits" as ghostly and bodiless, so Jesus' insistence on flesh, bones, and eating fish directly counters that idea — affirming a physical, glorified resurrection body. Luke ends his Gospel where it began: in the temple, with worship and praise.
Cross-references
- Acts 1:1-11 — Luke's continued account of the ascension and the promised Spirit
- Genesis 3:15 — The first promise of the seed who crushes the serpent, fulfilled in the resurrection
- Isaiah 53 — The suffering and exaltation of the Servant Jesus expounded on the road
- John 20:19-29 — Parallel post-resurrection appearance to the disciples
- Psalm 16:10 — "You will not abandon my soul to Sheol," foretelling resurrection