Text: Mark 16:12-13
After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.
Text: Luke 24:13-35
And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
Jesus starts appearing to many people but in small groups not to whole crowds. One of the more interesting things about the Luke passage is actually near the end where it is stated that Jesus had appeared to Simeon Peter. We know it was peter because Paul mentions this in First Corinthians.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus then become the third appearance. First the women, then to Peter and then to these two men. People often criticize that Jesus does not appear to great crowds except near the end before he ascends but I think if you look at things God still wants a test a faith about his Son to be present. You have to believe in Christ’s resurrection as a matter of faith so Jesus appears to enough witnesses that it can be established by all of them that Jesus is indeed raised from the dead but not so many so faith is completely removed from the picture.
Mark’s account is short but most significantly he points out that despite the testimony of these two witnesses the disciples still didn’t believe. In Luke’s account more significant to me is that the first person to lay out to people the scriptural basis for Jesus having to be crucified, buried and raised from the dead is Jesus himself. it is something many other character’s in Scripture will do but the first one to lay it out was Christ himself. To them of course the Scriptures did not include the New Testament so they did it purely with the prophetic nature of the Old Testament and the events of Christ’s life.
Luke is the only one to really dig into the details of this event and I think it was one of those things he may have looked into that the other writers had not. There was the story being circulated in early Christianity about the two disciples who saw Christ while traveling to Emmaus and it seems Luke is the one gospel writer that wanted to make sure it was recorded for later people to read and understand.
Next: First Appearance to the Disciples