A Walk with the Risen Christ

Those two men were not among the twelve disciples of Jesus; but they had believed in him as the Christ, the King of Israel. One of them was named Cleopas; the name of the other has not been given in the gospel by Saint Luke, where this story is told. The two men on that morning were walking out from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus, which was six or seven miles from the city. As they walked, they talked together of Jesus, of his death, his burial, and of a report which had just come to them, that he was living again.

While they were walking and talking, they suddenly saw another man walking with them. This stranger was Jesus, but they did not know him; just as Mary Magdalene did not know Jesus when first she saw him. He said to them:

"What is it that you are talking about, as you walk along?"

They stood still, with sorrowful faces; and Cleopas answered this stranger.

"What!" said Cleopas, "do you live all alone in Jerusalem, since you seem not to have heard of the things that have taken place there in the last few days?"

"What things do you mean?" asked the stranger.

"Why, about Jesus of Nazareth," they answered. "Have you never heard of him? He was a wonderful prophet, to whom God gave power in his words and his deeds before all the people. But the chief priests and our rulers seized him, and gave him up to be sentenced to death, and crucified him. But it was our hope that he was to be the one to set Israel free from its enemies, and reign as our King. And now, this is the third day since he died, and this morning some women of our company have brought to us news that greatly surprised us. They went to the tomb at daybreak, and found it open, but did not find his body within it. They told us that they had seen some angels, who said that Jesus was alive! At once some of our men went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said, the tomb thrown open and the body gone; but they did not see Jesus."

"O, foolish men, with hearts so slow to believe, after all that the prophets have said in the Holy Book!" said the stranger, who was the risen Jesus. "Do you not know that Christ was bound to suffer all these things before he could enter his glory as the Son of God?"

Then he began to show them in all the Old Testament books, how Moses in the law, and David in the psalms, and all the prophets in their writings, had foretold the things that should take place with Christ when he should come; and that all these things had come to pass with Jesus, showing that Jesus of Nazareth was in truth the Son of God and the King of Israel.

While they went on talking together, they drew near the village of Emmaus, to which the two men were going. The unknown Jesus seemed as if he was going further; but they urged him to stop.

"Stay with us," they said to him, "for it is getting toward evening; the sun is already about to set."

And Jesus went with them to the village and into the house. They sat down to supper; and the stranger took the loaf of bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. In that instant, their eyes were opened, and they knew who he was, Jesus their Master! But in that moment he vanished out of their sight.

"How our hearts burned within us," they said to each other, "while he was talking to us on the road and explaining to us what is said in the Holy Book!"

Then they immediately rose up from the table, and went back in haste to Jerusalem. They found some of the disciples and others in the upper room at Jerusalem, where Jesus had taken his last supper with his disciples. Before Cleopas and his friend found a chance to tell their story, those in the room said to them:

"The Lord has really risen, and has appeared to Simon Peter!"

Then the two men from Emmaus told how the stranger had walked with them on the road, and had told them many things out of the Old Testament; and how they had suddenly known that he was Jesus, while he was blessing and breaking the bread.

These were the third and fourth appearances of Jesus, the third to Simon Peter; but what Jesus said to him has not been written; and the fourth, to Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus.

Two Sunday Evenings with the Risen Christ

The doors leading to this room were shut and locked, for they feared the Jewish rulers and people. They were talking together of these reports that had come to them of Jesus having risen and having been seen, when all of a sudden they saw Jesus himself standing in the middle of the room. He said to them:

"Peace be to you!"

At the first sight of him, they were frightened, for they thought it was not Jesus alive whom they saw, but the ghost or spirit of Jesus dead.

"Why are you so startled?" said Jesus to them, "and why do doubts come to you? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I, myself. Feel me, and look at me; a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have!"

With these words he showed them his hands and his feet, with the holes left by the nails on the cross still in them. Even yet, they felt the sight of Jesus was too good to be true, and could scarcely believe that it was their Lord living. He said to them:

"Have you here anything to eat?"

They brought to him a piece of broiled fish; and he ate it while they looked on. This was not because he was hungry and needed food, for he no longer needed anything; but simply to show them that he was really living.

Then at last they were afraid no longer, and believed fully that their Lord was with them living; and their hearts were full of joy. Jesus said to them again:

"Peace be with you; as the Father sent me forth, even so I send you forth."

Then he breathed on them, and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit of God! I give you power that if you take away the sins of men, they are taken away from them, just as if I myself forgave them; and if you do not take away their sins, then the guilt of their sins shall stay upon them."

After talking with his followers for a time on that evening, Jesus disappeared as suddenly as he had come. This was his fifth appearance on that day, the day of his rising from the tomb.

But, as we have seen, Thomas, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, was not with the others on that evening, and being absent did not meet the risen Jesus. The other disciples said to him:

"We have seen the Lord!"

But Thomas would not believe them. He thought that they were all mistaken, and said:

"Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails on the cross, and put my finger on those marks of the nails; and unless I can put my hand into the wound made by the spear in his side, I will not believe that he is alive!"

A week later, on the next Sunday evening, they all met again in the upper room; and at this time, Thomas was present. Though the doors were shut, Jesus came again and stood among them, with the words as before: "Peace be with you!"

He looked at Thomas and said to him:

"Look at my hands, and put your finger there; and look at my side, and thrust your hand into it. Do not longer refuse to believe that I am alive, but believe in me."

Thomas answered him: "My Lord, and my God!"

"Is it because you have seen me that you have believed in me?" said Jesus. "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed!"

You remember that John, the beloved disciple, believed that Jesus had risen when he looked into the empty tomb, and before he had seen him alive.

This meeting with the disciples on the second Sunday evening was the sixth appearance of Jesus after rising from the dead.

The Breakfast by the Sea

The word that Jesus would show himself to all who believed on him, on this mountain in Galilee, led the followers of Jesus from all parts of the land to go to Galilee and to this mountain. They waited near that place for some days without seeing Jesus.

One morning seven of the eleven disciples of Jesus were on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. These seven men were Simon Peter, James and John, Thomas, Nathanael (who was also called Bartholomew, which means "son of Tolmai"), and two other disciples, whose names have not been given.

While they were standing by the lake, Peter felt a longing for his old work as a fisherman, and he said to the others:

"I am going fishing."

He thought that while they were waiting for Jesus to come, they might also do some work. The other six men said:

"We will go fishing with you."

They went out in the boat, and fished all night, but caught nothing. The next morning, just as the day was breaking, they saw a man standing on the shore.

"Boys," called out this man, "have you caught anything?"

"No," they answered him.

"Throw out your net on the right side of the boat," said the stranger, "and you will find some fish."

They threw out the net as the man told them, and at once it was filled with large fish, so full that they could not at first haul it in. Then John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, said to Peter:

"That is our Lord!"

When Simon Peter heard that this man on the shore was the Lord Jesus, he slipped on his coat—for he had taken it off while working—and leaped into the water to swim ashore. The other disciples came ashore in a smaller boat, dragging the net, full of fish; for they were not more than a hundred yards from the beach.

When they landed on the shore, they saw a charcoal fire burning, with some fish cooking upon it and some bread beside it. Jesus said:

"Bring some of the fish that you have caught."

Peter went to the boat and pulled the net ashore, full of large fish. They counted them afterward, and found that they numbered one hundred and fifty-three; but although there were so many, the net was not torn anywhere. Jesus said to them:

"Come and have breakfast."

They sat down on the beach beside the fire; and Jesus passed the bread around to them, and also the broiled fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was seen by his disciples after rising from the dead; for he had already appeared to them on two Sunday evenings in Jerusalem; and in all, this was the seventh appearance of Jesus after his rising from the dead.

After they had eaten their breakfast, and were still sitting together, Jesus said to Simon Peter:

"Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than the others?"

"Why, Master," answered Peter, "you know that I am your friend."

"Then," said Jesus, "feed my lambs."

There was a moment's pause, and then Jesus a second time asked Peter:

"Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?"

"Yes, Master," he replied; "you know that I am your friend."

"Then," said Jesus, "be a shepherd to my sheep."

Then, a third time, Jesus asked him:

"Simon, son of Jonas, are you my friend?"

Peter felt hurt that his third question was "Are you my friend?" and not "Do you love me?" and he answered:

"Master, you know everything! You know that I am your friend!"

"Then feed my sheep," said Jesus; and he went on, "I tell you in truth, when you were young you put your own girdle around your waist, and went wherever you chose. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands for someone else to put a girdle around you, and you will be taken where you do not wish to go."

Then Jesus added, "Follow me."

As Peter on the night of his Master's trial had three times denied that he knew Jesus or was his disciple, so now Jesus wished him to say three times before them all that he was his friend. And when he had spoken this three times, the Lord said to him, as he had said long before by the Sea of Galilee, "Follow me." Thus Simon Peter was again given his old place among the disciples of Jesus.

What Jesus said to Peter about stretching out his hands and being carried where he did not wish to go, was spoken as a prophecy or foretelling of the manner by which Peter should die for the sake of Christ. Nearly forty years after that time, when Peter was an old man, he was put to death at Rome by being crucified as Jesus had been. It is said that when he was about to be fastened upon the cross, he said to the soldiers, that one who had denied his Master as he had, was not worthy of dying in the same manner as Jesus had died; and he begged them to set up his cross with his head downward toward the ground; and thus Peter died.

But to go back to that breakfast by the Sea of Galilee, after those words had been spoken by Jesus to Peter, he looked at John, who was standing near. Peter and John, though very different in their natures, loved each other greatly. In the story of Jesus and his disciples, and in the days that came after, we find that almost always Peter and John were together. Seeing John, Peter said to Jesus:

"Master, you have told me about myself; now tell what this man shall do."

But Jesus said to Peter:

"If I choose that he shall wait until I come back to earth, what has that to do with you? Do you follow me, as I said."

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, lived a long time after that day. When all the rest of the twelve disciples of Jesus had died—nearly all of them were slain by enemies of Christ—John was still living. And from these words of Jesus many thought that John would not die. But Jesus did not say that John would not die. He only said that if he chose to let John live until he, Jesus, came again, it was not Peter's matter, but the Lord's.

Jesus Rising up from Earth to Heaven

At that time Jesus drew near to this company and said to them:

"All power as the Son of God, and the King of God's Kingdom in heaven and on earth has been given to me by my Father. I command you, therefore, to go and preach the gospel to all the world, and make disciples of all nations and in all lands. Those who believe on me, baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and teach them to obey all the commands that I have given you. Whoever believes on me as his Saviour shall be saved from his sins; but whoever will not believe, shall suffer the guilt of his sins. And these powers shall be given to those who believe; in my name they shall drive out evil spirits; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up poisonous snakes in their hands and shall suffer no harm; if they drink any poison it shall not hurt them; they will place their hands on sick people, and they shall become well. And I will be with you all the time, even to the very end of the world."

After this there was a ninth appearance of Jesus to James; not James the brother of John, but another James who was the son of Joseph and Mary, and a younger brother of Jesus. What was said at that appearance has not been told, but from that time James was one of the foremost followers of Jesus, and for many years a leader in the church at Jerusalem. Long after this, James wrote one of the books in the New Testament, the Epistle of James.

Jesus was seen from time to time during forty days by his disciples and followers. We know of ten times in all when Jesus appeared; but there may have been other times of which no mention is made in the gospels or in the other writings of the New Testament. His tenth appearance, as far as we know, and his last, may have been at the upper room in Jerusalem, forty days after he had risen from his tomb. At that time he said:

"When I was with you, I told you this, that everything written of me in the books of Moses, and the psalms and the prophets must come to pass."

Then he opened their minds to understand what was written in the Old Testament.

"Thus," he said, "it is written that Christ the King of Israel must suffer, and die, and rise again the third day, just as has come to pass. And now you are to go forth and preach that men must everywhere turn from their sins to God, and be forgiven of their sins through the power given to me. And you are to begin your preaching here in Jerusalem, the very place where I have been crucified. I will soon send down on you the Holy Spirit whom my Father has promised. But wait in this city until the power comes upon you from on high."

Then the risen Christ led them out of the city to the Mount of Olives. No one except those who believed in him could see him, for he was unseen to all other people. As he drew near Bethany he lifted up his hands and blessed his followers. While they were looking at him, and his hands were held out, he rose into the air, higher and higher, until after a time a cloud covered him from their sight, and Jesus the Lord of glory was seen no more.

While they were looking upward, two men dressed in shining white, angels of God, were seen standing beside them. These angels said to the followers of Jesus:

"Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up towards the heavens? This Jesus, who has been taken from you, will come again to earth in the very same way that you have seen him go up to heaven."

So Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven, and there sat down on his throne at the right hand of God. He sits there still, watching over his people until the day shall come for him to return to earth.