1 On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb carrying the spices they had prepared, and some other women with them.
2 They found the stone rolled back from the tomb,
3 and when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were at a loss over this, suddenly two men in gleaming clothes stood beside them.
5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why are you looking for the living one among the dead?
6 He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee:
7 that the Son of Man must be handed over into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day."
8 Then they remembered his words,
9 and returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and to all the others.
10 The ones who told these things to the apostles were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them.
11 But their report looked to them like idle talk, and they would not believe the women.
12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending down, he saw the linen strips lying there by themselves, and he went away wondering to himself at what had happened.
13 That very day two of them were on their way to a village named Emmaus, sixty stadia from Jerusalem.
14 They were talking with each other about everything that had taken place.
15 As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself came up and began walking along with them,
16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17 He said to them, "What are these things you are discussing with each other as you walk along, looking so downcast?"
18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened there in these days?"
19 He asked them, "What things?" They said to him, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, powerful in action and speech before God and all the people,
20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and crucified him.
21 We had been hoping that he was the one who would redeem Israel. And besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.
22 What is more, some women from our group amazed us. They went to the tomb early,
23 did not find his body, and came back saying they had even seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.
24 Some of those with us went off to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see."
25 Then he said to them, "How dull you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and enter into his glory?"
27 Then, starting from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures.
28 As they came near the village they were heading for, he made as if to go on farther.
29 But they pressed him: "Stay with us, because it is getting toward evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and handed it to them.
31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he disappeared from their sight.
32 They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us as he talked with us on the road and opened up the Scriptures to us?"
33 They got up at that very hour and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven and their companions gathered together,
34 who were saying, "The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon!"
35 Then the two told what had happened on the road and how he had been recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace to you."
37 Startled and terrified, they thought they were seeing a spirit.
38 He said to them, "Why are you shaken, and why are doubts rising in your hearts?
39 Look at my hands and my feet: it is I, myself. Touch me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you can see that I have."
40 After saying this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 While in their joy they were still unable to believe and were amazed, he asked them, "Do you have anything to eat here?"
42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish and some of a honeycomb,
43 and he took it and ate it in front of them.
44 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything written about me in the law of Moses, in the prophets, and in the Psalms had to be fulfilled."
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
46 He told them, "So it is written, and so the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins had to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, starting from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 And look, I am sending what my Father promised upon you; but remain in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high."
50 He led them out as far as Bethany, and raising his hands, he blessed them.
51 While he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up into heaven.
52 They worshiped him and went back to Jerusalem full of joy,
53 and they were in the temple constantly, praising and blessing God. Amen.