What Things?

                We were all astonished. Mary and her sister came to us with a story that the Master was alive! How on earth is this possible? Didn't we see him dead and buried in Joseph's cave? We wondered.

                                      Cleopas and I had joined this group following the master Yeshua some time back. We were surprised not only by His words, but by the power and authority with which He spoke. And the miracles He did were so many. He healed the lame and the blind. To top it all off we saw him call forth and resurrect Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. This, four days after he was buried! He was a wonder-worker indeed!

                                    But we all right now were depressed. The crafty Jewish leaders arrested Him and accused Him falsely and managed to get the permission of Pilate, the Roman Governor to crucify Him. They did that gory act on Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem.

                                   We were all witnesses of these things. As you can understand, we became terror-stricken. Will the Jews attack us, as His followers, next? We were not sure. We kept the doors of the Upper Room where we met, locked securely.

                         We deliberated on the epochal events of the past week. Some of our women wanted to anoint the Master's body with spices and they went early on the first day of the week to the Tomb.

                                   Only after they left did we wonder how they would roll the stone away from the cave housing the body of the Master. But to our utter amazement, they came back and gave us stupendous news. The huge rock which was sealed was rolled away, and the tomb was empty! The body of the Lord was not there!

                                            To add to it, Mary of Magdalene added that she had seen a man she thought to be the gardener and pleaded with him to return the body, thinking he had taken it. She said He called her by name, and she recognized that it was our Master! Was it that she saw a vision or a daydream? we wondered as she shared this with us.

                                            It was in this frame of mind we decided to return to our little home in the village Emmaus, some seven miles from Jerusalem. Cleopas and I started our trek walking slowly as we could easily reach home by sunset. We planned to break bread after we reach home. As we walked, we continued to talk to each other about these wonderful things that we experienced in the past week.

                                            Out of the blue, a stranger approached us. He also seemed to be walking towards Emmaus. He joined us and as we were talking, asked us,

                                            "What are you two talking about?"

                                          For a moment we stood still as we were sad. Then Cleopas answered, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

                                          The stranger asked, "What things?"

                                          Then I chipped in and said, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

                                            Moreover, some women from our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even 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 as the women had said, but him they did not see."

                                           He turned toward, and replied, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"

                                         We looked flabbergasted. Taking pity on us, he continued to expound to us. Starting with the Law, the Pentateuch, he explained how the Prophet Moses prophesied the coming of the Messiah. He made things very clear to us. As he unfolded the scriptures to us, our hearts were burning. How did we not see this? I thought.

                                          As the dusk was fast approaching, we reached our village Emmaus. The stranger acted as if he had to go further ahead. But we urged him strongly, "Dusk is about to fall and it is not wise to walk further. The day is now far spent. Do come and stay with us. Share our bread and sleep here the night. You can start your journey again tomorrow at dawn."

                                         He agreed to stay, and we went home. After we had washed, we gathered around the table for the evening meal, the three of us.

                                  As he was the host, I expected Cleopas to break the bread and give it to the stranger and me. But suddenly I found that the stranger had taken a position at the head of the table, and as Cleopas and I looked on, he blessed the bread and broke it, and gave it to us. As we received the bread from this stranger, our eyes opened!

                                          We realized that this stranger was the Lord, our Master Jesus Christ Himself, in person!

                                             At that very moment, He vanished from our sight! We were flummoxed. I said, "Cleopas, didn't our hearts burn while he expounded the scriptures to us on the way from Jerusalem?"

                                              Cleopas replied, "Indeed, what you say is true. What shall we do now?"

                                              "We need to report this to the apostles and our brothers at Jerusalem," I said, and we started immediately. Leaving our meal hastily, we set out back again on the road to Jerusalem.

                                               This time as we walked excitedly, recounting again and again how the Lord was with us and we were ignorant, the journey back to Jerusalem seemed to take less time.

                                              We found the eleven disciples and all the others gathered. Even before we could share our momentous good news with them, we heard that they were all listening to the disciples. The disciples said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"

                                     Then they all looked at us. Cleopas and I took turns to explain what happened to us on the road to Emmaus. We told them how he expounded the scriptures to us on the seven-mile journey. We also told them how the Lord revealed Himself to us through the breaking of the bread.

                                            They all listened to us as we spoke, with awe. Even before we could complete our story, the Lord appeared to us again.

                                           He stood amidst us and said, "Shalom to you!"

                                           In spite of all that happened to us, we were still startled and frightened. Some of us thought that this was a spirit, the spirit of the Master!

                                            Realizing our thoughts, the Lord spoke his gracious words to us. He said, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I, myself. Touch me, see for yourselves. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."

                                     As he spoke, he showed us His wounded hands and feet.

                                   "Cleopas, truly this is the Lord our Master!" I whispered to Cleopas as he did that. Perhaps seeing the mistrust in some of us, the Lord asked, "Have you anything here to eat?"

                                    Andrew and Yosam found a piece of broiled fish that they offered to him. He took the fish and ate it before all of us.

                                   We all were sure that a Spirit cannot eat and digest human food. When he began to speak again, we believed that this was the Lord Jesus Christ, now resurrected from the dead and having a wonderful body. A body that can cross walls and doors and can also eat and digest food. Our eyes were opened again!

                                 "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled," he said

                                  Most of our brothers then experienced what Cleopas and I had, while we walked with him. Yes, their minds, the Lord opened to understand and comprehend the scriptures.

                                   The Lord spoke further to all of us.

                                   "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

                                    And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

                                   Cleopas and I still cherish the memory of that blessed evening when we sat in our home in Emmaus at the table. How the Lord blessed our bread and broke it and gave it to us. The epiphany we had, when He revealed Himself to us. What a day! What a Saviour indeed! Blessed be His Name!