Chapter Twenty-Four
Lk. 24:1. In the first day of the week, very early, carrying the prepared spices, they came to the tomb, and together with them certain others;
On the first day of the week the women came to the tomb, carrying with them spices. They came very early, which the evangelist Matthew (Matt. 28:1) calls the evening of the Sabbath. For the deep morning is almost the same as the very late evening.
Lk. 24:2. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, for the Angel had rolled it away, as Matthew says (Matt. 28:2).
Lk. 24:3. And having entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Lk. 24:4. And while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood before them in dazzling garments.
When they entered inside, two men appear to them. One, mentioned by Matthew (Matt. 28:2), was sitting on the stone, while these two men stood inside the tomb. These are different visions.
Lk. 24:5. And when they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said to them: why do you seek the living among the dead?
Lk. 24:6. He is not here: He is risen; remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
Lk. 24:7. Saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.
Men appear in shining garments, on account of the brightness of the resurrection, and remind the women of what the Lord had told them, namely: that it was "necessary," that is, inevitable, for Him "to be delivered into the hands of sinful men," that is, the Romans, pagans and defiled ones, "and on the third day to rise again." Concerning how the resurrection is on the third day, we have spoken sufficiently in the commentary on Matthew (see ch. 28).
Lk. 24:8. And they remembered His words;
Lk. 24:9. And having returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
Lk. 24:10. They were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the others with them, who told these things to the Apostles.
Lk. 24:11. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they did not believe them.
When they returned from the tomb and told the apostles about this, they were regarded as dreamers. So, by nature, the miracle of the resurrection seems incredible to people!
Lk. 24:12. But Peter, rising up, ran to the tomb and, stooping down, saw only the linen cloths lying there, and went away, wondering within himself at what had happened.
However, Peter does not delay, like fire that has taken hold of material, but runs to the tomb and sees only the linen cloths lying there. And from the fact that he reached the tomb, the first benefit is that instead of mocking, he marvels: "and he went away (it says), wondering in himself at what had happened." For how did the linen cloths alone remain, and that when the body had been anointed with myrrh? How much leisure did the thief have, when he left them properly folded, carried out the body, and that when soldiers had been posted? By "Mary, the mother of James," understand the Theotokos, for she was so called as the supposed mother of James, the son of Joseph, who was called the Less; I mean the Brother of God. For there was also James the Greater, one of the Twelve, the son of Zebedee.
Lk. 24:13. On that same day two of them were walking to a village sixty stadia from Jerusalem, called Emmaus;
Some say that one of these two was Luke himself, which is why the evangelist concealed his name.
Lk. 24:14. And they were talking among themselves of all these things which had happened.
They "were talking with each other about all these events" not as believers, but as people perplexed and amazed by the extraordinary occurrences, and not quickly able to come to terms with such a wondrous phenomenon.
Lk. 24:15. And while they conversed and reasoned among themselves, Jesus Himself, having drawn near, went with them.
Lk. 24:16. But their eyes were held, so that they did not recognize Him.