1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body. 4While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. 5Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth.
The men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee, 7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”
8They remembered his words, 9returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles. 11These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened.
13Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. 14They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened. 15While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them. 16But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”
18One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”
19He said to them, “What things?”
They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; 20and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb; 23and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24Some of us went to the tomb and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”
25He said to them, “Foolish people, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” 27Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28They came near to the village where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.
29They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.”
He went in to stay with them. 30When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave it to them. 31Their eyes were opened and they recognized him; then he vanished out of their sight. 32They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?” 33They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them, 34saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
36As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
37But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” 40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
42They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43He took them, and ate in front of them. 44He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.”
45Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. 46He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”
50He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
After Jesus’ resurrection He appeared to two of His disciples along the road from Jerusalem to “a village called Emmaus.” Although the two don’t recognize Him at first, they invite Him to stay with them when they reached the town.
The site of Emmaus is not known for certain. Although there are up to nine sites proposed for the location of Emmaus, there are two main contenders; Emmaus-Nicopolis and Emmaus-Qubeibeh.
Emmaus-Qubeibeh is eight miles northwest of Jerusalem, which matches the sixty stadia from Jerusalem, thus matching the earliest copies of Luke’s account. In the 1940’s Ballarmino Bagatti excavated Qubeibeh and found a crusader-era church built over a Roman-era house. He dated the village using pottery sherds, including a Herodian lamp, and coins dating from the third century B.C. through the fifth century A.D. However, Qubeibeh was not associated with Emmaus until 1290. Although there are ruins there from the right period, the absence of an early tradition of the site with Emmaus is extremely problematic.
The other major contender for Emmaus is Emmaus-Nicopolis. Nicopolis has the oldest tradition of any of the possible locations of the village, as far back as the third century, and its Arabic name of ‘Amwas lends evidence of it being the correct site of Emmaus. Excavations conducted by the Franciscans in the late 1800’s and again from 1940-1944 there revealed a fourth or fifth century Byzantine basilica built over a first-century house. It was located along the major road from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean coast as well. However, it is almost seventeen miles from Jerusalem, thus it does not fit with the earliest copies of Luke. However, other many manuscripts have 160 stadia instead of 60. If 160 was original, then Emmaus-Nicopolis does fall within the correct distance. However, scholars have argued that it would have been impossible for the disciples to walk the 35 mile round trip from Jerusalem to Emmaus-Nicopolis in one day. However, the text does not say they walked, so some have argued that they could have ridden a pack animal, or even that they ran part of the way back to Jerusalem in their excitement at having seen the risen Lord. It has also been pointed out that even into modern times the Bedouins of the Levant regularly travel up to 40 miles in one day. Although the textual issue of the uncertain distance listed by Luke remains a problem, Emmaus-Nicopolis is currently the most likely location of the Emmaus of Luke’s Gospel.
Bibliography. ASB 1716, “Archaeological Sites: Emmaus[HH1];”
Baez-Camargo, Gonzalo, Archaeological Commentary on the Bible, (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1984), 225; Finegan, Jack, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 287-89; Negev, Avraham and Shimon Gibson, “Emmaus-Nicopolis” in Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (New York: Continuum, 2001, c. 1972), 159; Shanks, Hershel. “Emmaus: Where Christ Appeared.” Biblical Archaeology Review, 34 (Mar/Apr 2008), 40-2, 44-51, 80, accessed April 20, 2010, http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=34&Issue=2&ArticleID=8