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.
The hometown of Jesus was Nazareth in Galilee (Matt.2:23, Mark 1:9, Luke 2:39). Nazareth lies on the north slope of the Jezreel Valley (or Plain of Esdraelon), across to the north-east from Megiddo and Mount Carmel. At 1,150 feet, it overlooks the valley about 950 feet below.
The relative size and importance of the village of Nazareth at the time of Jesus is seen by the almost total lack of mention of it in period sources. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Josephus, in his catalogue of forty-five towns in Galilee does not list Nazareth. The Talmud refers to sixty-three villages in Galilee, but also does not mention it.[1] It was not on any major trade route, but it was on the road from the regional administrative center of Sepphoris. Because of this, Unger has argued that “while Nazareth was not a bustling emporium, it was far from isolated from the busy Galilean cities and the stirring events of the time.”[2] Archaeology has also given evidence of how small Nazareth was during Jesus’ time. It is estimated to have been approximately sixty acres and had a population of less than five hundred.[3]
This lack of historical textual evidence has caused some fringe skeptics to claim the town never existed.[4] However, archaeological evidence has been found that shows Nazareth was inhabited well before, during, and after the time of Jesus.
In 1963 burial caves were found containing pottery from the first part of the Middle Bronze Age (2100-2000 B.C.), lending evidence that Nazareth had been settled from a very early date.[5] Archeological excavations done by Bagatti in 1955 under the Church of the Annunciation yielded grottoes, grail silos, oil and water cisterns, raisin and olive presses, millstones, and a large amount of pottery.[6] The pottery is of special interest because it ranges from Iron II (900-600 B.C.) all the way through the Byzantine period. The finds show that Nazareth was a village for many centuries organized around agriculture. Unger speculates that Jesus’ repetitive use of agricultural illustrations is due to His having been raised in that environment.[7] Also of interest is that some of the grottos discovered had been modified to be used as dwellings and other buildings. This gives credence to the traditional location of the Church of St. Joseph, said to have been build over the grotto where Joseph had his house and workshop, and where Jesus grew up.
Very recently excavations in Nazareth led by Yardenna Alexandre have revealed a first-century house. The Roman period house was found next to the Church of the Annunciation, and according to Alexandre, “The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period.”[8] The house consisted of two rooms with a courtyard, typical of the time (see Houses in First Century Israel)[RD1]. Roman era pottery was found, along with chalk containers, unique to Jewish sites (due to the fact that chalk vessels were not susceptible to become ritually impure, unlike normal clay pottery). In addition, a camouflaged pit was discovered, which also contained potsherds. Alexandre theorizes the pit was constructed and stocked in preparation for the Jewish revolt of A.D. 67.
[1]Finegan, Archaeology, 43.
[2]Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962) 119.
[3] James F. Strange, “Nazareth” Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Vol. 4, ed. Eric M. Myers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)113-114; Vassilios Tzaferis and Bellarmino Bagatti, “Nazareth” New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, Vol. 3, ed. Ephraim Stern (Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society and Carta, 1993)1103-1106.
[4]See Rene Salm, The Myth of Nazareth, Parsippany NJ: American Atheist Press, 2008.
[5]Finegan, Archeology, 44.
[6] Bellarmino Bagatti, Excavations at Nazareth (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1969) 77-218.
[7]Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962) 120.
[8] Quoted in Israel Antiquities Authority, “For the Very First Time: A Residential Building from the Time of Jesus was Exposed in the Heart of Nazareth,” Dec. 21, 2009. Online: http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?sec_id=25&subj_id=240&id=1638&module_id=#as (accessed February 13, 2009).
[RD1]Change reference if needed