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<a href="/context/mark/16-1.htm" title="And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.">Mark 16:1-4</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Very early in the morning.</span>—The original has a more poetic form <span class= "ital">“</span>in the deep dawn,” agreeing with “while it was yet dark.” The last clause, “certain others with them,” is not found in the best MSS., and may have been inserted by transcribers to bring in the second group, who are named in the other Gospels, but not in this.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-2.htm">Luke 24:2</a></div><div class="verse">And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">And they found the stone rolled away .</span>—The narrative is less vivid and detailed than St. Mark’s; possibly, we may believe, because St. Luke’s report may have come, not from one of the Maries, but from Joanna (named in <a href="/luke/24-10.htm" title="It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things to the apostles.">Luke 24:10</a>). or Susanna, who were less prominent, and might only have heard of what had passed from others.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-4.htm">Luke 24:4</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Two men stood by them.</span>—St. Mark and St. Matthew mention one only. Had St. Matthew given the two, it might have been urged by adverse critics that this duplication of phenomena, as in the case of the demoniacs (<a href="/matthew/8-28.htm" title="And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.">Matthew 8:28</a>), and the blind men at Jericho (<a href="/matthew/20-30.htm" title="And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, you son of David.">Matthew 20:30</a>), was an idiosyncrasy of his. As it is, we must suppose that each set of informants—the two Maries, and the “others” from whom it seems probable that St. Luke’s report was derived—described what they themselves had seen. At such moments of terror and astonishment, perception and memory are not always very definite in their reports.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-5.htm">Luke 24:5</a></div><div class="verse">And as they were afraid, and bowed down <i>their</i> faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Why seek ye the living among the dead?</span>—Better, as in the margin, <span class= "ital">Him that liveth.</span> The question was enough to change the whole current of their thoughts. The Lord whom they came to honour as dead was in very deed “living,” was emphatically “He that liveth,” alive for evermore (<a href="/revelation/1-18.htm" title="I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.">Revelation 1:18</a>). The primary meaning of the words is, of course, limited to this; but like the parallel, “let the dead bury their dead” (see Note on <a href="/matthew/8-22.htm" title="But Jesus said to him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.">Matthew 8:22</a>), they suggest manifold applications. It is in vain that we seek “Him that liveth” in dead works, dead formulæ, dead or dying institutions. The eternal life that is in Christ is not to be found by looking into the graves of the past in the world’s history, or in those of our individual life. In both cases it is better to rise, as on the “stepping-stones of our dead selves,” to “higher things.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-6.htm">Luke 24:6</a></div><div class="verse">He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Remember how he spake unto you.-The</span> direct appeal to the memory of the women is peculiar to St. Luke, and shows us what does not lie on the surface of the Gospel history, that they, too, were among those to whom were uttered the prophecies of the Passion and the Resurrection of which we read in <a href="/context/luke/9-43.htm" title="And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said to his disciples,">Luke 9:43-45</a>. In the words of <a href="/matthew/28-6.htm" title="He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.">Matthew 28:6</a>, “He is risen, as He said,” we have an indirect reference of the same character.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-7.htm">Luke 24:7</a></div><div class="verse">Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Into the hands of sinful men.</span>—The adjective does not appear in the earlier report. It is probably used here, more or less, in its popular Jewish meaning, as applied to “sinners of the Gentiles” (<a href="/galatians/2-15.htm" title="We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,">Galatians 2:15</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-8.htm">Luke 24:8</a></div><div class="verse">And they remembered his words,</div>(8) <span class= "bld">And they remembered his words.</span>—It would be better to end the previous verse with a fullstop, and begin the next sentence, <span class= "ital">And they returned. . . .</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-9.htm">Luke 24:9</a></div><div class="verse">And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.</div>(9-11) <span class= "bld">To all the rest.</span>—So <a href="/matthew/28-8.htm" title="And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.">Matthew 28:8</a> as to “the disciples,” as a wider term than “Apostles.” We may naturally think of many at least of the Seventy as being among the “rest.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-10.htm">Luke 24:10</a></div><div class="verse">It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary <i>the mother</i> of James, and other <i>women that were</i> with them, which told these things unto the apostles.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Mary Magdalene, and Joanna.</span>—St. Luke alone names the latter in the Resurrection history, as he alone had named her before, as following our Lord in Galilee (<a href="/luke/7-2.htm" title="And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick, and ready to die.">Luke 7:2</a>). It is not an unreasonable inference from this that she was probably his chief informant.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-11.htm">Luke 24:11</a></div><div class="verse">And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Idle tales.</span>—The one Greek word which is thus rendered occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is applied strictly to the trifling, half-idiotic babble of dotage.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-12.htm">Luke 24:12</a></div><div class="verse">Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Then arose Peter.</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/john/20-3.htm" title="Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher.">John 20:3-10</a>. The fact of Peter’s visit to the sepulchre is common to St. Luke and St. John, but the former does not mention the companionship of the beloved disciple. On the assumption of Joanna being St. Luke’s informant, we can understand that she told what she remembered, Peter’s impetuous rush to the sepulchre, and did not notice that he was followed by his friend.<p><span class= "bld">Stooping down.</span>—The word was sometimes used alone, as in <a href="/james/1-25.htm" title="But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.">James 1:25</a>, <a href="/1_peter/1-12.htm" title="To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us they did minister the things, which are now reported to you by them that have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.">1Peter 1:12</a>, for the act of stooping down to look.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-13.htm">Luke 24:13</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem <i>about</i> threescore furlongs.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">And, behold, two of them.</span>—The long and singularly interesting narrative that follows is peculiar to St. Luke, and must be looked upon as among the “gleaning of the grapes,” which rewarded his researches even after the full vintage had apparently been gathered in by others. The Emmaus in Galilee, about a mile from Tiberias, was famous for its medicinal warm springs (Jos. <span class= "ital">Ant.</span> xviii. 2, § 3; <span class= "ital">Wars,</span> iv. 1, § 3), and had the narrative referred to it, we might have supposed St. Luke to have visited it on that account. We have no record of any such springs in the Emmaus near Jerusalem, which is also named by Josephus (<span class= "ital">Wars, vii.</span> 6, § 6) as at a distance of sixty <span class= "ital">stadia,</span> or furlongs, from Jerusalem. The name, however, was probably, as Josephus states (as above), significant, connected with the modern Arabic term, <span class= "ital">Hammâm,</span> or <span class= "ital">Hummum, </span>for a “bath,” and indicating, therefore, like the Latin “Aquae,” or the French “Aix,” the presence of such springs, and if so, the same hypothesis may fit in here. In the case of the Emmaus (afterwards Nicopolis), in the plain of Philistia, there was a fountain mentioned by early writers as famous for its healing powers (Euseb. <span class= "ital">Chron.</span> 41). We can hardly doubt, from the prominence given to the name of Cleopas, that he was St. Luke’s informant. We are not told when the disciples started, but as it was “towards evening” when they reached Emmaus, it could not well have been before their noontide meal. The fulness with which the whole account is given may well lead us to think of it as taken down at the time from the lips of the narrator.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-15.htm">Luke 24:15</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, that, while they communed <i>together</i> and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">While they communed together . . .</span>—The verb is the same as that translated “talked” in the preceding verse.<p><span class= "bld">Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.</span>—Excluding, as we must do in such a case, the element of chance, we are left to conjecture the reasons for this special manifestation. Neither of the two travellers belonged to the Twelve. They may possibly have been of the number of the Seventy. May we think that it was in tender sympathy with the trials to which their thoughtful and yearning temper specially exposed them, that their Master thus drew near to them? They had cherished the hope that the kingdom of God would immediately appear (<a href="/luke/19-11.htm" title="And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.">Luke 19:11</a>), and now it seemed further off than ever. And He came, partly, it may be, with altered garb and tone, partly as holding their senses under supernatural control, so that they knew Him not. He was to them as a man of like passions with themselves. (Comp. the appearance to Mary Magdalene, <a href="/john/20-15.htm" title="Jesus said to her, Woman, why weep you? whom seek you? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have borne him hence, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.">John 20:15</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-17.htm">Luke 24:17</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, What manner of communications <i>are</i> these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?</div>(17) <span class= "bld">What manner of communications . . .?</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">What are these words that ye bandy to and fro with one another?</span><p><span class= "bld">And are sad.</span>—The adjective is the same as that used of the hypocrites in <a href="/matthew/6-16.htm" title="Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.">Matthew 6:16</a>. The better MSS. make the question stop at “as ye walk,” and then add, “And they stood sad in countenance.” Over and above the authority for this reading, it has unquestionably the merit of greater dramatic vividness.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-18.htm">Luke 24:18</a></div><div class="verse">And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?</div>(18) <span class= "bld">One of them, whose name was Cleopas.</span>—The name is to be distinguished from the Clopas of <a href="/john/19-25.htm" title="Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.">John 19:25</a>, which was probably a Græcised form of the Aramaic name of a Galilean disciple. Here the name is a Greek contraction of Cleopatros (so Antipas, from Antipatros), and so far, as connected with Cleopatra, indicates Hellenistic and probably Alexandrian antecedents. This may in part, perhaps, account for his imparting to St. Luke what had not found its way into the current oral teaching of the Hebrew Church at Jerusalem, as embodied in the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark.<p><span class= "bld">Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?</span>—The English is, at least, ambiguous. Better, <span class= "ital">Art thou alone a sojourner .</span> . .?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-19.htm">Luke 24:19</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:</div>(19) <span class= "bld">What things?</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">What kind of things?</span><p><span class= "bld">Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet.</span>—The words indicate the precise stage of faith which the two disciples had reached. They believed in Jesus as a prophet; they hoped that He would redeem Israel. They had not risen to the belief that He was the Christ, the Son of God. And now even that faith was tottering. The whole narrative suggests that our Lord was choosing this exceptional method of dealing with them as a step in the spiritual education which was to lead them on to the higher truth.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-20.htm">Luke 24:20</a></div><div class="verse">And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Delivered him to be condemned to death.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">to a sentence of death.</span> The words are strictly accurate. The Sanhedrin had not, strictly speaking, passed a sentence of death, though they had voted for condemning our Lord on a capital charge. For that they had to deliver Him up to the secular arm of Pilate.<p><span class= "bld">And have crucified him.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">and crucified Him,</span> the tense being the same as “delivered.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-21.htm">Luke 24:21</a></div><div class="verse">But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">But we trusted.</span>—The pronoun is emphatic. “<span class= "ital">We,</span> the disciples, <span class= "ital">were hoping</span> . . . ,”whatever might be the judgment of others.<p><span class= "bld">Which should have redeemed Israel.</span>—More exactly, <span class= "ital">He that is about to redeem</span> . . . The two travellers belonged apparently to those who now, as at the time of the Nativity, were waiting for redemption in Jerusalem (<a href="/luke/2-38.htm" title="And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise to the Lord, and spoke of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.">Luke 2:38</a>).<p><span class= "bld">To day is the third day</span> .—We note how naturally the disciples fall, from the first, into this method of describing the interval since the Crucifixion.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-22.htm">Luke 24:22</a></div><div class="verse">Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Made us astonished.</span>—The Greek verb is that from which we get our word “ecstasy,” taken transitively. Literally, <span class= "ital">they startled us.</span><p><span class= "bld">Early.</span>—Strictly speaking, <span class= "ital">at day-break,</span> or <span class= "ital">early dawn.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-23.htm">Luke 24:23</a></div><div class="verse">And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">A vision of angels.</span>—The word for “vision” is used of what Zacharias saw in the Temple (<a href="/luke/1-22.htm" title="And when he came out, he could not speak to them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned to them, and remained speechless.">Luke 1:22</a>), of the “visions” of which St. Paul was tempted to boast (<a href="/2_corinthians/12-1.htm" title="It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.">2Corinthians 12:1</a>). It does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-24.htm">Luke 24:24</a></div><div class="verse">And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found <i>it</i> even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">And certain of them which were with us.</span>—The words have the interest of presenting an obviously undesigned coincidence with St. John’s report of the visit of Peter and John (<a href="/john/20-3.htm" title="Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher.">John 20:3</a>). The naturalness of the manner in which the two Apostles are mentioned, but not named, “certain of them which were with us,” may be noted, so far as it goes, as a sign of truthfulness. A later writer constructing a narrative would have brought in the two conspicuous names.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-25.htm">Luke 24:25</a></div><div class="verse">Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:</div>(25) <span class= "bld">O fools, and slow of heart to believe.</span>—The word for “fools” (more literally, <span class= "ital">silly, senseless</span>) is not that which is used in <a href="/matthew/5-22.htm" title="But I say to you, That whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.">Matthew 5:22</a>; <a href="/matthew/23-17.htm" title="You fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?">Matthew 23:17</a>, but one belonging to a somewhat higher style of language. It is used by St. Paul of the “foolish Galatians” (<a href="/galatians/3-1.htm" title="O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?">Galatians 3:1</a>), and elsewhere, and by no other New Testament writer. The word of reproof sounds strong, but we must remember that our Lord had already given hints as to the true interpretation of Messianic prophecies (<a href="/luke/9-22.htm" title="Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.">Luke 9:22</a>; <a href="/luke/9-44.htm" title="Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.">Luke 9:44</a>; <a href="/mark/14-21.htm" title="The Son of man indeed goes, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.">Mark 14:21</a>), which might have led thoughtful men to see that they pointed to suffering and death, as well as to sovereignty and triumph.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-26.htm">Luke 24:26</a></div><div class="verse">Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?</div>(26) <span class= "bld">Ought not Christ to have suffered?</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">the Christ.</span> The thought that the sufferings were a necessary condition of the glory that followed, became from this time forth almost as an axiom of Christian thought. So we read of <span class= "ital">“</span>the sufferings of the Christ, and the glory that should follow” (<a href="/1_peter/1-11.htm" title="Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.">1Peter 1:11</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-27.htm">Luke 24:27</a></div><div class="verse">And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">Beginning at Moses and all the prophets.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">from Moses.</span> Here, then, if not before, there was a full “opening of the Scriptures” on all that pertained to the work and office of the Christ, and it is, at least, a legitimate inference to believe that we find the echoes of the great lesson thus given in all, or most, of the interpretations of Messianic prophecies in the written or spoken teaching of the Apostles. From the great first gospel of <a href="/genesis/3-15.htm" title="And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.">Genesis 3:15</a>, to the last utterance of the last of the Prophets announcing the coming of Elijah (<a href="/malachi/4-5.htm" title="Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:">Malachi 4:5</a>), with special stress, doubtless, on prophecies, such as those of Psalms 16, 22, Isaiah 53, that spoke of sufferings and of death as belonging to the perfect picture of the Servant of the Lord, and the ideal King, the unfolding of the divine purpose was now made clear to those who before had been “slow of heart to believe.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-28.htm">Luke 24:28</a></div><div class="verse">And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">He made as though he would have gone further.</span>—This was, it is obvious, the crucial test of the effect of the Lord’s previous teaching. Did they feel a new light flowing in upon their souls, bringing new meanings into what had before been obscure and hard sayings? Were they content to let the unknown Teacher pass on, and see no more of Him? Their answer showed, in words that meet us afterwards, that their “hearts” already “burnt within them.” Here, also, we note the method of the Divine Teacher as an example for other teachers. We often impress truth more effectively, and ‘stimulate the desire for further knowledge, by suspending for a time the continued inculcation of it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-29.htm">Luke 24:29</a></div><div class="verse">But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Abide with us: for it is toward evening.</span>—As .part of the narrative, the words have the interest of bringing before us the eager desire of the disciples to know more of the wisdom which they had been drinking in from the lips of the unknown Teacher. They could not bring themselves to part with one who had done so much for them. Devout imagination has, however, legitimately read other meanings in it. “Abide with me” has become the burden of the most popular of evening hymns, the true prayer for the evening of each day, for the evening of each man’s life, for the moments when hopes fail and we commune one with another and are sad; for those, also, when our hearts burn within us in the half-consciousness that Christ is speaking to us through the lips of human teachers.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-30.htm">Luke 24:30</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed <i>it</i>, and brake, and gave to them.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">He took bread, and blessed it.</span>—Had the two travellers been of the number of the Twelve, we might have thought of the words and acts as reminding them of their last Supper with their Lord. As it was, we must think of those words and acts as meant to teach them, and, through them, others, the same lesson that had then been taught to the Twelve, that it would be in the “breaking of bread” that they would hereafter come to recognise their Master’s presence. And they, too, we must remember, whether they were of the Seventy, or among the wider company of disciples, must have had memories, it may be of multitudes fed with the scanty provision of a few barley loaves, it may be of quiet evenings without a multitude, when they had looked on the same act, and heard the same words of blessing. This meal, too, became so full of spiritual significance that we may well anticipate the technical language of theology and say that it was to them “sacramental.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-31.htm">Luke 24:31</a></div><div class="verse">And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">And he vanished out of their sight.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">He became invisible.</span> The adjective does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. In the order of time this is the first example of the new conditions of our Lord’s risen life. It was not that He rose and left the room in which they sat. In a moment they knew Him with all the fulness of recognition; and then they saw Him no more. The work for which He had come to them was done. He had imparted comfort and insight, and had brought them into communion with Himself, and then they were to be taught that that communion was no longer to depend, as before, on a visible and localised presence. (Comp. <a href="/luke/24-36.htm" title="And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the middle of them, and said to them, Peace be to you.">Luke 24:36</a>, <a href="/john/20-19.htm" title="Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the middle, and said to them, Peace be to you.">John 20:19</a>; <a href="/john/20-26.htm" title="And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the middle, and said, Peace be to you.">John 20:26</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-32.htm">Luke 24:32</a></div><div class="verse">And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?</div>(32) <span class= "bld">Did not our heart burn within us . . .?</span>—More accurately, <span class= "ital">Was not our heart burning . . .</span>? the tense both of this and of the other verbs implying a continuous and not a momentary state or act.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-33.htm">Luke 24:33</a></div><div class="verse">And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,</div>(33) <span class= "bld">They rose up the same hour.</span>—As it was towards evening when they had arrived at Emmaus, and its distance from Jerusalem was about eight miles, they must have reached the chamber where the Eleven were assembled after nightfall. If we identify this gathering with that of <a href="/john/20-19.htm" title="Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the middle, and said to them, Peace be to you.">John 20:19</a>, there were but ten Apostles present, Thomas being absent.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-34.htm">Luke 24:34</a></div><div class="verse">Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.</span>—Of the manifestation thus referred to, we have no other record in the Gospels. It occupies, however, a prominent place in those which St. Paul enumerates (<a href="/1_corinthians/15-5.htm" title="And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:">1Corinthians 15:5</a>), and takes its place among the phenomena which indicates St. Paul’s acquaintance with the substance of St. Luke’s Gospel. What passed at the meeting we can only reverently imagine. Before the Passion, the Lord had “turned and looked” on Peter with a glance of tender and sorrowful reproof (<a href="/luke/22-61.htm" title="And the Lord turned, and looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the cock crow, you shall deny me thrice.">Luke 22:61</a>). Now, we may believe, He met the repentant eager disciple with the full assurance of pardon.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-35.htm">Luke 24:35</a></div><div class="verse">And they told what things <i>were done</i> in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.</div>(35) <span class= "bld">He was known of them in breaking of bread.</span>—The use by St. Luke of a term which, when he wrote, had already acquired a definite secondary meaning, as applied to “breaking bread “in the Supper of the Lord (<a href="/acts/2-42.htm" title="And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.">Acts 2:42</a>; <a href="/acts/2-46.htm" title="And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,">Acts 2:46</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/10-16.htm" title="The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?">1Corinthians 10:16</a>), is every way significant. He meant men to connect the recognition at Emmaus with their daily or weekly communion in the Body and Blood of Christ.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-36.htm">Luke 24:36</a></div><div class="verse">And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace <i>be</i> unto you.</div>(36) <span class= "bld">Jesus himself stood in the midst of them.</span>—The account agrees with that in <a href="/john/20-19.htm" title="Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the middle, and said to them, Peace be to you.">John 20:19</a>, who adds the fact that the doors of the room had been closed for fear of the Jews. The mode of appearance in both Gospels suggests the idea, as in <a href="/luke/24-31.htm" title="And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.">Luke 24:31</a>, of new conditions of existence, exempted from the physical limitations of the natural body, and shadowing forth the “spiritual body” of <a href="/1_corinthians/15-44.htm" title="It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.">1Corinthians 15:44</a>. It may be noted, however, that there had been time for the journey from Emmaus without assuming more than the ordinary modes of motion.<p><span class= "bld">Peace be unto you.</span>—The words do not appear elsewhere as addressed by our Lord to His disciples, but they were, as we find in <a href="/matthew/10-12.htm" title="And when you come into an house, salute it.">Matthew 10:12</a>, <a href="/luke/10-5.htm" title="And into whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house.">Luke 10:5</a>, identical with the customary salutation of the Jews, so that we may fairly assume that here also the familiar words, as before the familiar act, were meant to help the disciples to recognise His presence. St. John records (<a href="/john/20-19.htm" title="Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the middle, and said to them, Peace be to you.">John 20:19</a>) the same salutation at the same interview.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-37.htm">Luke 24:37</a></div><div class="verse">But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.</div>(37) <span class= "bld">Supposed that they had seen a spirit.</span>—More accurately, <span class= "ital">supposed that they were looking on</span> . . . For the use of the word “spirit “in this sense, see <a href="/context/acts/23-8.htm" title="For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.">Acts 23:8-9</a>; <a href="/hebrews/12-23.htm" title="To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,">Hebrews 12:23</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-38.htm">Luke 24:38</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?</div>(38) <span class= "bld">Why are ye troubled?</span>—The question has a singular interest as witnessing to the identity of character, if one may so speak, of the risen Lord with all that had belonged to His humanity in the days of His ministry. He, too, had known what it was to be “troubled in spirit” (<a href="/john/11-33.htm" title="When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.">John 11:33</a>; <a href="/john/12-27.htm" title="Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I to this hour.">John 12:27</a>; <a href="/john/13-21.htm" title="When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you shall betray me.">John 13:21</a>), and out of that experience had grown the tender sympathy which showed itself in the words addressed to the disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled” (<a href="/john/14-1.htm" title="Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.">John 14:1</a>). Now they had a trouble of a different kind, and still, as before with the two who were on their way to Emmaus, He seeks to calm and sustain them. He knows even the unuttered thoughts and questionings that are rising in their hearts.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-39.htm">Luke 24:39</a></div><div class="verse">Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.</div>(39) <span class= "bld">Behold my hands and my feet.</span>—The test thus offered to the disciples, like that afterwards given to Thomas, was to be to them a proof that they were not looking on a spectre from the shadow-world of the dead. The Resurrection was a reality, not an appearance. In St. John’s words, “which our hands have handled” (<a href="/1_john/1-1.htm" title="That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked on, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;">1John 1:1</a>), we have an interesting coincidence with the use of the same word here. The conditions of the problem must remain, however, transcendental and mysterious. There is a real corporeity, and yet there is a manifest exemption from the common conditions of corporeal existence. St. Luke’s narrative presents an undesigned coincidence with that of <a href="/john/20-25.htm" title="The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the LORD. But he said to them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.">John 20:25</a>. What Thomas asked for was the evidence which had, he heard, been given to others. Without that evidence he could not, he felt, believe.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-41.htm">Luke 24:41</a></div><div class="verse">And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?</div>(41) <span class= "bld">While they yet believed not for joy.</span>—We again note St. Luke’s characteristic tendency to psychological analysis. As men sleep for sorrow (<a href="/luke/22-45.htm" title="And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,">Luke 22:45</a>), so they disbelieve for very joy. What is brought before their eyes is too good to be true.<p><span class= "bld">Have ye here any meat?</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">anything to eat, any food.</span> Here again there is an agreement with St. John (21:5). A new crucial test is given of the reality of the resurrection-body. It could be no shadow or spectre that thus asked for food. This we all feel; but the further question, whether there was not only the power to receive food, but a life in any sense dependent upon the laws which govern the bodily life of men, leads us into a region of problems which we cannot solve, and on which it is profitless to dwell. What seems suggested is a spiritual existence capable, by an act of volition, of assuming, in greater or less measure, the conditions of corporeal. We note how the Apostles dwelt afterwards on what now occurred as a proof of their Lord’s resurrection. They had “eaten and drunk with Him” (<a href="/acts/10-41.htm" title="Not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.">Acts 10:41</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-42.htm">Luke 24:42</a></div><div class="verse">And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.</div>(42) <span class= "bld">A piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.</span>—The fact is interesting as pointing to the common food of the disciples. Fish—as in the miracles of the Five Thousand and the Four, and, we may add, in the narrative of <a href="/john/21-9.htm" title="As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.">John 21:9</a>—seems to have been the staple article of diet. Honey—as in the proverbial speech which described Canaan as a land flowing with milk and honey (<a href="/exodus/3-8.htm" title="And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.">Exodus 3:8</a>; <a href="/exodus/3-17.htm" title="And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.">Exodus 3:17</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/26-9.htm" title="And he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, even a land that flows with milk and honey.">Deuteronomy 26:9</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/26-15.htm" title="Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land that flows with milk and honey.">Deuteronomy 26:15</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/11-5.htm" title="That I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.">Jeremiah 11:5</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> as in the histories of Samson (<a href="/judges/14-8.htm" title="And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.">Judges 14:8</a>) and Jonathan (<a href="/1_samuel/14-27.htm" title="But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: why he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.">1Samuel 14:27</a>) and John the Baptist (<a href="/matthew/3-4.htm" title="And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.">Matthew 3:4</a>)—was common enough to enter into the diet of the poor. Even in a time of scarcity, when the corn and the olive crops failed, or were laid waste, butter and honey remained as a resource which did not fail (<a href="/isaiah/7-15.htm" title="Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.">Isaiah 7:15</a>; <a href="/isaiah/7-22.htm" title="And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.">Isaiah 7:22</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-44.htm">Luke 24:44</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, These <i>are</i> the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and <i>in</i> the prophets, and <i>in</i> the psalms, concerning me.</div>(44) <span class= "bld">These are the words which I spake unto you.</span>—As with the travellers to Emmaus, so now with the Ten who were present, our Lord leads His disciples to the true method of interpreting the prophecies which foretold the Christ. And that method was not an afterthought. It had been given in hints and outlines before; now they were led to see it in its fulness. The three-fold division of the Law, the Prophets (including most of the historic books), and the Psalms (the latter term standing for the whole of the <span class= "ital">Kethubim,</span> the <span class= "ital">Hagiographa</span> or “holy writings,” of which the Psalms were the most conspicuous portion), corresponded to that which was in common use among the Jews. (See <span class= "ital">General Introduction I.</span>—<span class= "ital">The Books of the New Testament.</span>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-45.htm">Luke 24:45</a></div><div class="verse">Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,</div>(45) <span class= "bld">Then opened he their understanding.</span>—Assuming, as we must assume, that this was the same meeting of the Lord with His disciples as that reported in <a href="/john/20-22.htm" title="And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, Receive you the Holy Ghost:">John 20:22</a>, we have here that which corresponds with the gift of the Holy Spirit He then imparted to them. They were conscious of a new spiritual power of insight and knowledge which they had not possessed before. St. Luke’s report, as derived probably at <span class= "ital">second or</span> third hand, through Joanna or others, is naturally more vague than that which comes from the eye-witness.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-46.htm">Luke 24:46</a></div><div class="verse">And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:</div>(46) <span class= "bld">Thus it behoved Christ to suffer.</span>—Better, as elsewhere, <span class= "ital">that the Christ should suffer.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-47.htm">Luke 24:47</a></div><div class="verse">And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.</div>(47) <span class= "bld">And that repentance and remission of sins . . .</span>—Here also we have a point of contact with St. John’s narrative. Though St. Luke did not know the special form in which the commission had been given, he had, at least, learnt that forgiveness of sins had occupied a prominent place in what had been said on that evening, and that that forgiveness was not limited to the children of Abraham.<p><span class= "bld">Beginning at Jerusalem.</span>—There is a manifest break and condensation of the narrative at this point. St. Luke has no personal reminiscences. The second appearance, when Thomas was present, those on the mountain or by the lake in Galilee, are unrecorded by him, and were probably not known. He has before him the plan of his second book, and he is content to end his first with what will serve as a link leading on to it. Assuming his chief informants to have been, not the disciples, but the company of devout women, we have a natural explanation of this comparative vagueness. In <a href="/acts/1-8.htm" title="But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come on you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.">Acts 1:8</a>, words that closely resemble these are placed at the end of the forty days, which are there distinctly recognised.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-48.htm">Luke 24:48</a></div><div class="verse">And ye are witnesses of these things.</div>(48) <span class= "bld">Ye are witnesses of these things.</span>—Here again we have a link connecting the Gospel with the Acts, the key-note of which, especially in the earlier chapters, is that the disciples are to be “witnesses” of their Lord’s work and teaching, and above all of His resurrection (<a href="/acts/1-8.htm" title="But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come on you: and you shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.">Acts 1:8</a>; <a href="/acts/1-22.htm" title="Beginning from the baptism of John, to that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.">Acts 1:22</a>; <a href="/acts/2-32.htm" title="This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.">Acts 2:32</a>; <a href="/acts/3-15.htm" title="And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.">Acts 3:15</a>; <a href="/acts/5-32.htm" title="And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey him.">Acts 5:32</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Behold, I send the promise of my Father . . .</span>—As far as St. Luke’s Gospel is concerned, the promise thus referred to would seem to be that of <a href="/luke/11-13.htm" title="If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?">Luke 11:13</a>. The discourses preserved by St. John show, however, that there had been the more recent and more definite promise of the Comforter (<a href="/john/14-16.htm" title="And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;">John 14:16</a>; <a href="/john/15-26.htm" title="But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:">John 15:26</a>), and so far St. Luke’s report, vague as it is, presents an undesigned coincidence.<p><span class= "bld">Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem.</span>—Again we have a parallelism with <a href="/acts/1-4.htm" title="And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard of me.">Acts 1:4</a>. The omission of all reference to the return of the disciples to Galilee is at first startling, but it, at least, proves the entire independence of St. Luke’s Gospel, and it may be explained on the very natural supposition that he had no knowledge of further details at this stage of his history, and would not construct a narrative with invented ones.<p><span class= "bld">Until ye be endued with power from on high.</span>—The Greek word is probably to be taken with more of its original meaning than is conveyed by the English. The disciples were to be invested—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> clothed upon—with a new power, which was to be as the new garb in which their old nature and its gifts were to manifest themselves, purified and strengthened, but not losing their identity. It is noticeable that this is a very favourite thought with St. Paul. Men “put on” Christ (<a href="/galatians/3-27.htm" title="For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.">Galatians 3:27</a>), the “new man” (<a href="/ephesians/4-24.htm" title="And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.">Ephesians 4:24</a>). In the risen life they are clothed with, and put on, incorruption (<a href="/context/1_corinthians/15-53.htm" title="For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.">1Corinthians 15:53-54</a>; <a href="/context/2_corinthians/5-2.htm" title="For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed on with our house which is from heaven:">2Corinthians 5:2-4</a>). The word is not used, in its figurative spiritual sense, by any other New Testament writer.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-50.htm">Luke 24:50</a></div><div class="verse">And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.</div>(50) <span class= "bld">And he led them out as far as to Bethany.</span>—It must be admitted that this narrative, taken by itself, would leave the impression that the Ascension followed with not more than a day’s interval on the Resurrection. We must remember, however, that even the coincidences between the close of St. Luke’s first book and the beginning of his second, show that he was already looking forward to resuming his work, and that the interval of forty days is distinctly recognised in <a href="/acts/1-3.htm" title="To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:">Acts 1:3</a>, though there also, as here, there is no mention of any return to Galilee in the interval. Is it a conceivable solution of the problem that the devout women, who were St. Luke’s informants, remained at Jerusalem in almost entire seclusion, and hardly knew of what had passed outside the walls of their house from the day of the Resurrection onwards to that of the Ascension? To them, as to others who look back upon periods in which intense sorrow and intense joy have followed one on the other, all may have seemed, when they looked back upon it in after years, as a dream, the memory of which was in one sense, as to its outcome, indelible, but in which the sequence of details could no longer be traced with clearness. If we may distinguish between two words often used as synonymous, it was with them, not recollection, but memory. On the brief narrative that follows, see Notes on <a href="/context/acts/1-9.htm" title="And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.">Acts 1:9-11</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-51.htm">Luke 24:51</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.</div>(51) The words “and was carried up into heaven” are wanting in some of the best MSS., and are omitted accordingly by some recent editors.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-52.htm">Luke 24:52</a></div><div class="verse">And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:</div>(52) <span class= "bld">They worshipped him.</span>—These words also are absent from most of the best MSS. If they stand as part of the text, we must remember that they describe the attitude of prostrate adoration.<p><span class= "bld">With great joy.</span>—Now, at last, the disciples found the fulfilment of their Lord’s promise that “their sorrow should be turned into joy,” and that joy—the joy of knowing that their Lord and their Friend was at the right hand of the Father—was one which no man could take from them (<a href="/john/16-20.htm" title="Truly, truly, I say to you, That you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.">John 16:20</a>; <a href="/john/16-22.htm" title="And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.">John 16:22</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/24-53.htm">Luke 24:53</a></div><div class="verse">And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.</div>(53) <span class= "bld">And were continually in the temple.</span>—The statement is obviously not inconsistent with that in the Acts (<a href="/acts/1-13.htm" title="And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where stayed both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.">Acts 1:13</a>), that they were abiding in an upper-chamber in Jerusalem. What it indicates is, that their days were spent, not in the routine of common life, but in the prayer of fervent expectation; and for this no place was so fitting as the Temple, which their Master had taught them to look on as in very deed His “Father’s house,” the “house of prayer,” in which the soul of the true worshipper could find access to its God (<a href="/luke/20-46.htm" title="Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;">Luke 20:46</a>; <a href="/john/2-16.htm" title="And said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.">John 2:16</a>). There, too, we must remember all the memories of the precious days that had preceded the Passion would be with them in their fullest intensity. We find the same pattern of life presented in <a href="/acts/3-1.htm" title="Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.">Acts 3:1</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Amen.</span>—The word is wanting in the best MSS., as it is also in many in <a href="/matthew/28-20.htm" title="Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: and, see, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.">Matthew 28:20</a>, <a href="/mark/16-20.htm" title="And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.">Mark 16:20</a>, and <a href="/john/20-31.htm" title="But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name.">John 20:31</a>. In each case it was probably added by the transcriber in devout thankfulness at the completion of his task<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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