Third and Fourth Appearances of Jesus.

  25 And he said unto them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

and to enter into his glory?

  27 And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

[The counsel of the Father revealed in the Scriptures shows that Jesus should enter into his glory through suffering. The books of Moses foretell Christ largely in types, such, as the passover, the rock in the wilderness, Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, the day of atonement, etc., but the prophets show him forth in clear-cut predictions and descriptions. Jesus evidently applied both these divisions of Scripture to himself, making it plain to these two who were both thoughtless in mind and slow in heart. Those lacking in a knowledge of the Christology of the Old Testament are slow to believe in it. Those who know that Christology, and yet doubt the Old Testament, do so because they lack faith in the Christ therein portrayed.]

  27 And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

  28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they were going: and he made as though he would go further.

  29 And they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent.

[They were loth to part with this delightful stranger who by his wonderful use of the Scriptures revived their failing faith and hope in Jesus.] And he went in to abide with them.

  30 And it came to pass, when he had sat down with them to meat, he took the bread and blessed; and breaking it he gave to them.

  31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

[While he was breaking the bread to supply their bodies he opened their eyes and revealed to them that it was he also who had just been feeding their hungry hearts with the truth and consolation of the divine word.]

  29 And they constrained him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent.

  30 And it came to pass, when he had sat down with them to meat, he took the bread and blessed; and breaking it he gave to them.

  31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

  32 And they said one to another, Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? [Thus they admit to each other that the joy of beholding the risen Lord was but the consummation of a joy already begun through a right understanding of the truth contained in Scripture. The sight of the Lord thus to rise.]

  33 And they rose up that very hour,

  ^b 13 And they went away ^c and returned to Jerusalem

[their news was too precious to keep. They could not sit still till the disciples in Jerusalem knew it], and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them [the women and some of the one hundred and twenty-- Acts 1:15 ],

  ^b 13 And they went away ^c and returned to Jerusalem

  34 saying, The Lord is risen indeed [his resurrection is not an hallucination of the women],

and hath ^f appeared to Cephas; {^c Simon.} [Paul and Luke both mention this appearance, but we have none of the details of it.]

  35 And they rehearsed the things that happened in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of the bread. [This does not mean that they knew Jesus because of any peculiar way in which he broke the bread; it means that he was revealed at the time when he broke it.] ^b neither believed they them. [They now believed that Jesus had risen, but they did not believe that these two had walked and talked with him without recognizing him.*]

* NOTE.--Here again we dissent. So general a statement of unbelief would not be used when there was a mere doubt as to some of the narrated details. We prefer in our original comment to this substitution, and it was this: Mark shows us that little dependence can be placed upon the apparently strong admission which Luke records. Unable to contradict the testimony of Peter, they said, "The Lord is risen indeed;" but their hearts were, nevertheless, full of doubt. Luke himself shows this in the next section, for these professedly believing apostles took Jesus for a spirit when they saw him.