Luke 24

2 of Jesus’s followers walked to a place called Emayus

13 Later, on that same day, 2 of Jesus’s followers walked from Jerusalem city to a town called Emayus. It was about 11 kilometres away. 14 As they walked along the road, they talked about everything that happened. 15-16 Then suddenly Jesus came and joined up with them, but they didn’t know it was Jesus. God stopped them from seeing who he was. Jesus walked along with them and listened to what they said to each other. 17 Then he asked them, “What is this thing you are talking about so much, as you walk along the road?”

When they heard him ask that, they were shocked, and they both stopped walking and stood still. They looked very sad. 18 One of them was Cliopas. He said, “I reckon you are the only visitor to Jerusalem that hasn’t heard about the things that happened here in the last few days.”

19 Jesus asked them, “What things?”

They said, “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth. God gave him the power to tell his messages, and to teach people his words, and to do powerful things. All the people reckoned he was great. 20 But our bosses, and the bosses of our ceremonies, they grabbed him and gave him to the Roman soldiers, and told them to kill him. So those soldiers nailed him to a cross, and he died. Then some men put his body in a big hole in the rock, called a cave. 21 But, you know, we were hoping he will save us Israel people, but he can’t do that now. And all of that happened 2 days ago, and now it is the 3rd day since he died. 22 And today, some of our women gave us a shock. They got up early this morning and went to that cave, 23 but his body was not there. And they came back and told us that they saw some of God’s angel messengers there, and those angels said that he is alive. 24 Then some of our men went to that cave, and they saw that everything was just like the women said. His body was not in the cave.”

25 Then Jesus said to them, “You 2 are a bit stupid. You don’t properly believe the messages that God’s men told us a long time ago. 26 You see, they told us about the Christ, the special man that God promised to send to save his people. They said that he will get this sort of trouble, and he will die, but then God will show everyone that he is really great.”

27 Then Jesus told them what God said about him in his book. He made it very clear to them. He started with the words that Moses wrote, and he also talked about the words that God’s other men wrote, and he told them what those words mean.

28 They kept walking along as Jesus talked to them, and they got to Emayus, the place where those 2 men were going to stay. Jesus was starting to keep going on that road, 29 but those 2 men said, “You can’t keep going to another place. It’s too late. The sun is going down. Please stay here with us tonight.” So he went with them to their house.

30 The 3 of them sat down to eat at the table, and Jesus picked up some bread and said thank you to God for it, and then he broke it into bits and gave it to them. 31 Then suddenly, God let them see that it was Jesus talking to them. Then, as soon as they knew who he was, they couldn’t see him any more. He was not there any more. He was gone. 32 They said to each other, “Wow. That’s the reason why we felt really happy inside this afternoon. We felt really excited when he talked to us on the road, and he made God’s book really clear for us.”

33 Then they got up straight away, and they went back to Jerusalem. They went to see Jesus’s 11 special workers. There were other followers of Jesus at that place too. 34 They were all talking together and saying, “Yes, Jesus really is alive again. He showed himself to Peter.”

35 Then the 2 men that came back from Emayus told the other followers their story. They told them what happened on the road, and that they suddenly saw that it was Jesus while he was breaking the bread.

Jesus showed himself to his followers

36 While they were still telling their story, suddenly Jesus was standing right there in the middle of the group. He said to them, “Hello. I want you to feel happy and quiet inside yourselves.”

37 They were all shocked and frightened. They thought they were looking at a spirit. 38 But Jesus said to them, “Why are you frightened? Why do you think, ‘This can’t be Jesus’? Look, it is me. 39 Look at my hands and my feet. See the holes made by the nails. Touch me, to make sure that I’m not a spirit. Spirits haven’t got bodies with bones in them, like I have.” 40 After he said that, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 They were so surprised that they could hardly believe it really was Jesus, but they were really happy too.

Then Jesus asked them, “Have you got anything here for me to eat?” 42 So they gave him a bit of cooked fish. 43 And he ate it there in front of them.

44 Then he said to them, “Remember the words that I told you while I was still with you. I told you that everything that God says about me in his book had to happen. You can read about those things in the words that Moses wrote, and in the words that God’s other men wrote, and in the songs that are in God’s book.” 45 Then he helped them to understand the words that are in God’s book, like he opened their brains, so they could think properly. 46 And he said to them, “God says this in his book,

‘The Christ, the special man that God will send, will get a lot of trouble, and he will die. He will be dead for 2 nights, then on the 3rd day, he will come alive again.’

That message, in God’s book, is about me. 47 And God says you have to tell everyone about me. Tell them that they have to turn away from the bad things they do and turn to God, so that he will say they are not guilty of the bad things they did. You have to start telling people that message here in Jerusalem, and then go on to other countries, until you tell it to the people in every country. 48 You see, you mob saw everything that happened, and you heard what I taught people, so now you have to tell it to everybody. 49 But listen. My father promised to give you his Holy Spirit from heaven, so wait here in this city until I send him to you. Then you will have God’s power.”[~1~]

Jesus went up to heaven

50 Then Jesus took his followers just outside the city, to the town called Bethany. When they got there, he lifted up his hands and asked God to be good to them, and to make them strong. 51 While he was still talking, God lifted him up and took him away from them, up into heaven. 52 Then his followers showed strong respect for Jesus. They were very happy, and they went back to Jerusalem. 53 Every day, they went to God’s ceremony house, and they said, “Thank you God. You are really good.”

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