He Is Not Here, but He Has Risen

Observation

Setting. Sunday, “the first day of the week,” from early dawn (v1) to night (vv29, 33), and then — compressed into a few verses — the ascension at Bethany (v50), which Acts 1:3 places forty days later. Places: the tomb outside Jerusalem (vv1–12); the road to Emmaus, about seven miles away (vv13–28); a house in Emmaus at evening (vv29–32); the room in Jerusalem where the eleven are gathered (vv33–49); Bethany (v50); the temple (v53).

Structure:

• vv1–12 — the empty tomb: the women come with spices at early dawn (v1); the stone rolled away, no body (vv2–3); two men in dazzling clothing — “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen” (vv4–6); “Remember how He spoke to you” — they remembered (vv6–8); the report to the eleven — “nonsense” (vv9–11); Peter runs and marvels (v12).
• vv13–27 — the Emmaus road: two disciples walking and talking (vv13–14); Jesus draws near; their eyes prevented (vv15–16); “What things?” — Cleopas tells the story; “we were hoping” (vv17–24); “O foolish men and slow of heart” (v25); “Was it not necessary …?” (v26); Moses and all the prophets (v27).
• vv28–35 — the table: He acts as though going farther; “Stay with us” (vv28–29); bread taken, blessed, broken — eyes opened; He vanishes (vv30–31); “Were not our hearts burning?” (v32); back that very hour; “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon” (vv33–35).
• vv36–43 — hands and feet: “Peace be to you” (v36); startled, thinking it a spirit (v37); “See My hands and My feet … touch Me and see” (vv38–40); joy and amazement; broiled fish eaten before them (vv41–43).
• vv44–53 — witnesses: all written in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled (v44); minds opened (v45); suffer, rise, repentance for forgiveness to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (vv46–47); “You are witnesses” (v48); the promise of My Father — stay until clothed with power (v49); Bethany, hands lifted, blessing, carried up (vv50–51); worship, great joy, the temple (vv52–53).

Repeated words, with counts:

• “things” ×12 — vv9, 10, 14, 18, 19 (×2), 21, 26, 27, 36, 44, 48.
• “see / saw / seen / seeing” ×7 — vv12, 23, 24, 37, 39 (×3); fear words — “perplexed / terrified / amazed / marveling / startled / frightened / amazement” ×7 — vv4, 5, 12, 22, 37 (×2), 41.
• “tomb” ×6 — vv1, 2, 9, 12, 22, 24.
• “Jerusalem” ×5 — vv13, 18, 33, 47, 52; “found / find” ×5 — vv2, 3, 23, 24, 33.
• “word(s)” ×5 — vv8, 11, 17, 19, 44.
• “prophet(s)” ×4 — vv19, 25, 27, 44; “Scriptures” ×3 — vv27, 32, 45; “written” ×2 — vv44, 46; “Moses” ×2 — vv27, 44.
• “risen / rise” ×4 — vv6, 7, 34, 46; “the third day” ×3 — vv7, 21, 46.
• “women” ×4 — vv5, 10, 22, 24; “hands” ×4 — vv7, 39, 40, 50.
• “telling / reported / relate” ×4 — vv9, 10, 35, 36.
• “believe” ×3 — vv11, 25, 41; “heart(s)” ×3 — vv25, 32, 38.
• “must / necessary” ×3 — vv7, 26, 44; “suffer” ×2 — vv26, 46.
• “recognize(d)” ×3 — vv16, 31, 35; “eyes” ×2 — vv16, 31.
• “bless / blessed / blessing” ×3 — vv30, 50, 51; “joy” ×2 — vv41, 52.
• “remember(ed)” ×2 — vv6, 8; “bread” ×2 — vv30, 35; “explained / explaining” ×2 — vv27, 32.

Contrasts: The dead ⟷ the living One (v5). Spices for burial ⟷ a risen Lord (vv1, 6). Nonsense ⟷ the truth (vv11, 34). Eyes prevented ⟷ eyes opened (vv16, 31). “We were hoping” ⟷ “The Lord has really risen” (vv21, 34). Slow of heart ⟷ hearts burning (vv25, 32). A spirit ⟷ flesh and bones (vv37, 39). Troubled and doubting ⟷ peace (vv36, 38). Stay in the city ⟷ go to all the nations (vv47, 49). Parted from them ⟷ great joy (vv51–52).

Shape of the chapter: One long day in four scenes — tomb, road, table, room — each moving from confusion to recognition. Twice Jesus opens the Scriptures, and both times He explains the cross before He explains the mission. The chapter ends where Luke began, in the temple, but now with joy instead of doubt (1:20; 24:52–53).

Chapter theme (my words): The crucified Jesus is alive in a real body. He finds His discouraged followers, shows them from the whole Bible that the Christ had to suffer and rise, opens their eyes, hearts and minds, and sends them as witnesses in the power of the Spirit — blessing them as He goes.

Interpretation

Why didn’t the disciples believe the women? Guzik: “They did not expect to find an empty tomb.” Sproul: “They did not believe it for a second.” Luke does not hide it — the report was lēros, “nonsense” (v11). That is good evidence: the resurrection was not the fruit of wishful thinking. Jesus had told them plainly (9:22; 18:33), but it had been hidden from them (9:45; 18:34).

What did Peter see? “the linen wrappings only” (v12). Sproul: “When Peter saw these grave cloths, he went home astonished.” Guzik adds John 20:8 — John, with him, “saw and believed.” Grave robbers do not leave the linen behind.

Why were their eyes “prevented” on the road? Luke uses a passive — their eyes were held (v16), and later “their eyes were opened” (v31). I read both as God’s doing: they had to learn Him first from the Scriptures, and then know Him at the table. What God conceals only God can open (24:31, 45).

What does “slow of heart” mean? Sproul: “He did not call them stupid. … It is not an intellectual assessment. It is a moral one.” Guzik: the problem “was more in their heart than their head.” Henry: “Those are fools that act against their own interest.” They had the facts; they did not trust what God had said.

Why was it “necessary” for the Christ to suffer? Because God had planned it and written it (vv7, 26, 44). Sproul: “Notice that Jesus said that all these things happened by necessity” — ordained before the foundation of the world. Guzik: the cross was not “some unfortunate obstacle that had to be hurdled.” Suffering first, then glory — for Him and for His people (Rom 8:17).

What did Jesus show them from Moses and the prophets? Luke does not list the passages, but Sproul suggests some: the curse on the serpent (Gen 3:15), Abraham and Isaac on Moriah, the Passover, the tabernacle, Micah’s Bethlehem. Henry: “Jesus Christ is himself the best expositor of scripture.” The whole Old Testament — Law, Prophets and Psalms — is about Him (v44).

Was Emmaus a Lord’s Supper? The words echo the Last Supper — took, blessed, broke, gave (v30; 22:19). Our teachers stress the recognition more than the sacrament, and Luke calls it simply “the breaking of the bread” (v35). I take it as a meal where the risen Lord made Himself known in the same gestures He had used in the upper room — a reminder that He still meets His people at His table.

What kind of body did Jesus have? A real one: flesh and bones, hands and feet, able to eat (vv39–43). Sproul: “I am flesh and blood, even though it is glorified flesh and blood.” Guzik: “a real, physical body, though of a different order than our own bodies.” Henry: the wounds were kept “that they might be proofs that it was he himself.” That body is the pattern of ours (Phil 3:21; 1 Cor 15:20).

What is the mission? “repentance for forgiveness of sins” proclaimed “in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (v47). Spurgeon: “The Saviour bade them begin at Jerusalem, because the biggest sinners lived there.” Guzik: “it is good to begin where we may expect opposition.” Acts 1:8 maps it out: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the remotest part of the earth.

Why wait in the city? Because the work needs power they do not have (v49). Guzik: “They could not do the work … unless they were endued with power from on high.” Henry: the Spirit gives “a power from on high, a supernatural power.” The promise came at Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4).

What does the ascension mean? Sproul: His coronation — He reigns at the Father’s right hand and intercedes as our High Priest. Spurgeon: “He has not changed His attitude of benediction, He will not change it till He shall descend in His glory.” The angels of Acts 1:11 promise He will come back “in just the same way.” I believe that return is literal and still ahead — the Son of Man coming with the clouds to receive the kingdom (Dan 7:13–14).

Word study (Greek):

• the living One — zaō (G2198): ton zōnta, v5; “alive,” v23; Rev 1:18.
• nonsense — lēros (G3026): idle talk; only here in the NT (v11).
• redeem — lytroō (G3084): to set free by ransom (v21; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 1:18).
• foolish — anoētos (G453) / slow — bradys (G1021): v25.
• necessary, must — dei (G1163): vv7, 26, 44.
• explained — diermēneuō (G1329): to interpret fully; v27.
• urged — parabiazomai (G3849): to press hard; v29.
• opened — dianoigō (G1272): eyes (v31), Scriptures (v32), minds (v45).
• burning — kaiō (G2545): v32.
• touch — psēlaphaō (G5584) / flesh — sarx (G4561) / bones — osteon (G3747): v39.
• repentance — metanoia (G3341) / forgiveness — aphesis (G859): v47.
• witnesses — martys (G3144): v48; Acts 1:8; 2:32.
• clothed — endyō (G1746) / power — dynamis (G1411): v49.
• bless — eulogeō (G2127): vv30, 50, 51, 53; carried up — anapherō (G399): v51.
• worshiping — proskyneō (G4352) / joy — chara (G5479): v52.

Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):

1. They came with spices for a corpse — the first witnesses were skeptics.
2. The living One, not a living man (v5; Rev 1:18).
3. Remember what He said (vv6–8; Henry).
4. Slow of heart, not slow of mind (Sproul, Guzik).
5. The cross was necessary — dei (vv7, 26, 44).
6. All the Bible is about Him — Law, Prophets, Psalms (vv27, 44).
7. He waits to be invited — “Stay with us” (Spurgeon).
8. Three openings — eyes, Scriptures, minds (dianoigō).
9. A ghost does not eat fish — flesh and bones (vv39–43).
10. The last sight of Jesus is a blessing (vv50–51).

Cross-references: Gen 3:15; 22; Exod 12; Lev 16; Deut 18:15–18; Ps 16:10; 22; 31:5; 110:1; Isa 53; Dan 7:13–14; 9:26; Mic 5:2; Zech 12:10; Luke 1:9, 20; 9:22, 45; 18:31–34; 22:19; John 11:18; 20:8, 27; Acts 1:1–11; 2:1–4, 32; 16:14; Rom 4:25; 8:17; 13:14; 1 Cor 15:3–4, 17, 20; Phil 3:21; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 1:18–19; 1 John 1:1; Rev 1:18; 5.

Application

Truth to face — I go looking among the dead. Like the women, I sometimes come to Jesus with spices — expecting a memory, not a living Lord. I treat my faith like a grave I visit. The angels’ question is for me: “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?” This week I will pray as to Someone who is alive and listening.

Promise to trust — He walks with the discouraged. “We were hoping” is the saddest line in the chapter, and Jesus was already walking beside the men who said it (vv15, 21). Some of the men I sit with have buried hopes — a marriage, years lost, a name. Jesus does not wait for us to cheer up before He comes alongside.

Sin to confess — a slow heart. I have known the facts and still not trusted God’s word (v25). That is not a head problem; it is a heart problem. I confess my slow heart and ask Him to open the Scriptures to me until it burns.

Command to obey — “Stay with us.” Jesus “acted as though He were going farther” (v28); He waits to be asked. I will press Him to stay — in my morning reading, at my table, at the end of a long day — and I will not let carelessness break my fellowship with Him.

Example to follow — the two who ran back. They had walked seven miles; it was night; and “they got up that very hour” to tell the others (v33). When Jesus shows me something, I will tell somebody that same day.

Command to obey — be a witness, beginning at home. “You are witnesses of these things” (v48). My Jerusalem is my own house, my own street, the men I already know. Spurgeon: “Begin at home.” And I will not try it in my own strength; I will ask for the power from on high.

Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):

1. The women came looking for a dead body. Where am I still “seeking the living One among the dead” — expecting nothing new from Jesus? (24:1–6) They did not expect to find an empty tomb (Guzik).
2. The two on the road said, “we were hoping …” What hope of mine died, and how might Jesus be walking beside me in that very disappointment? (24:13–21) Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.
3. Jesus called them “slow of heart to believe.” Is my problem with faith more in my head or in my heart right now? (24:25–27) It is not an intellectual assessment. It is a moral one (Sproul).
4. When was the last time my heart burned while the Scriptures were opened? What would it take to press Jesus to “stay with us” in my daily reading? (24:29–32) He stays only where He is invited and pressed (Spurgeon).
5. Jesus showed His wounds and ate fish to prove He was really alive. Why does it matter to me that the resurrection was physical, not just spiritual? (24:36–43; 1 Cor 15:17) A spirit does not have flesh and bones.
6. Jesus told them to begin at Jerusalem. Where is my “Jerusalem” — the hard, close-to-home place where my witness should start? (24:46–49; Acts 1:8) Begin at home (Spurgeon).

Worship. He is the living One who was dead and is alive forevermore. He walked seven miles with two sad men, explained the whole Bible about Himself, broke bread in their house, showed His wounds to frightened friends, and ate fish to prove He was no ghost. He sends the promise of the Father, and He went up into heaven with His hands raised in blessing — and He will come again the same way.

Prayer. Risen Lord Jesus, forgive me for looking for You among the dead and for my slow heart. Walk with me in my disappointments. Open my eyes, open the Scriptures, open my mind, until my heart burns again. Stay with me — it is toward evening. Clothe me with power from on high, and make me a witness, starting at home. Thank You that Your hands are still lifted over Your people. Amen.