Mark 16:12

Mar_16:12

After that He appeared in another form.

The changing form of the unchanging Saviour

I. Christ has a form. Eliphaz said (Job_4:15-16). Not thus is the Lord Jesus presented to us in the New Testament. Throughout His earthly life He appears, not in uncertain and wavering lines, but in all the distinctness and power of a human personality. And during the forty days it is the same. The corporeity of the Redeemer is glorified, but it is still the man Christ Jesus with all His individual characteristics. In our day strong endeavours are being made to get rid of the form of Christ; to substitute what is vague and visionary for the definite and palpable truth as it is in Jesus. The prophet says, The heart is deceitful. Half this, it seems, is true; the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately good, for modern introspection has found in it a Messiah, a Church, and a Bible. Let us enter our protest against these endeavours to reject a substantive religion.

1. We have those who reject the historical Christ on behalf of a mystical Christ. Spiritual men, we are told, attain positions which render historical saviours redundancies. They find a diviner Christ in their heart. But, my brethren, can we forego the Christ who is painted with such severe realism in the New Testament for that idealistic Christ whom men assume to find in their own heart? Must we vaporize the Christ of the Gospels into that formless, bloodless Christ known in certain quarters as the inward, the spiritual, the eternal Christ? Surely not. If we reject the historic Christ we shall soon have no Christ at all, for the Christ we find in our heart is simply the reflection of the historic Christ. What Christ did Morison find in the heart of the Chinese? or Carey in the heart of the Hindoo? or John Hunt in the heart of the Fijian? A very equivocal Christ, surely!

2. We have those who reject the visible Church for the invisible Church. The Church of God does not exist, we are told, as a visible institution. The external Church-sacraments, ritual, ministers, and impertinences. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Once more Christ is to become disembodied and formless; His Church is to be sublimated into that featureless shade known as Plymouthism. Against this etherealization we must protest also. The true Church, which is Christs body, will resemble Christs resurrection body; being at once spiritual and corporeal; heavenly and earthly; invisible, as its deepest life is hid in God, and yet revealing in its organisation and government and ordinances the power and grace of its immortal Head; with human features and human raiment, and yet standing before the world, as the Master stood on the Mount, transfigured in a glory altogether unearthly and Divine.

3. We have those who reject dogmatic theology for subjective truth. Some of these reject the Scriptures altogether-looking into the heart they find a surer Bible. They spurn a book revelation; the eternal truth is wronged by any attempt to give it form. Or, if revelation is accepted, no form of sound words must be allowed; the teachings of revelation must not be expressed in any distinct and definite doctrine. They must have the milky way where all is nebulous and undistinguished light; they cannot tolerate the astronomy which for practical purposes makes a map of the stars; they must have the light-the pure, white, orbless light-and look with contempt on Sir Isaac Newton who with the prism breaks up the light for human uses. The mysticism which rejects the orb, which rejects the prism, forgets the limitations of man, and the practical needs of human life. The Word of God and the creed of His Church are sun and rainbow, one shedding the light, the other analyzing it, and both essential for the illumination and pacification of the world.

II. The form of Christ is susceptible of change. In another form. The form of Christ still changes, as perhaps all forms change. There are constant and legitimate changes in the presentment of Christ; in the expression of evangelical doctrine; in the ritual and government of Christs Church. Christ changes the form of His manifestation for great ends.

1. That the form shall not stand between us and the Saviour Himself. We can only know Christ through the form, and up to a certain point any particular form may help us, but at length the form instead of being a medium of revelation may become a screen. Spiritual meaning evaporates from the best definitions; ceremonies are emptied of their meaning; and the Church order which once aided the gospel may become inoperative and obstructive. The form may become a darkened glass to hide Christ, and lest this should be the case the form is ever being changed so that we may all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord.

2. That He may make Himself known to men of the most diverse character and circumstance. It seems very probable that the appearance of Christ was altered from time to time during the forty days to meet the several cases of the disciples. Our religion, thank God, is for the world, and it has all the richness and versatility of a universal faith. What a scene of infinite variety is this world of ours! How it teems with individuality, originality, eccentricity, divergence, contrast! So the Christian Church does not come with stereotyped language, a rigid ritual, an unalterable rubric, but it meets the infinite richness of human nature with infinite flexibility and inexhaustible resource. Christ comes in many forms that He may meet the multitudiousness and manifoldness of the race.

3. That He may become the Saviour of all generations. With the perpetual and inevitable changes of time Christ constantly reappears in new forms. The world does not outgrow Christ, but Christ confronts successive generations in new forms, appropriate forms, richer forms. Christianity never becomes obsolete; in the midst of a new world it stands forth in a new form, but with all its ancient power and grace. The old truth speaks in new language; the old spirit passes into new vessels; the old life pulsates in new organizations; the old purpose is accelerated by a new programme. The Church of Christ does not present the spectacle of an antique corporation, but it is strong, fresh, aggressive, and hopeful a ever today (Psa_110:2-3). The new religion, what is that, Positivism? No, Positivism is the new superstition; Christianity is the new religion - the old religion and the new. This earth is old, very old, and yet today when you look at the primrose, the anemone, and all the fresh young beauty of the spring, you feel it is the new earth also. So is it with Christianity. Older than the hills, it is vital, and fresh and fruitful as ever. The Christianity of St. Paul, of Chrysostom, of Bernard, of John Howe, of John Wesley, produces at this very moment the brightest, grandest, happiest thoughts and things of the modern world. The word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Observe-

III. That under the changing form are abiding characteristics. For a time the eyes of the disciples were holden, and they knew not with whom they talked, but in the end they recognized their Master. How shall we recognise the Master? Under changing forms how shall we be sure of His presence? There are many anti-Christs in the world; many creeds and doctrines set forth as Christs which are not Christs. The old Scandinavian heroes after eating an ox are fabled as making another to grow in its hide the next day. Many in modern times have caught the trick of denying the vital facts and doctrines of the gospel, and then substituting vain dreams of their own under the language, institutions, and symbols of Christianity. But yet we need hardly be deceived.

1. There is the sign of reality. John writes (2Jn_1:7.) Let us turn from all those who would turn Christ into an abstraction or personification.

2. There is the sign of glory. In the beginning of their intercourse with the stranger Cleophas and his companion had no exalted idea of the stranger, but as they conversed with Him their sense of His greatness grew until they knew Him to be their risen Lord. They recognized the sign of His divinity. Where the glory of the Divine, the Risen, the Reigning Lord does not shine forth, this is a deceiver and anti-Christ.

3. There is the sign of sacrifice. It has been conjectured that in the breaking of the bread the disciples saw the mark of the nails in the Saviours hands. However this may be, their mind was full of the sufferings of Christ, and they recognized in Him the Victim of Calvary. Let us, like the monk in the old legend, ask for the print of the nails. The true gospel is the gospel of the cross; the true ministry confesses, I am determined to know nothing among men, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified; the true worship ascribes salvation to Him who has washed us from our sins in His own blood. The form may change, but by the tokens of His Passion, by the marks received for me, all His people discern Him with exultation and assurance. (W. L. Watkinson.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 16:12-13. He appeared in another form unto two of them, &c. — Of which, see notes on Luk 24:13-33. And they went and told it unto the residue — Namely, the same evening. Neither believed they them — That is, some of them did not believe, though others of them did, who, though they had given little credit to the reports of the women, supposing they were occasioned more by imagination than reality; yet, as appears from Luk 24:34, when Simon declared that he had seen the Lord, they began to think that he was risen indeed. Their belief, therefore, was not a little confirmed by the arrival of the two disciples, who declared that the Lord had appeared to them also.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 16:12. Ἑτέρᾳ, another [different]) This is the intermediate step of His revelation between His announcement of the fact by messengers, and His manifest appearance: just as the number two [viz. of those to whom He here appears] is intermediate between the one single female messenger and the many witnesses.—[εἰς ἀγρὸν, into the country) towards Emmaus.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar_16:12-13. A meagre statement of the contents of Luk_24:13-35, yet provided with a traditional explanation (ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ), and presenting a variation (οὐδὲ ἐκείνοις ἐπίστευσαν) which betrays as its source[184] not Luke himself, but a divergent tradition.

μετὰ ταῦτα] (after what was narrated in Mar_16:9-11) does not occur at all in Mark, often as he might have written it: it is an expression foreign to him. How long after, does not appear. According to Luke, it was still on the same day.

ἐξ αὐτῶν] τῶν μετʼ αὐτοῦ γενομένων, Mar_16:10.

περιπατοῦσιν] euntibus, not while they stood or sat or lay, but as they walked. More precise information is then given in πορευομένοις εἰς ἀγρόν: while they went into the country.

ἑφανερώθη] Mar_16:14; Joh_21:1, He became visible to them, was brought to view. The expression does not directly point to a ghostlike appearance (in opposition to de Wette), since it does not of itself, although it does by ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ, point to a supernatural element in the bodily mode of appearance of the risen Lord. This ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ is not to be referred to other clothing and to an alleged disfigurement of the face by the sufferings borne on the cross (comp. Grotius, Heumann, Bolten, Paulus, Kuinoel, and others), but to the bodily form, that was different from what His previous form had been,which the tradition here followed assumed in order to explain the circumstance that the disciples, Luk_24:16, did not recognise Jesus who walked and spoke with them.

Mar_16:13. κἀκεῖνοι] these also, as Mary had done, Mar_16:10.

τοῖς λοιποῖς] to the others γενομένοις μετʼ αὐτοῦ, Mar_16:10; Mar_16:12.

οὐδὲ ἐκείνοις ἐπίστ.] not even them did they believe. A difference of the tradition from that of Luk_24:34, not a confusion with Luk_24:41, which belongs to the following appearance (in opposition to Schulthess, Fritzsche, de Wette). It is boundless arbitrariness of harmonizing to assume, as do Augustine, de consens. evang. iii. 25, Theophylact, and others, including Kuinoel, that under λέγοντας in Luk_24:34, and also under the unbelievers in the passage before us, we are to think only of some, and those different at the two places; while Calvin makes the distribution in such a manner, that they had doubted at first, but had afterwards believed! Bengel gives it conversely. According to Lange, too, they had been believing, but by the message of the disciples of Emmaus they were led into new doubt. Where does this appear? According to the text, they believed neither the Magdalene nor even the disciples of Emmaus.

[184] De Wette wrongly thinks (following Storr, Kuinoel, and others) here and repeatedly, that an interpolator would not have allowed himself to extract so freely. Our author, in fact, wrote not as an interpolator of Mark (how unskilfully otherwise must he have gone to work!), but independently of Mark, for the purpose of completing whose Gospel, however, this fragment was subsequently used.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 16:12-14 . μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα , afterwards (only here in Mk.); vaguely introducing a second appearance in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. δυσὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν , to two of the friends of Jesus previously referred to, not of the Eleven. Cf. with Luk 24:13 . It is not only the same fact, but the narrative here seems borrowed from Lk. ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ , in a different form. Serving no purpose here, because the fact it accounts for, the non-recognition of Jesus by the two disciples (Luk 24:16 ), is not mentioned. εἰς ἀγρόν : for εἰς κώμην in Lk. The use of φανεροῦσθαι in the sense of being manifested to, in Mar 16:12 , is peculiar to this section (again in Mar 16:14 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ appeareth to two other disciples, and at length to the eleven.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 12. He appeared - unto two of them] These were the two who were going to Emmaus. The whole account is given by Luke, Lu 24:13-34, where see the notes.

Dr. Lightfoot's criticism upon this passage is worthy of notice.

"That, in the verses immediately going before, the discourse is of the two disciples going to Emmaus, is without all controversy. And then how do these things consist with that relation in Luke, who saith, That they two, returning to Jerusalem, found the eleven gathered together, and they that were with them; who said, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon? Lu 24:34. The word λεγοντας, saying, evidently makes those to be the words των ενδεκα, of the eleven, and of those that were gathered together with them; which, when you read the versions, you would scarcely suspect. For when that word is rendered by the SYRIAC, [Syriac] cad amrin; by the ARABIC, [Arabic] wehom yekolon; by the VULGATE, dicentes; by the ITALIAN, dicendo; by the FRENCH, disans; by the ENGLISH, saying; who, I pray, would take it in another sense, than that those two that returned from Emmaus said, The Lord is risen indeed, c.? But in the original Greek, when it is the accusative case, it is plainly to be referred to the eleven disciples, and those that were together with them as if they had discoursed among themselves of the appearance made to Peter, either before, or now in the very access of those two coming from Emmaus. And yet, says this our evangelist, that when those two had related the whole business, they gave no credit to them; so that, according to Luke, they believed Christ was risen, and had appeared to Simon, before they told their story; but, according to Mark, they believed it not, no, not when they had told it. The reconciling therefore of the evangelists is to be fetched thence, that those words pronounced by the eleven, Ὁτι ηγερθη ὁ Κυριος οντως, c., The Lord is risen indeed, &c., do not manifest their absolute confession of the resurrection of Christ, but a conjectural reasoning of the sudden and unexpected return of Peter. I believe that Peter was going with Cleophas into Galilee, and that being moved with the words of Christ, told him by the women, Say to his disciples and Peter, I go before you into Galilee-think with yourself how doubtful Peter was, and how he fluctuated within himself after his threefold denial, and how he gasped to see the Lord again, if he were risen, and to cast himself an humble suppliant at his feet. When therefore he heard these things from the women, (and he had heard it indeed from Christ himself, while he was yet alive, that when he arose he would go before them into Galilee,) and when the rest were very little moved with the report of his resurrection, nor as yet stirred from that place, he will try a journey into Galilee, and Alpheus with him which, when it was well known to the rest, and they saw him return so soon and so unexpectedly - Certainly, say they, the Lord is risen, and hath appeared to Peter, otherwise he had not so soon come back again. And yet, when he and Cleophas open the whole matter, they do not yet believe even them."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(12-13) After that he appeared in another form.—See Notes on Luk_24:13-35.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12, 13. The Appearance to Two of them

12. After that] On the world’s first Easter-Day the risen Saviour manifested Himself first to Mary Magdalene, then to the other ministering women. The Evangelist now proceeds to relate the appearance to the two disciples journeying towards Emmaus, which is more fully described by St Luke (Luk_24:13-35).

he appeared] “he is schewid,” Wyclif. This word in the original is applied to our Lord’s “manifestations” of Himself after His resurrection (a) by St Mark twice, here and Mar_16:14; (b) by St John three times, Joh_21:1; Joh_21:14; (c) by St Paul to our “manifestation” in our real character at the Last Judgment, 2Co_5:10 (comp. 1Co_4:5); (d) by the same Apostle to the “manifestation” of Christ at His second coming, Col_3:4. The word points here to a change in the Person of our Lord after His resurrection. He is the same and yet not the same. (a) The same. There are the well-known intonations of His voice, and the marks in His hands and feet (Joh_20:20; Joh_20:25); and He eats before His Apostles, converses with them, blesses them. And yet He is (b) not the same. His risen Body is no longer subject to the laws of time and space. He comes we know not whence. He goes we know not whither. Now He stands in the midst of the Apostles (Joh_20:19); now He vanishes out of their sight (Luk_24:31). He knows now of no continued sojourn on earth. He “appears from time to time” (Act_1:3); He “manifests” Himself to chosen witnesses, as seemeth Him good.

in another form] It is plain from St Luk_24:16 that He was not at the time recognised. This appearance would seem to have been vouchsafed early in the afternoon of the day of the Resurrection.

unto two of them] The name of one was Cleopas = Cleopatros, not the Clopas of Joh_19:25, and another whose name is not known. Some have conjectured it was Nathanael, others the Evangelist St Luke.

as they walked] from Jerusalem in the direction of the village of Emmaus. St Luke says it was sixty stadia (A. V. “threescore furlongs”), or about 7½ miles from Jerusalem. From the earliest period it was identified by Christian writers with the Emmaus on the border of the plain of Philistia, afterwards called Nicopolis (1Ma_3:40), situated some 20 miles from Jerusalem. Afterwards it was identified with the little village of el-Kubeibeh, about 3 miles west of the ancient Mizpeh, and 9 miles from Jerusalem. The true site has yet to be settled.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they went and told it unto the residue,.... Upon their return to Jerusalem, which was on the same night, they went to the eleven apostles, and the other disciples that were with them, and related the whole affair to them; how that Jesus had joined them by the way, and discoursed much with them about himself, and expounded the Scriptures on the road; and when they came to the end of their journey, sat down at meat with them, when he was very plainly discerned, and known by them, and then disappeared; see Luk 24:33;

neither believed they them. "These two", as the Arabic version reads; though they were men, and fellow disciples; and this was a repeated testimony, and a second set of witnesses of Christ's resurrection to them; all which aggravates their unbelief: upon sight of them they said, "the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon", Luk 24:34; the reason of which Dr. Lightfoot thinks was this, that Peter hearing that Christ was risen, and went before them into Galilee, was eager to see him, and therefore took this journey along with Cleophas, which the rest of the disciples knew; and he returning so soon, they concluded he had seen him: but when he, and Cleophas, told the whole affair, they were as unbelieving as ever.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.

13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Ver. 14. See Luk 24:36; Joh 20:19.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He appeared in another form - In a form unlike his ordinary appearance so much so that they did not at first know him. See the notes at Luke 24:13-31. “As they walked and went into the country.” To Emmaus, Luk 24:13.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He had appeared to Magdalene in the form of a gardener, and to two disciples in the form of a traveller.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Of this appearance St. Luke gives us a very large account, Luk 24:13-35.

See Poole on "Luk 24:13", and following verses to Luk 24:35.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. After that — Mark here selects a second appearance of Jesus, which is more fully described in Luk_24:13. The place in the country was Emmaus, some eight miles from Jerusalem. Dr. Thomson identifies Emmaus with the present Kuriet el’Aineb, situated on the road to Jaffa on the dividing ridge between plain and mountains. By that power of appearing at will under various forms to human senses, which we have above described as belonging to supernatural beings, our Lord at first conceals himself from their knowledge, but finally resumes his well known appearance to their vision.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And after these things he was manifested in another form unto two of them, as they walked (poreuomenoiv) on their way into the country. This appearance is doubtless the same as that which is related fully by St. Luke. (Luk_24:13)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luke xxiv, 13.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The appearance to the Emmaus disciples:

v. 12. After that He appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country.

v. 13. And they went and told it unto the residue; neither believed they them.

This is undoubtedly a summary of the afternoon’s events, as related by Luk 24:13-35. In a different form He came to them on the way, as these two were on their way to Emmaus, in an usual dress or bearing, as is evident from Luke’s remark that their eyes were holden. This second appearance should have convinced all of the disciples, not merely the apostles, though, for that matter, there were some that doubted even among them. But even now most of the rest, of the disciples at large, believed them not. That was the situation on the evening of Easter Day, in spite of an appearance to Peter that took place sometime in the course of the day, and in spite of the joyful call of those that had gained the conviction of His having risen.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CXXXVII. Third and Fourth Appearances].

CXXXVII. THIRD AND FOURTH APPEARANCES OF JESUS. (Sunday afternoon.) bMARK XVI. 12, 13; cLUKE XXIV. 13-35; eI. COR. XV. 5.

b12 And after these things he was manifested in another form [i. e., another manner] unto two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country. c13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus [Several sites have been suggested, but the village of Emmaus has not yet been identified beyond dispute. Its location is probably marked by the ruins called el Kubeibeh, which lies northwest of Jerusalem], which was threescore furlongs from Jerusalem. [el Kubeibeh is distant seven and thirteen-sixteenths of a mile, or sixty-two and one-half furlongs, from Jerusalem.] 14 And they communed with each other of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, while they communed and questioned together, that Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. [Jesus himself designedly restrained their vision, that, unlike John ( Joh_20:8, Joh_20:9), that might see the resurrection of Jesus in the Scriptures before they saw it in reality.] 17 And he said unto them, What communications are these that ye have one with another, as ye walk? And they stood still, looking sad. [Our Lord's abrupt question brought them to a standstill. We may well imagine that they considered his interruption very unwelcome. But his kindly mien won their confidence and they tell him all.] 18 And one of them, named Cleopas, answering said unto him, Dost thou alone sojourn in Jerusalem and not know the things which are come to pass there in these days? [Of Cleopas nothing further is known. It has been suggested that the other disciple was Luke himself. [748] This is possible, for the other Evangelists mention themselves thus impersonally. The preface to Luke's Gospel in no way forbids us to think that he had a personal knowledge of parts of Christ's ministry. Cleopas marveled that there could be a single man in Jerusalem who had not heard concerning the crucifixion, etc.] 19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we hoped that it was he who should redeem Israel. [To Cleopas, redeeming Israel meant freeing the nation from the Roman yoke.] Yea and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things came to pass. 22 Moreover certain women of our company amazed us, having been early at the tomb; 23 and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. [Rationalists might see their own reflection in these two disciples, who suppressed the statement of the women that they had seen the Lord as too idle to be repeated, and told the least marvelous part of their story--that about the angels--as too visionary to be credited. Thus the renowned Renan held that the resurrection was a story or fabrication which grew out of the hallucination of Mary Magdalene. But these two men on the way to Emmaus had less use for feminine hallucinations than even M. Renan. But in the end they believed in the resurrection because they themselves had substantial evidence of it.] 24 And certain of them that were with us [Peter and John] went to the tomb, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. [The last clause unconsciously suggests the omitted fact that the women had professed to see Christ.] 25 And he said unto them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, [749] 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.] 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 i 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.] 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 was sweeter because it was preceded by faith that he ought [750] thus to rise.] 33 And they rose up that very hour, b13 And they went away cand 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-- Act_1:15], 34 saying, The Lord is risen indeed [his resurrection is not an hallucination of the women], and hath fappeared to Cephas; cSimon. [Paul and Luke both mention this appearance, but we have none of the details of it.] 35 And they rehearsed the things i 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.] bneither 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.

[FFG 748-751]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Jesus next appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5). After that. On the afternoon of the same day (Sunday) (Luke 24:13–32). He appeared in another form. Luke explains this by saying that their eyes were holden. If their eyes were influenced, of course, optically speaking, Jesus would appear in another form.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

he appeared in a different form

The "two of them" saw Jesus, but he looked different from how he had looked previously.

two of them

two of "those who were with him" (Mark 16:10)

they did not believe them

The rest of the disciples did not believe what the two who had been walking in the country said.

translationWords

disciple

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

12, 13. APPEARANCE TO TWO DISCIPLES

Luk 24:13-22

12. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα. Μετὰ ταῦτα or τοῦτο is a Lukan and Johannine expression, but it is not found in Mk. The two are the two who were walking to Emmaus on the evening of Easter Day.

ἐφανερώθη. Jn has the same verb in the same sense (Joh 21:1; Joh 21:14).

ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ. The meaning is not clear. It cannot mean that He was glorified as at the Transfiguration. It might mean that He was in a form different from that in which He appeared to Mary; she took Him to be a gardener, the two regarded Him as an ordinary wayfarer. It probably means that His form was different from that in which He had previously been known to them; but it has little point unless one knows that the two disciples failed to recognize Him.

εἰς ἀγρόν. The position of Emmaus is unknown. El Kubeibeh about seven miles N.W. of Jerusalem is perhaps the most probable conjecture; but either Kulonieh or Beit Mizzeh nearer to Jerusalem on the W. may be right. Amwâs, about twenty miles N.W. of Jerusalem, is impossible, although Christian writers from Eusebius to the Crusades take the similarity of name as decisive.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12.] μετὰ ταῦτα is not found in Mark, though many opportunities occurred for using it. This verse epitomizes the events on the journey to Emmaus, Luk 24:13-35.

περιπατοῦσιν ἐφανερώθη, though in general accord with Luke’s narrative, is not accurate in detail. It was not as they walked, but as they sat at meat that He was manifested to them.

ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ—a slight difference from Luk 24:15, Luk 24:16, which relates as the reason why they did not know Him, that their eyes were holden, his being in his usual form being declared by αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰησοῦς: but see notes there.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12, 13. This appearance to the two on their way into the country is condensed from Lk.’s account of the appearance to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus.3 It differs from that in its account of their non-recognition of Jesus, and of the reception given to their story. Instead of the ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ, in another form, Lk. attributes their failure to recognize him to the fact that their eyes were restrained from knowing him. And instead of the unbelief of their story told here, Lk., on the contrary, says that the eleven met them with the story of Christ’s actual resurrection (ὄντως) and his appearance to Peter.4 The verbal peculiarities are in the use of μετὰ ταῦτα and πορευομένοις. μετὰ ταῦτα is found in Lk., is very frequent in J., but is not found in Mt. and Mk.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After these things [μετα ταυτα] . An expression never used by Mark.

Another form [ετερα μορφη] . More correctly, a different form.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.