To The Word – Day 89

₁Jesus went on into Jericho and was passing through. ₂There was a chief tax collector there named Zacchaeus, who was rich. ₃He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd. ₄So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycomore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. ₅When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, “Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today.”

₆Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him with great joy. ₇All the people who saw it started grumbling, “This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!”

₈Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Listen, sir! I will give half my belongings to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times as much.”

₉Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. ₁₀The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

₁₁While the people were listening to this, Jesus continued and told them a parable. He was now almost at Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God was just about to appear. ₁₂So he said, “There was once a man of high rank who was going to a country far away to be made king, after which he planned to come back home. ₁₃Before he left, he called his ten servants and gave them each a gold coin and told them, ‘See what you can earn with this while I am gone.’ ₁₄Now, his own people hated him, and so they sent messengers after him to say, ‘We don't want this man to be our king.’

₁₅“The man was made king and came back. At once he ordered his servants to appear before him, in order to find out how much they had earned. ₁₆The first one came and said, ‘Sir, I have earned ten gold coins with the one you gave me.’ ₁₇‘Well done,’ he said; ‘you are a good servant! Since you were faithful in small matters, I will put you in charge of ten cities.’ ₁₈The second servant came and said, ‘Sir, I have earned five gold coins with the one you gave me.’ ₁₉To this one he said, ‘You will be in charge of five cities.’

₂₀“Another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it hidden in a handkerchief. ₂₁I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take what is not yours and reap what you did not sow.’ ₂₂He said to him, ‘You bad servant! I will use your own words to condemn you! You know that I am a hard man, taking what is not mine and reaping what I have not sown. ₂₃Well, then, why didn't you put my money in the bank? Then I would have received it back with interest when I returned.’

₂₄“Then he said to those who were standing there, ‘Take the gold coin away from him and give it to the servant who has ten coins.’ ₂₅But they said to him, ‘Sir, he already has ten coins!’ ₂₆‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘that to all those who have something, even more will be given; but those who have nothing, even the little that they have will be taken away from them. ₂₇Now, as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence!’ ”

₂₈After Jesus said this, he went on ahead of them to Jerusalem. ₂₉As he came near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead ₃₀with these instructions: “Go to the village there ahead of you; as you go in, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ₃₁If someone asks you why you are untying it, tell him that the Master needs it.”

₃₂They went on their way and found everything just as Jesus had told them. ₃₃As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying it?”

₃₄“The Master needs it,” they answered, ₃₅and they took the colt to Jesus. Then they threw their cloaks over the animal and helped Jesus get on. ₃₆As he rode on, people spread their cloaks on the road.

₃₇When he came near Jerusalem, at the place where the road went down the Mount of Olives, the large crowd of his disciples began to thank God and praise him in loud voices for all the great things that they had seen: ₃₈“God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!”

₃₉Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “command your disciples to be quiet!”

₄₀Jesus answered, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.”

₄₁He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it, ₄₂saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! ₄₃The time will come when your enemies will surround you with barricades, blockade you, and close in on you from every side. ₄₄They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!”

₄₅Then Jesus went into the Temple and began to drive out the merchants, ₄₆saying to them, “It is written in the Scriptures that God said, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer.’ But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!”

₄₇Every day Jesus taught in the Temple. The chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the leaders of the people wanted to kill him, ₄₈but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people kept listening to him, not wanting to miss a single word.

₁One day when Jesus was in the Temple teaching the people and preaching the Good News, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, together with the elders, came ₂and said to him, “Tell us, what right have you to do these things? Who gave you this right?”

₃Jesus answered them, “Now let me ask you a question. Tell me, ₄did John's right to baptize come from God or from human beings?”

₅They started to argue among themselves, “What shall we say? If we say, ‘From God,’ he will say, ‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’ ₆But if we say ‘From human beings,’ this whole crowd here will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” ₇So they answered, “We don't know where it came from.”

₈And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.”

₉Then Jesus told the people this parable: “There was once a man who planted a vineyard, let it out to tenants, and then left home for a long time. ₁₀When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. But the tenants beat the slave and sent him back without a thing. ₁₁So he sent another slave; but the tenants beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him back without a thing. ₁₂Then he sent a third slave; the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out. ₁₃Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!’ ₁₄But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the owner's son. Let's kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ₁₅So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to the tenants?” Jesus asked. ₁₆“He will come and kill those men, and hand the vineyard over to other tenants.”

When the people heard this, they said, “Surely not!”

₁₇Jesus looked at them and asked, “What, then, does this scripture mean?

₁₉The teachers of the Law and the chief priests tried to arrest Jesus on the spot, because they knew that he had told this parable against them; but they were afraid of the people. ₂₀So they looked for an opportunity. They bribed some men to pretend they were sincere, and they sent them to trap Jesus with questions, so that they could hand him over to the authority and power of the Roman Governor. ₂₁These spies said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is right. We know that you pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. ₂₂Tell us, is it against our Law for us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?”

₂₃But Jesus saw through their trick and said to them, ₂₄“Show me a silver coin. Whose face and name are these on it?”

“The Emperor's,” they answered.

₂₅So Jesus said, “Well, then, pay the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay God what belongs to God.”

₂₆There before the people they could not catch him out in anything, so they kept quiet, amazed at his answer.

₂₇Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said, ₂₈“Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: ‘If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.’ ₂₉Once there were seven brothers; the eldest got married and died without having children. ₃₀Then the second one married the woman, ₃₁and then the third. The same thing happened to all seven — they died without having children. ₃₂Last of all, the woman died. ₃₃Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.”

₃₄Jesus answered them, “The men and women of this age marry, ₃₅but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry. ₃₆They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death. ₃₇And Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush he speaks of the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ₃₈He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive.”

₃₉Some of the teachers of the Law spoke up, “A good answer, Teacher!” ₄₀For they did not dare ask him any more questions.

₄₁Jesus asked them, “How can it be said that the Messiah will be the descendant of David? ₄₂For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

₄₅As all the people listened to him, Jesus said to his disciples, ₄₆“Be on your guard against the teachers of the Law, who like to walk about in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the market place; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts; ₄₇who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse!”

₁Jesus looked round and saw rich people dropping their gifts in the temple treasury, ₂and he also saw a very poor widow dropping in two little copper coins. ₃He said, “I tell you that this poor widow put in more than all the others. ₄For the others offered their gifts from what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on.”

₅Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with its fine stones and the gifts offered to God. Jesus said, ₆“All this you see — the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down.”

₇“Teacher,” they asked, “when will this be? And what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place?”

₈Jesus said, “Be on guard; don't be deceived. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time has come!’ But don't follow them. ₉Don't be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near.”

₁₀He went on to say, “Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. ₁₁There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky. ₁₂Before all these things take place, however, you will be arrested and persecuted; you will be handed over to be tried in synagogues and be put in prison; you will be brought before kings and rulers for my sake. ₁₃This will be your chance to tell the Good News. ₁₄Make up your minds beforehand not to worry about how you will defend yourselves, ₁₅because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say. ₁₆You will be handed over by your parents, your brothers, your relatives, and your friends; and some of you will be put to death. ₁₇Everyone will hate you because of me. ₁₈But not a single hair from your heads will be lost. ₁₉Stand firm, and you will save yourselves.

₂₀“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed. ₂₁Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills; those who are in the city must leave, and those who are out in the country must not go into the city. ₂₂For those will be ‘The Days of Punishment’, to make all that the Scriptures say come true. ₂₃How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! Terrible distress will come upon this land, and God's punishment will fall on this people. ₂₄Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.

₂₅“There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. ₂₆People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. ₂₇Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. ₂₈When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.”

₂₉Then Jesus told them this parable: “Think of the fig tree and all the other trees. ₃₀When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near. ₃₁In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.

₃₂“Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. ₃₃Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

₃₄“Be on your guard! Don't let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you ₃₅like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. ₃₆Be on the alert and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”

₃₇Jesus spent those days teaching in the Temple, and when evening came, he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives. ₃₈Early each morning all the people went to the Temple to listen to him.

₁The time was near for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover. ₂The chief priests and the teachers of the Law were afraid of the people, and so they were trying to find a way of putting Jesus to death secretly.

₃Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples. ₄So Judas went off and spoke with the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard about how he could betray Jesus to them. ₅They were pleased and offered to pay him money. ₆Judas agreed to it and started looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them without the people knowing about it.

₇The day came during the Festival of Unleavened Bread when the lambs for the Passover meal were to be killed. ₈Jesus sent off Peter and John with these instructions: “Go and get the Passover meal ready for us to eat.”

₉“Where do you want us to get it ready?” they asked him.

₁₀He answered, “As you go into the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters, ₁₁and say to the owner of the house: ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the room where my disciples and I will eat the Passover meal?’ ₁₂He will show you a large furnished room upstairs, where you will get everything ready.”

₁₃They went off and found everything just as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

₁₄When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table with the apostles. ₁₅He said to them, “I have wanted so much to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer! ₁₆For I tell you, I will never eat it until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.”

₁₇Then Jesus took a cup, gave thanks to God, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. ₁₈I tell you that from now on I will not drink this wine until the Kingdom of God comes.”

₁₉Then he took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” ₂₀In the same way, he gave them the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is God's new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you.

₂₁“But, look! The one who betrays me is here at the table with me! ₂₂The Son of Man will die as God has decided, but how terrible for that man who betrays him!”

₂₃Then they began to ask among themselves which one of them it could be who was going to do this.

₂₄An argument broke out among the disciples as to which one of them should be thought of as the greatest. ₂₅Jesus said to them, “The kings of the pagans have power over their people, and the rulers claim the title ‘Friends of the People’. ₂₆But this is not the way it is with you; rather, the greatest one among you must be like the youngest, and the leader must be like the servant. ₂₇Who is greater, the one who sits down to eat or the one who serves? The one who sits down, of course. But I am among you as one who serves.

₂₈“You have stayed with me all through my trials; ₂₉and just as my Father has given me the right to rule, so I will give you the same right. ₃₀You will eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel.

₃₁“Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff. ₃₂But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers.”

₃₃Peter answered, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you and to die with you!”

₃₄“I tell you, Peter,” Jesus said, “the cock will not crow tonight until you have said three times that you do not know me.”

₃₅Then Jesus asked his disciples, “When I sent you out that time without purse, bag, or shoes, did you lack anything?”

“Not a thing,” they answered.

₃₆“But now,” Jesus said, “whoever has a purse or a bag must take it; and whoever has no sword must sell his coat and buy one. ₃₇For I tell you that the scripture which says, ‘He shared the fate of criminals,’ must come true about me, because what was written about me is coming true.”

₃₈The disciples said, “Look! Here are two swords, Lord!”

“That is enough!” he replied.

₃₉Jesus left the city and went, as he usually did, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples went with him. ₄₀When he arrived at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

₄₁Then he went off from them about the distance of a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed. ₄₂“Father,” he said, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.” ₄₃An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ₄₄In great anguish he prayed even more fervently; his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

₄₅Rising from his prayer, he went back to the disciples and found them asleep, worn out by their grief. ₄₆He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

₄₇Jesus was still speaking when a crowd arrived, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. He came up to Jesus to kiss him. ₄₈But Jesus said, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you betray the Son of Man?”

₄₉When the disciples who were with Jesus saw what was going to happen, they asked, “Shall we use our swords, Lord?” ₅₀And one of them struck the High Priest's slave and cut off his right ear.

₅₁But Jesus said, “Enough of this!” He touched the man's ear and healed him.

₅₂Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and the elders who had come there to get him, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs, as though I were an outlaw? ₅₃I was with you in the Temple every day, and you did not try to arrest me. But this is your hour to act, when the power of darkness rules.”

₅₄They arrested Jesus and took him away into the house of the High Priest; and Peter followed at a distance. ₅₅A fire had been lit in the centre of the courtyard, and Peter joined those who were sitting round it. ₅₆When one of the servant women saw him sitting there at the fire, she looked straight at him and said, “This man too was with Jesus!”

₅₇But Peter denied it, “Woman, I don't even know him!”

₅₈After a little while a man noticed Peter and said, “You are one of them, too!”

But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”

₅₉And about an hour later another man insisted strongly, “There isn't any doubt that this man was with Jesus, because he also is a Galilean!”

₆₀But Peter answered, “Man, I don't know what you are talking about!”

At once, while he was still speaking, a cock crowed. ₆₁The Lord turned round and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered that the Lord had said to him, “Before the cock crows tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me.” ₆₂Peter went out and wept bitterly.

₆₃The men who were guarding Jesus mocked him and beat him. ₆₄They blindfolded him and asked him, “Who hit you? Guess!” ₆₅And they said many other insulting things to him.

₆₆When day came, the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law met together, and Jesus was brought before the Council. ₆₇“Tell us,” they said, “are you the Messiah?”

He answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me; ₆₈and if I ask you a question, you will not answer. ₆₉But from now on the Son of Man will be seated on the right of Almighty God.”

₇₀They all said, “Are you, then, the Son of God?”

He answered them, “You say that I am.”

₇₁And they said, “We don't need any witnesses! We ourselves have heard what he said!”

₁The whole group rose up and took Jesus before Pilate, ₂where they began to accuse him: “We caught this man misleading our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

₃Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“So you say,” answered Jesus.

₄Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no reason to condemn this man.”

₅But they insisted even more strongly, “With his teaching he is starting a riot among the people all through Judea. He began in Galilee and now has come here.”

₆When Pilate heard this, he asked, “Is this man a Galilean?” ₇When he learnt that Jesus was from the region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. ₈Herod was very pleased when he saw Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been wanting to see him for a long time. He was hoping to see Jesus perform some miracle. ₉So Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus made no answer. ₁₀The chief priests and the teachers of the Law stepped forward and made strong accusations against Jesus. ₁₁Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus and treated him with contempt; then they put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ₁₂On that very day Herod and Pilate became friends; before this they had been enemies.

₁₃Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, ₁₄and said to them, “You brought this man to me and said that he was misleading the people. Now, I have examined him here in your presence, and I have not found him guilty of any of the crimes you accuse him of. ₁₅Nor did Herod find him guilty, for he sent him back to us. There is nothing this man has done to deserve death. ₁₆So I will have him whipped and let him go.”

₁₈The whole crowd cried out, “Kill him! Set Barabbas free for us!” ₁₉(Barabbas had been put in prison for a riot that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

₂₀Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he appealed to the crowd again. ₂₁But they shouted back, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

₂₂Pilate said to them the third time, “But what crime has he committed? I cannot find anything he has done to deserve death! I will have him whipped and set him free.”

₂₃But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices that Jesus should be crucified, and finally their shouting succeeded. ₂₄So Pilate passed the sentence on Jesus that they were asking for. ₂₅He set free the man they wanted, the one who had been put in prison for riot and murder, and he handed Jesus over for them to do as they wished.

₂₆The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

₂₇A large crowd of people followed him; among them were some women who were weeping and wailing for him. ₂₈Jesus turned to them and said, “Women of Jerusalem! Don't cry for me, but for yourselves and your children. ₂₉For the days are coming when people will say, ‘How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!’ ₃₀That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Hide us!’ ₃₁For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

₃₂Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. ₃₃When they came to the place called “The Skull”, they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. ₃₄Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing.”

They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. ₃₅The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders jeered at him: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!”

₃₆The soldiers also mocked him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, ₃₇and said, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!”

₃₈Above him were written these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

₃₉One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

₄₀The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. ₄₁Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” ₄₂And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!”

₄₃Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”

_44-45It was about twelve o'clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o'clock; and the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. ₄₆Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father! In your hands I place my spirit!” He said this and died.

₄₇The army officer saw what had happened, and he praised God, saying, “Certainly he was a good man!”

₄₈When the people who had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what happened, they all went back home, beating their breasts in sorrow. ₄₉All those who knew Jesus personally, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch.

_50-51There was a man named Joseph from Arimathea, a town in Judea. He was a good and honourable man, who was waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Although he was a member of the Council, he had not agreed with their decision and action. ₅₂He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ₅₃Then he took the body down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb which had been dug out of solid rock and which had never been used. ₅₄It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

₅₅The women who had followed Jesus from Galilee went with Joseph and saw the tomb and how Jesus' body was placed in it. ₅₆Then they went back home and prepared the spices and perfumes for the body.

On the Sabbath they rested, as the Law commanded.

₁Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. ₂They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, ₃so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ₄They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them. ₅Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? ₆He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: ₇‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’ ”

₈Then the women remembered his words, ₉returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest. ₁₀The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. ₁₁But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them. ₁₂But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the linen wrappings but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.

₁₃On that same day two of Jesus' followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about eleven kilometres from Jerusalem, ₁₄and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ₁₅As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; ₁₆they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. ₁₇Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

They stood still, with sad faces. ₁₈One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have been happening there these last few days?”

₁₉“What things?” he asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. ₂₀Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. ₂₁And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. ₂₂Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, ₂₃but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. ₂₄Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him.”

₂₅Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! ₂₆Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” ₂₇And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

₂₈As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; ₂₉but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. ₃₀He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. ₃₁Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. ₃₂They said to each other, “Wasn't it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

₃₃They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others ₃₄and saying, “The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!”

₃₅The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized the Lord when he broke the bread.

₃₆While the two were telling them this, suddenly the Lord himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

₃₇They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. ₃₈But he said to them, “Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds? ₃₉Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones, as you can see I have.”

₄₀He said this and showed them his hands and his feet. ₄₁They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ₄₂They gave him a piece of cooked fish, ₄₃which he took and ate in their presence.

₄₄Then he said to them, “These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms had to come true.”

₄₅Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ₄₆and said to them, “This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, ₄₇and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. ₄₈You are witnesses of these things. ₄₉And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you.”

₅₀Then he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, where he raised his hands and blessed them. ₅₁As he was blessing them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven. ₅₂They worshipped him and went back into Jerusalem, filled with great joy, ₅₃and spent all their time in the Temple giving thanks to God.