Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ rising again appears to the pious women. Second, verse 13, to the two disciples going to Emmaus. Third, verse 36, to the twelve Apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem. Fourth, verse 50, He ascends into heaven.
I explained the first part at Matthew XXVIII; the fourth, at Acts I: therefore the second and third remain to be explained here.
Vulgate Text: Luke 24:1-53
1. And on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, carrying the spices which they had prepared; 2. and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3. And going in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4. And it came to pass, as they were astonished in mind about this, behold, two men stood beside them in shining garments. 5. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said to them: Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6. He is not here, but is risen; remember how He spoke to you, when He was yet in Galilee, 7. saying: The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8. And they remembered His words. 9. And going back from the tomb, they told all these things to those eleven, and to all the rest. 10. And it was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary of James, and the other women that were with them, who told these things to the Apostles. 11. And these words seemed before them as idle tales; and they did not believe them. 12. But Peter rising up, ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths laid alone, and went away wondering in himself at that which had come to pass. 13. And behold, two of them went, that same day, to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. 14. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15. And it came to pass, that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself drawing near, went with them; 16. but their eyes were held, that they should not know Him. 17. And He said to them: What are these discourses that you hold one with another as you walk, and are sad? 18. And the one of them, whose name was Cleophas, answering, said to Him: Are you alone a stranger in Jerusalem, and have not known the things that have been done there in these days? 19. To whom He said: What things? And they said: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a man, a prophet, mighty in work and word, before God and all the people; 20. and how our chief priests and princes delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21. But we hoped that it was He who should have redeemed Israel; and now besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. 22. Yes, and certain women also of our company astonished us, who before dawn were at the tomb; 23. and not finding His body, came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that He is alive. 24. And some of our people went to the tomb; and found it so as the women had said, but Him they found not. 25. Then He said to them: O foolish, and slow of heart to believe all things which the Prophets have spoken: 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory? 27. And beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things that were concerning Him. 28. And they drew near to the town where they were going; and He made as though He would go farther. 29. But they constrained Him, saying: Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent. And He went in with them. 30. And it came to pass, while He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed, and broke, and 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 the other: Was not our heart burning within us, while He spoke in the way, and opened to us the Scriptures? 33. And rising up the same hour, they went back to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together, and those that were with them, 34. saying: The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. 35. And they told what things were done in the way, and how they knew Him in the breaking of bread. 36. Now while they were speaking these things, Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said to them: Peace be to you; it is I, fear not. 37. But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit. 38. And He said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39. See my hands and feet, that it is I myself; handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have. 40. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. 41. But while they yet did not believe for joy, and wondered, He said: Have you here anything to eat? 42. And they offered Him a piece of broiled fish, and a honeycomb. 43. And when He had eaten before them, taking the remains He gave to them. 44. And He said to them: These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. 45. Then He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. 46. And He said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, the third day; 47. and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His name, unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48. And you are witnesses of these things. 49. And I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, till you be endued with power from on high. 50. And He led them out as far as Bethany; and lifting up His hands, He blessed them. 51. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He departed from them, and was carried up into heaven. 52. And they adoring went back into Jerusalem with great joy; 53. and they were always in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Verse 1: And on the First Day of the Week
AND ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. "One," that is, the first day after the Sabbath, namely Sunday, on which Christ rose again. See what was said at Matthew XXVIII, 1.
Verse 10: Joanna, Wife of Chuza
Verse 10. JOANNA, the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod, a disciple of Christ, whose enemy and mocker was Herod. So St. Serena, wife of the Emperor Diocletian, persecutor of Christ, and his daughter St. Anthemia, and his granddaughter St. Susanna, virgins, so greatly honored Christ that all were crowned with martyrdom by their husband and father Diocletian. Likewise St. Tryphonia was the wife of the Emperor Decius the persecutor, and their daughter St. Cyrilla vowed her virginity to Christ, and died as a martyr for Him. St. Licinia, sister or daughter of the Emperor Licinius, and wife of the Emperor Maximinus the persecutor, was converted to Christ by St. Catherine the virgin and martyr, and became her companion and partner in martyrdom. The lives of all these were elegantly described by the Reverend Lord Joannes Tomeus, Bishop of Bosnia, a friend of mine at Rome, in his Saints of the Illyrian Kings. So too St. Flavia Domitilla, granddaughter of the Emperor Domitian, received the crown of martyrdom from him. Thus God draws roses from thorns; for He willed to conquer and confound husbands through their wives, kings through their queens, both here and at the day of judgment.
Verse 13: Two Disciples Going to Emmaus
13. AND BEHOLD, TWO OF THEM WENT THAT SAME DAY (the Sunday of Easter, on which Christ rose again) TO A TOWN (in Greek kome, that is, a village, a hamlet; whence Mark, chapter XVI, calls it a country place) WHICH WAS SIXTY FURLONGS FROM JERUSALEM, NAMED EMMAUS. "Two." These two are the same as those of whom Mark says, chapter XVI, 11: "After these things He was manifested in another form to two of them who were walking, on their way to a country place." So the interpreters generally, with the sole exception of Euthymius, who thinks they were different men and a different apparition of Christ, and proves it from the fact that Mark adds: "And they going told the rest, neither did they believe them;" whereas Luke here, verse 34, says of these same ones, that the Apostles believed them, "Saying: The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon." But I answer that most did believe, though some did not believe, as is clear concerning Thomas.
You ask, who were these two? I answer: It is certain from verse 18 that one was Cleophas; who the other was is uncertain. St. Ambrose thinks it was Amaon, so named from the place, as it seems, as if he were a resident and citizen of Emmaus, where they were heading; Origen, at the beginning of his Commentary on John, calls him Simeon; St. Epiphanius, heresy 23, names Nathanael, of whom see John I. Most others think it was Luke. So Theophylactus here, St. Gregory, preface to Job, chapter II; Dorotheus, Nicephorus, and Metaphrastes in the Life of Cleophas. But Luke does not seem to have seen Christ in the flesh, but to have been converted after His death, as is clear from the preface of his Gospel.
SIXTY FURLONGS. A stadium is the eighth part of a mile, or of a thousand paces, for a stadium contained 125 paces. Therefore 60 stadia make seven and a half Italian miles, that is, about three Gallic leagues of one hour; for one league contains about three Italian miles. So Bede: "A stadium," he says, "by which the Greeks, following Hercules as they say, measure the distances of roads, is the eighth part of a mile: and therefore sixty stadia signify seven thousand five hundred paces."
The word "stadium" is derived from stasis (a standing still), because Hercules, having run that distance in one breath, stopped there: hence the name "stadium" for athletes and runners; for they used to run and compete in the Olympic, Roman, Corinthian, etc., stadium. See Gellius, book I, chapter 1.
NAMED EMMAUS. In Greek Emmaous, it is a trisyllable; whence it is declined Emmaus, Emmauntis; like Trapezus, Trapezuntis; Jericho, Jericuntis. Emmaus in the time of Christ was a village, from which St. Jerome in his Hebrew Place-Names says Cleophas originated, and therefore he seems to have been going there on family business. Now Emmaus, if written at the beginning with aleph, in Hebrew means the same as dread or terror of counsel; but if with chet, it means the same as heat of counsel, says Pagninus in his Names: both suit this passage; for these two were of fearful mind, but being set aflame by Christ, they turned their dread into heat, and burned with a strong love of Christ.
Others, writing Emmaous with ain, think it means the same as maus, that is, a rejected people, toward whom these two were heading through their diffidence and doubt; but recalled by Christ, they were sent back to the chosen Apostles in Jerusalem.
Further, Emmaus was afterwards, when the Romans had captured Jerusalem and defeated the Jews, enlarged and made into a trophy-city, and called Nicopolis, that is, city of victory.
Concerning which, hear what Sozomen writes, book V of his History, chapter XXI: "Before this city, at the crossroads where Christ, walking with Cleophas after the resurrection, pretended to be going to another village, there is a healing spring, in which both people and other animals suffering from various diseases wash away their afflictions. For they report that Christ, coming from some journey together with the disciples, came to that spring and washed His feet there, and from that time the water of that spring became a cure for diseases." He then adds a similar account about a tree near Hermopolis which, bowing down, worshiped Christ as He fled into Egypt, and whose leaves, fruit, and bark cure many diseases.
Verse 14: They Talked Together of All These Things
14. AND THEY TALKED TOGETHER OF ALL THESE THINGS WHICH HAD HAPPENED. They talked about the passion, cross, death, and burial of Christ their master, grieving over the so unworthy slaying of so great a man and Prophet, and that they would no longer see Him; for concerning His resurrection and the redemption of Israel to be accomplished through Him they had plainly despaired.
Verse 15: Jesus Drawing Near, Went with Them
15. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHILE THEY TALKED AND REASONED WITH THEMSELVES, JESUS HIMSELF DRAWING NEAR, WENT WITH THEM. Jesus here teaches that He is present to those who speak about Him: let us therefore speak about Jesus, and Jesus will likewise insinuate Himself into our company and conversations, if not bodily, certainly spiritually through His grace and spirit, by which He will set us on fire. For He Himself promised this, saying: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them," Matthew XVIII, 20. Those therefore who speak of good things have Jesus in their midst; those who speak of evil things have Lucifer: the experience and effects of this are clear.
OF THEM (Christ's disciples) WENT, both on business and for the sake of their spirits, to divert and soothe the sadness and grief conceived from the so cruel and infamous death of Christ their master.
Verse 16: Their Eyes Were Held
16. BUT THEIR EYES WERE HELD, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT KNOW HIM. You ask, how was this done? Denis the Carthusian answers first, and St. Augustine supports him, book XXII of the City of God, chapter IX, that they had been struck with blindness, like the Sodomites, Genesis XIX, 11. But this cannot properly be said; for they saw Christ and spoke with Him, but did not recognize Him. Second, Cajetan thinks it was done through an interior ecstasy, or abstraction and distraction of the imagination of the two disciples. But Mark contradicts this, saying in chapter XVI: "He was manifested in another form." Whence third, St. Augustine, epistle 39, Question VIII, opines it was done through a change in Christ's face, in its features and shape, or at least its colors and light, as happened at the Transfiguration of Christ. But this does not sufficiently accord with the dignity of a glorified body, which is stable, immortal, and unalterable. Therefore fourth, the same St. Augustine, retracting this, book III of the Harmony of the Gospels, chapter XXV, says "that a humor, or mist and darkness, was impressed by a demon upon the eyes of the disciples, which, darkening their eyes, prevented them from recognizing Christ." But this action and work seems to have been entirely Christ's, not the demon's, just as was that appearance by which He appeared to Magdalene in the form of a gardener.
I say therefore it happened because the body of Christ, although remaining the same and unchanged in itself, nevertheless, because it was united to the Word and because it was glorified, had the power both of concealing itself and retaining the appearances of its body so they would not be diffused to the eyes of others, and also of altering the vision of those looking at it, in whatever manner He pleased, whether by dispersing and differently impressing the visual species, or by changing the medium, as mirrors do, or by altering even the organ of sight itself. For this is what Luke means when he says: "Their eyes were held" by Jesus, so that they could not perform their function, just as if they had been covered with some kind of veil: whence afterwards, as soon as Jesus willed it, they recognized Him. The same and even more I say about the ears and hearing, namely that Christ was not recognized by the disciples from His voice, because it is much easier to change the sound of the voice, and the manner of expressing and pronouncing: indeed this can be done naturally, and is done by many people who, by differently moving their lips, tongue, palate, and differently striking and gathering the air, change the natural sound of the voice, so that it seems to be different from the usual one. So St. Thomas, III part, Question LIV, article 1, reply 3; Suarez and others in the same place.
Now the reasons why Christ appeared to these disciples in another form were various: First, because Christ and the angels, when they appear to men, appear such as those are to whom they appear. Christ therefore, conforming Himself to these travelers, appeared as a traveler; to those doubting about Him, as a stranger and unknown person. So St. Augustine, book III of the Harmony of the Gospels, chapter XXV, and St. Gregory, homily 23 on the Gospel, whom hear: "The Lord therefore did outwardly before the eyes of the body what was happening within them before the eyes of the heart. For they within themselves both loved and doubted; and the Lord was both present to them outwardly, and yet did not show who He was. To those speaking about Him He offered His presence, but from those doubting about Him He hid the appearance of recognition: He indeed shared words, He rebuked the hardness of their understanding, He opened the mysteries of Sacred Scripture which concerned Himself; and yet because He was still a stranger from faith in their hearts, He pretended to go farther."
Second, lest, if He immediately showed Himself clearly to the disciples, He should strike them with the novelty of the resurrection, and therefore they would think they were seeing not Christ but a phantom, and thus would remain doubtful about His resurrection. But by conversing with them for a long time and finally manifesting Himself, He removed from them every doubt about His resurrection.
Third, "so that the disciples might open their wound (of their doubt and sadness) and receive the remedy," says Theophylactus; for if He had suddenly said He was Christ, the disciples would not have dared to say that they doubted about Him and His resurrection.
Fourth, that by His appearance and garb He might show that in this life we are wayfarers, and are tending toward our heavenly homeland; wherefore we ought to sigh constantly for it as pilgrims and strive with all our strength. On this account, St. Francis, when on one occasion on Easter Day he was staying in a monastery and there were none from whom to beg, mindful of Christ, who on this very day appeared in the form of a pilgrim to the disciples going to Emmaus, begged alms from the Brothers themselves, as a pilgrim and pauper: and when he had received it, he humbly instructed them with sacred words, that as they passed through the desert of the world, as pilgrims and strangers, and true Hebrews, they should continually celebrate the Passover of the Lord, that is, the passage from this world to the Father, in poverty of spirit. Moreover, the laws of a pilgrim are: to be sheltered under another's roof, to thirst for the homeland, to pass through peacefully. So the Chronicles of the Order of St. Francis record.
Verse 17: What Are These Discourses
17. AND HE SAID TO THEM: WHAT ARE THESE DISCOURSES THAT YOU HOLD ONE WITH ANOTHER AS YOU WALK, AND ARE SAD? In Greek skythropoi, that is, with a sad, sorrowful, gloomy countenance: Christ knew the cause of their sadness, but He asks so that they themselves might reveal it, so that then He might heal it and remove it from them, as if to say: Following closely after you, I heard your conversation, but I did not fully understand it. For I heard you speaking about a certain man killed at Jerusalem; tell me therefore who he is, what his death was, and for what reason.
Verse 18: Are You Alone a Stranger in Jerusalem
18. AND THE ONE OF THEM, WHOSE NAME WAS CLEOPHAS, ANSWERING, SAID TO HIM: ARE YOU ALONE A STRANGER IN JERUSALEM, AND HAVE NOT KNOWN THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN DONE THERE IN THESE DAYS?
"Cleophas" was the brother of St. Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin, and father of the Apostles St. James and St. Jude, and grandfather of St. James the Greater and St. John the Apostles. For these were born of their mother Salome, who was a daughter of Cleophas. See what was said at Luke chapter III, 23.
Concerning Cleophas, Helecas, Bishop of Saragossa, writes thus in his Additions to the Chronicle of L. Dexter and M. Maximus: "Alphaeus, who is also Cleophas, one of the 70 disciples, as St. Jerome teaches, and brother of Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin, was killed by the Jews for Christ in the town of Emmaus." He was therefore a martyr. Whence we read of him thus in the Roman Martyrology, under September 25: "In the town of Emmaus, the birthday of Blessed Cleophas, a disciple of Christ, who, tradition says, was killed by the Jews for confessing Him in the same house in which he had prepared a meal for the Lord, and was buried with glorious memory." See more about him in Dorotheus, in the Lives of the Patriarchs.
Finally, Cleophas, in Greek Kleopas, means the same as "all glory," says Pagninus; for kleos means glory, pas means all: for the Jews, having been conquered by Alexander and the Greeks, adopted Greek names. But in Hebrew, Cleophas means the same as "one who multiplies the assembly or Church"; for kehala means an assembly, a gathering, a Church, and pus means to multiply. For Cleophas gave many sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, to the Church of Christ.
ARE YOU ALONE A STRANGER (a newcomer, a guest, a foreigner) IN JERUSALEM? In Greek paroikeis en Ierousalem, which Theophylactus and Euthymius translate as "you dwell in Jerusalem"; others, "you are a stranger in Jerusalem." The meaning is, as if to say: Are you so much a stranger in Jerusalem that you have not known what has been done there in these days, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, that you ask who and what kind of man was the one killed and crucified about whom we sadly converse? For everyone knows it, everywhere there is no other talk than about Jesus crucified: how is it that you alone are ignorant of it?
Verse 19: Concerning Jesus of Nazareth
19. TO WHOM HE SAID: WHAT THINGS? (Christ presses more closely, so that they may open their wound piece by piece, and reveal their grief over Jesus crucified and their doubt about His resurrection) AND THEY SAID: CONCERNING JESUS OF NAZARETH, WHO WAS A MAN, A PROPHET, MIGHTY IN WORK AND WORD, BEFORE GOD AND ALL THE PEOPLE. "They confess Him a great Prophet," says Bede, "but are silent about His being the Son of God, either not yet fully believing, or anxious lest they should fall into the hands of the persecuting Jews, because they did not know who it was with whom they were speaking, concealing what they truly believed:" for in verse 21, they say they had believed Him to be the Messiah, the Son of God, who would redeem Israel.
MIGHTY IN WORK AND WORD, that is, effective in preaching, as well as in performing so many and such great heroic virtues, as well as miracles. Such should every Christian be, especially a priest, a Religious, a preacher, namely mighty in work and word, so that he may perform in deed the good things he preaches, and teach first by example rather than by word.
Verse 20: Delivered Him to Be Condemned
20. AND HOW OUR CHIEF PRIESTS AND PRINCES DELIVERED HIM (to Pilate the governor) TO BE CONDEMNED TO DEATH, AND CRUCIFIED HIM. They do not add that they had done this unjustly, although they themselves felt and believed so, lest, if this stranger should be a spy, he might accuse them before the rulers as rebels and agitators, and prosecute them as guilty of death before them.
Verse 21: We Hoped He Should Have Redeemed Israel
21. BUT WE HOPED THAT IT WAS HE WHO SHOULD HAVE REDEEMED ISRAEL from the servitude of the Gentiles, namely of the Emperor Tiberius and the Romans, as if to say: We hoped that He was the Messiah, who would restore the fallen kingdom of Judea, and raise it to the same or greater dignity than it had under David and Solomon. But now, seeing Him so cruelly killed by the Jews, we do not indeed wholly despair of Him; but still we hope little; for His death has greatly diminished and broken this hope. Behold, this is their wound, this diffidence, this wavering between hope and despair, which Christ desired to hear from them, in order to heal it.
"O disciples, you were hoping; therefore you no longer hope," says St. Augustine, sermon 140 on the Times. "Behold Christ lives, but hope is dead in you." And shortly after: "He walked with them on the way as a companion, and yet He was the leader."
AND NOW BESIDES ALL THIS, TODAY IS THE THIRD DAY SINCE THESE THINGS WERE DONE. For Christ was crucified on Friday, from which Sunday, on which He rose, was the third day. This is an aposiopesis: for the disciples, doubtful, anxious, and perplexed, do not know what to think or say about Christ, as if they were saying: Jesus while alive said He would rise from the dead on the third day; behold today is the third day, and we have not yet learned that He has risen, or whether He has indeed risen, or is still going to rise, we do not know. For they hesitate in doubt, wavering between hope and fear. "They say these things as if doubting," says Theophylactus, "and they seem to me to be men of very ambiguous opinion, and neither greatly disbelieving nor rightly believing. For by saying: We hoped that He would redeem Israel, they indicate unbelief; but in saying that it is the third day, this is characteristic of men who well remember that He said to them: On the third day I shall rise again." And again a little later: "And altogether, if they are considered, these are human words, and they contain great doubt, and are words of perplexed men."
Verse 22: Certain Women Astonished Us
22. YES, AND CERTAIN WOMEN ALSO OF OUR COMPANY ASTONISHED US, WHO BEFORE DAWN WERE AT THE TOMB; 23. AND NOT FINDING HIS BODY, CAME, SAYING THAT THEY HAD ALSO SEEN A VISION OF ANGELS, WHO SAY THAT HE IS ALIVE.
"Astonished," in Greek exestesan, that is, they amazed us, so the Zurich version; or, they rendered us stunned, so Vatablus. For what is signified here is more the disciples' wonder and astonishment than fear: which arose from the fact that the women had not found the body of Jesus, and had seen angels who said He had risen; for all these things, because they were new, unheard of, and supernatural, struck them with sacred awe and fear, or rather astonishment, and shook their unbelief and distrust, says Theophylactus, and raised them toward faith and hope in the resurrection of Christ: therefore fear struggled in them with hope, and between the two they wavered in doubt.
Verse 24: Some of Our People Went to the Tomb
24. AND SOME OF OUR PEOPLE (Peter and John, John XX, verse 3) WENT TO THE TOMB, AND FOUND IT SO AS THE WOMEN HAD SAID (namely that the body of Jesus was not in the tomb, which gives us some hope that He has risen); BUT HIM (the risen Jesus) THEY DID NOT FIND, or see, which increases our fear that He has not risen. They put forward arguments both of hope and of fear, by which they indicate that they hang in doubt between both, and waver uncertain.
Verse 25: O Foolish, and Slow of Heart
25. AND HE SAID TO THEM: O FOOLISH, AND SLOW OF HEART TO BELIEVE ALL THINGS (that is, all things, or everything; for the Hebrew beth signifies a contracted preposition) WHICH THE PROPHETS HAVE SPOKEN, concerning my death and cross, as well as my resurrection.
FOOLISH. In Greek anoetoi, that is, without mind, senseless, lacking perception and understanding, unwise, as our Vulgate translates it, Galatians III, 1. With these sharp words and epithets Christ, as a master, stings and chastises the dullness and slowness of the disciples in believing His resurrection so clearly foretold by Himself and the Prophets. For this is permitted to a teacher toward dull students, that by this sharpness of rebuke he may stimulate and sharpen them to consider and understand lofty and difficult matters more carefully, as Matthew said, V, 22. For our fallen and dull nature needs this stimulus, so that it may raise and lift itself to believe and hope for supernatural things, and firmly strengthen and confirm itself in them.
Verse 26: Ought Not Christ to Have Suffered
26. OUGHT NOT CHRIST TO HAVE SUFFERED THESE THINGS, AND SO TO ENTER INTO HIS GLORY? By "glory" He means His glorious resurrection, ascension into heaven, the sending of the Holy Spirit, His exaltation above every creature, the adoration of His name, the religion and worship of Himself throughout the whole world, His eternal kingdom in all heaven and earth.
IT WAS NECESSARY. The Syriac has: it was going to happen; the Arabic, was it not to be that Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? It was therefore "necessary" for Christ to go through the cross to glory: first, because the Prophets had foretold it; second, because God the Father had so decreed from eternity; third, because our redemption required it, so that He might pay its price by death on the cross; fourth, because it was fitting that so great a glory should be obtained, as it were by merit, through so great labor and suffering; fifth, because it was necessary for Christ, as a leader, to go before by example the Martyrs, Apostles, Confessors, Virgins, and all the Saints, who through many tribulations press on toward heaven.
The meaning is, as if He said: You, O disciples, your faith and hope in My resurrection was disturbed and broken by My passion, death, and cross, and therefore you said: "We had hoped"; but rashly and without cause: for these things should rather have strengthened and confirmed you in your faith and hope, because there is no other way to resurrection except through death; nor to glory, except through suffering and the ignominy of the cross.
Verse 27: Beginning from Moses and All the Prophets
27. AND BEGINNING FROM MOSES AND ALL THE PROPHETS (as if to say, proceeding through all the Prophets: this is a Hebraism), HE INTERPRETED TO THEM IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES THE THINGS THAT WERE CONCERNING HIM. This is a metathesis, or transposition of words, which should be arranged thus: "He interpreted to them (most things, not all; for that would have been laborious and lengthy) the things that were concerning Him in all the Scriptures."
Verse 28: He Made as Though He Would Go Farther
28. AND THEY DREW NEAR TO THE VILLAGE (of Emmaus) WHERE THEY WERE GOING; AND HE MADE AS THOUGH HE WOULD GO FARTHER. "He made as though," because, although Jesus so composed His steps as if He wished to go farther, He did not truly wish to go farther; for He desired to be detained by them: for He wished by this pretense only to stir up in the disciples the virtue of hospitality, by which they were made worthy that He should reveal Himself to them at table; yet this pretense was not a lie, because He truly intended to go farther, and would in fact have gone farther, in the event that the disciples had not detained Him; but because He knew that He would be detained by them, in this respect He did not wish to go farther, but was pretending this, or, as the Greek has it, prosepoieito, that is, He gave the appearance; the Arabic has, and He was in their estimation as one going to a more distant place. Whence St. Augustine, Book II of Questions on the Gospels, Question LI: "When, he says, our pretense refers to some signification, it is not a lie, but a certain figure of truth." And below: "A pretense therefore that refers to some truth is a figure; one that does not refer to any, is a lie." And St. Gregory, Homily 23 on the Gospels: "For to pretend, he says, we call composing, whence we also call shapers of clay potters. Therefore the simple Truth did nothing through duplicity, but showed Himself to them in body such as He was in their minds. But they were to be tested whether, even if they did not yet love Him as God, they might at least have been able to love Him as a stranger."
Verse 29: Stay with Us
29. And they constrained Him. "From which example it is gathered, says St. Gregory, Homily 23, that pilgrims must not only be invited to hospitality, but even drawn in. For, as St. Augustine says, Sermon 140 On the Seasons: 'Hold fast the guest, if you wish to recognize the Savior; what unbelief had taken away, hospitality restored.'"
SAYING: STAY WITH US, BECAUSE IT IS GROWING TOWARD EVENING, AND THE DAY IS NOW FAR SPENT — that is, it is inclining toward sunset, but not so far as they exaggerate, so that they might detain Christ, so agreeable and pleasant a companion in conversation: for soon afterward they themselves returned from Emmaus to Jerusalem the same day, a distance of sixty stadia, which is a journey of three hours.
Cardinal Hosius had these words constantly in his heart and on his lips throughout his whole life, and especially when he was about to die, after receiving Holy Communion, frequently repeating: "Stay with us, Lord, because it is growing toward evening"; and indeed the Lord remained with him, and worked great and wonderful things through him in Poland, Germany, and Italy, which Stanislaus Rescius recounts in three books written about his life, and finally gives him this eulogy:
The Atlas of Religion, the voice and second hand of Paul,
The death of Luther, the gatekeeper of heaven, the love of the world.
Verse 30: He Took Bread, and Blessed
30. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHILE HE RECLINED WITH THEM, HE TOOK BREAD, AND BLESSED, AND BROKE, AND GAVE TO THEM. "Blessed," by converting the bread into His own body, as is done in the consecration of the Eucharist. For that Christ consecrated here, although some with Jansenius deny it, is proved: first, because Matthew, Mark, and Luke speak of the institution of the Eucharist in the same way that Luke speaks of this bread. Second, because this blessing does not seem to have been at the beginning of the supper: for Christ wished to vanish from the eyes of the disciples, not at the beginning of the meal, but to dine with them, lest He appear to be a phantom. Therefore it was in the middle, or rather at the end of the supper: therefore this blessing was not the ordinary one that precedes a meal, but a sacred and Eucharistic one. Third, this is evident from the effect, because the disciples immediately recognized Christ, who had been hidden from them until now, from this blessed and eaten bread. Fourth, so the Fathers hold: St. Augustine, Book III On the Harmony of the Evangelists, ch. 25; Bede, Theophylactus, the Gloss, Maldonatus, Francis Lucas, and others here. Hear the Author of the Imperfect Work found in St. Chrysostom, Homily 17: "The Lord on the road, he says, not only blessed the bread, but gave it from His own hand to Cleophas and his companion. But what is given from the hand is not only sanctified, but is also a sanctification, and sanctifies the one who receives it." And St. Augustine, Sermon 140 On the Seasons: "Where did the Lord wish to be recognized? In the breaking of bread: we are secure, we break the bread and recognize the Lord: He did not wish to be recognized except there: for our sake, who were not going to see Him in the flesh, and yet were going to eat His flesh." Finally St. Jerome, Epistle 27, which is the Epitaph of Paula, ch. III: "And retracing her journey, he says, she went to Nicopolis, which was formerly called Emmaus, at whose home, where the Lord was recognized in the breaking of bread, he dedicated the house of Cleophas into a church." For in the church the sacrament and sacrifice of the Eucharist is celebrated.
Whence from this passage it is likewise proved that one species was used in the Eucharist; for it is clear that Christ here neither consecrated nor gave the chalice, because immediately after the distribution of the blessed bread, the eyes of the disciples were opened and they recognized Jesus. Wherefore He immediately vanished. So St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Bede, and others.
Verse 31: Their Eyes Were Opened
31. AND THEIR EYES WERE OPENED, AND THEY KNEW HIM. Behold, this is the power, this is the effect of the Eucharist, that it opens and enlightens the eyes of the mind to know Jesus and to penetrate heavenly and divine things. "For the flesh of the Lord has a great and unspeakable power," says Theophylactus. Whence St. Augustine, Sermon 140 On the Seasons: "Whoever you are that are faithful, he says, the breaking of bread consoles you; the absence of the Lord is not absence. Have faith, and He whom you do not see is with you."
Tropologically, St. Augustine, Book II of Questions on the Gospels: "By the exercise of hospitality, he says, one arrives at the knowledge of Christ." Gregory, in his homily: "He who wishes to understand what he has heard, let him fulfill in deed what he has understood. Behold, when the Lord spoke, He was not recognized; when He is fed, He deigned to be recognized." The Gloss: "Truth is better understood by doing than by hearing; nor do they recognize Christ except those who are partakers of His body; that is, of the Church, whose unity the Apostle commends in the Sacrament of bread, saying: We being many are one bread, one body," 1 Cor. 10:17.
AND HE VANISHED FROM THEIR EYES. In Greek aphantos egeneto, that is, He became invisible; the Arabic has, He was hidden from them. Christ was therefore present to the disciples, but made Himself invisible to them: for demons can do this in their witchcraft, and much more can Christ and the Blessed in a glorified body do so, as theologians commonly teach, and this is clear from the appearances of Christ after the resurrection; for appearing to them He immediately vanished. Therefore Calvin wrongly denies this, who accordingly translates it as "He withdrew Himself," but ineptly; for the Greek aphantos signifies nothing of the sort. Calvin denies this craftily, lest he be compelled to confess that Christ is in the Eucharist, though hidden and invisible.
The reason why He vanished as soon as He was recognized by the disciples was, first, to show that He had risen and was glorified. For it is an endowment of the glorified body that it can appear or hide itself as it pleases. To vanish therefore was a new proof by which Christ demonstrated and confirmed His resurrection.
Second, to indicate that through the resurrection He had now changed from the state of life to the state of glory, and therefore no longer conversed familiarly with men, but with God and the angels.
Third, to teach the reverence that we owe to Christ and the Blessed in heaven; for to Christ in glory we owe the adoration of latria, to the Blessed that of dulia.
Fourth, so that the disciples would immediately return to the Apostles who were afflicted by the death of Christ, and console them by announcing that Christ had risen and appeared to them. Whence there follows:
Verse 32: Was Not Our Heart Burning Within Us
32. AND THEY SAID TO ONE ANOTHER: WAS NOT OUR HEART BURNING WITHIN US, WHILE HE SPOKE ON THE WAY, AND OPENED (explained) THE SCRIPTURES TO US? "Was burning"; Euthymius says, "was being set on fire, was leaping, was being moved and vibrating." This was a new and certain sign of the risen Christ; for Christ speaks outwardly in such a way that inwardly He sets hearts on fire with divine love, which neither Aristotle, nor Plato, nor the wise men of the world can do; whence their teaching and reading is arid and cold, and leaves a person dry, barren, and cold. Let the interpreters of Sacred Scripture and other teachers imitate Christ, so that in interpreting and teaching, they may not only enlighten the understanding of their hearers and readers, but also inflame their hearts; and let them be not only Cherubim, but also Seraphim, as among others was St. Francis, and his follower St. Bonaventure, who is therefore called the Seraphic Doctor. This is what David says: "Your word is exceedingly refined by fire," Psalm 118:140; and Solomon: "Every word of the Lord is tested by fire," Prov. 30:5; and Moses: "In His right hand a fiery law," Deut. 33:2; and Christ: "I have come to cast fire on the earth, and what do I desire but that it be kindled?" Luke 12:49. Such was John the Baptist, of whom Christ said: "He was a burning and shining lamp," John 5:35; and Elijah, of whom Ecclesiasticus 48:1 says: "Elijah the prophet arose like fire, and his word burned like a torch." See what was said there. Let us therefore be followers and heralds of Christ like Ignatius, indeed fiery and aflame, according to Ezekiel 1:13, concerning the Cherubim: "Their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps." And shortly after: "They went and returned in the likeness of flashing lightning."
Verse 33: Returning to Jerusalem
33. And rising up (immediately from the table, which was not yet finished, and therefore they were not yet satisfied) THE SAME HOUR (at that very moment), THEY RETURNED TO JERUSALEM; AND FOUND THE ELEVEN GATHERED TOGETHER. There were only ten; for Thomas was absent, and Judas had hanged himself: yet they are called "the eleven," because by now the whole college of the Apostles was called and was a body of eleven men, which was here assembled for the greater part. So triumvirs and septemvirs are said to be assembled, even if one or another is absent.
THEY RETURNED. In Greek hypestrepsan, that is, they returned quickly, full of eagerness and joy.
AND THOSE WHO WERE WITH THEM — that is, the rest of Christ's disciples, who were then staying in Jerusalem with the Apostles.
Verse 34: The Lord Has Truly Risen and Appeared to Simon
34. SAYING THAT THE LORD HAS TRULY RISEN AND HAS APPEARED TO SIMON. Therefore Christ appeared first to Peter, as one who was penitent, and as the prince of the Apostles, before He appeared to these two disciples and the other Apostles, as is clear from verse 36. So St. Augustine, Book III On the Harmony of the Evangelists.
Verse 35: Known to Them in the Breaking of Bread
35. HOW HE WAS KNOWN TO THEM IN THE BREAKING OF BREAD. Thus Luke is accustomed to call the Eucharist, as is Paul, 1 Cor. 10: "The bread which we break, he says, is it not the sharing of the body of the Lord?"
Verse 36: Jesus Stood in Their Midst — Peace Be to You
36. BUT WHILE THEY WERE SPEAKING THESE THINGS, JESUS STOOD IN THEIR MIDST, AND SAID TO THEM: PEACE BE TO YOU: IT IS I, DO NOT BE AFRAID. "In the midst," so that He might be visible to all, says Euthymius, like a shepherd in the midst of his scattered sheep, to gather them around Himself, Ezek. 34:12.
Peace be to you. This was the customary greeting of the Hebrews, by which under the name of peace they wished all prosperity and every good of salvation. But here Christ properly wishes and brings peace to the Apostles, a peace opposed to the fear and mental disturbance with which the Apostles were troubled because of the death of Christ; for they were perplexed about what would happen after it, both concerning themselves and concerning Jesus. All these anxieties Christ here removed from them, and imparted peace to them. For He Himself is the peace of all, says St. Cyril, Book XII on John, ch. 54. Whence St. Chrysostom, on Matthew ch. 28: "Dissolving all troubles, he says, He gathers the merits of the cross, which are peace, because all obstacles have been removed and He has set up a most glorious trophy."
Verse 37: They Supposed That They Saw a Spirit
37. BUT BEING TROUBLED AND TERRIFIED, THEY SUPPOSED THAT THEY SAW A SPIRIT — because they saw Jesus had passed through closed doors, and suddenly presented Himself in their midst. Whence St. Ambrose says: "Even though Peter had believed in the resurrection, he could still be troubled when he saw the Lord with His body suddenly pour Himself into the space enclosed by walls, with the vestibules barred and blocked."
Verse 38: Why Are You Troubled
38. AND HE SAID TO THEM: WHY ARE YOU TROUBLED, AND WHY DO THOUGHTS ARISE (spring up, you permitting and indulging them) IN YOUR HEARTS? "These thoughts, says Augustine, Sermon 69 On Various Topics, are earthly; for if they were heavenly, they would descend into the heart, not ascend:" they therefore ascend from the earth, that is, from an earthly heart, and therefore a timid, feeble, and fearful one. Furthermore, Christ here shows Himself to be a cardiognostes, that is, one who knows their hearts and their disturbance, and therefore God, says Titus and Euthymius.
Verse 39: See My Hands and Feet
39. SEE MY HANDS AND FEET, THAT IT IS I MYSELF; TOUCH AND SEE, BECAUSE A SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH AND BONES, AS YOU SEE ME HAVING. As if to say: If you do not believe your sight, believe your touch. Let your hands prove for themselves whether your eyes deceive you, says St. Augustine, Sermon 69 On Various Topics. For touch is more solid and certain than sight. "Touch" therefore, in Greek pselaphesate, that is, handle Me, and My whole body, so that by touch itself you may feel that it is solid, real, true, and genuine. Hence it is clear that the glorified body of Christ and of the Blessed is indeed subtle, through the effect of spiritual power, but palpable through the truth of nature, says St. Gregory.
You will ask, first, by what means the body of Christ (and of the Blessed) after the resurrection, being glorified, and therefore subtle and penetrable, can at the same time be palpable?
Note that these three things are to be distinguished in a body: first, that the body does not yield, or that it resists another body; second, that it is felt; third, that it is palpable. For the corporeal heavens resist other bodies, but are not properly felt; fire indeed is felt, but it does not resist, nor is it palpable. A body therefore resists when it opposes itself to another and does not allow itself to be penetrated by it, whether it does this by reason of its indivisibility, like heaven; or by reason of its hardness and density, like iron and other things. It is felt when through heat, cold, softness, roughness, and other tactile qualities, it alters the sense of touch, or impresses upon it an intentional species. Finally a body is palpable, according to St. Thomas III part., Question LIV, art. 3, ad 2, when it has both, that is, when it resists by reason of its density, and at the same time is felt to be soft, rough, smooth, hard, thin, thick, and to have other similar tactile dispositions, which are various in various members, according to which they are variously palpated and handled.
Whence St. Gregory, Homily 26: What is palpable, he says, must necessarily be corrupted, namely naturally, because this is a sign that it consists of four elements and contrary qualities. I say naturally; because supernaturally the glorified body is incorruptible, and yet palpable. Whence St. Gregory adds: "But in a wonderful and inestimable way, our Redeemer displayed His body after the resurrection as both incorruptible and palpable, so that by showing it incorruptible, He might invite to the reward, and by offering it as palpable, He might strengthen unto faith. He therefore demonstrated Himself both incorruptible and palpable, so that He might show that after the resurrection His body was indeed of the same nature and of a different glory."
But by what means did Christ do this? I say first: Glorified bodies have the endowment of subtlety, by which they can not resist another body and can penetrate it; they have, second, the endowment of being able not to be felt by touch, just as they have the ability not to be seen, as I said a little before: each of these endowments is free to them; whence they use it or do not use it as they please.
I say second: Consequently glorified bodies, when they wish, are palpable or not palpable; for if they wish to resist and allow themselves to be felt and handled, they are palpable; if they do not wish either, that is, if they do not wish to resist but wish to be felt; or if they do not wish to be felt but wish to resist, like the heavens; or if they wish neither to resist nor to be felt, they are not palpable. So Suarez, III part., Question LIV, art. 3.
You will ask, second, whether this palpation of Christ, His eating and similar actions, were a sufficient proof of Christ's resurrection? I answer that it was not absolutely physically certain; for even angels in an assumed body were touched by Abraham, Lot, and others: yet it was certain with moral and human certainty: first, because for this reason Christ wished to remain long among the Apostles, and to manifest Himself in the resurrection, as also in His death, through all the senses of observation, namely hearing, sight, and touch, which are held most certain by men; second, because it pertained to God's providence not to permit so many signs and to detect any deception, if there had been any; for the matter at stake was the true Messiah and His new religion, and its chief point, namely the confirmation of the resurrection; third, because joined with these signs, the miracles of Christ and the prophecies about Christ made the matter entirely certain and worthy of belief. So St. Thomas, III part., Question LV, art. 6.
Therefore the same form, figure, speech, countenance, wounds, touch, eating, drinking, gait, manner of life, assertion, prediction, miracles of Christ, the testimonies of angels, the oracles of the Prophets; all these things, I say, collected and gathered together, certainly demonstrated that He had truly risen.
Verse 40: He Showed Them His Hands and Feet
40. AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THIS, HE SHOWED THEM HIS HANDS AND FEET — "pierced, which still bore the holes of the nails," says Euthymius, and this is clear from John 20:27, where Christ says to Thomas: "Put your finger here, and see My hands (pierced), and bring your hand and put it into My side" pierced by the lance on the cross. For these five wounds, or rather the scars and marks of the wounds, as trophies of the victory over death, sin, the devil, and hell won on the cross, Christ wished to remain in His glorified body and to bring into heaven, says St. Ambrose, "so that He might show to God the Father the price of our liberation"; and, as Bede says, "He who destroyed the kingdoms of death did not wish to obliterate the signs of death." So also in heaven the holy Martyrs will display the scars of their wounds as triumphs of their martyrdom. For, as St. Augustine says, Book XXII of The City of God, ch. 19: "There will be no deformity in them, but dignity, and a certain beauty, although in the body, not of the body but of virtue, will shine forth: the marks of virtue are not to be reckoned or called defects."
You may ask whether the disciples after the resurrection actually touched and handled the pierced hands and feet of Christ?
I answer that there is nothing certain in this matter, because Scripture does not relate it. It is probable, however, that some did touch and handle them, especially those who doubted most about Christ's resurrection, both because these in their doubt wished to explore the truth of the matter by touch, and to make themselves certain whether this was truly Jesus, risen from the dead, and not an illusion or phantom; for this was of great importance for true faith and hope in Christ; and because Christ offered Himself to them to be touched, indeed commanded them to touch Him, so as to remove every doubt from them; and because Christ wished this palpation to be a certain proof, demonstrating His resurrection not only to the Apostles but also to their posterity, so that the Apostles might preach to the Gentiles that Christ had truly risen. That this is so, St. John teaches, 1st Epistle, ch. 1, v. 1: "What we have seen, he says, with our eyes, what we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life, etc., we announce to you." So Didymus there, St. Augustine, Sermon 18 On the Words of the Lord; St. Leo, Epistle 97, ch. III, and others.
Verse 41: Have You Here Anything to Eat
41. But while they (most of them, not all) still did not believe, and were wondering FOR JOY, HE SAID: HAVE YOU HERE ANYTHING TO EAT? The phrase "for joy" should be referred to "not believing" rather than to "wondering," as is clear from the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. For the Greek has: while they still did not believe for joy, and were wondering; the Syriac: and while they still did not believe for their joy, and were amazed; the Arabic clearly and exactly: while they were incredulous for joy and amazement. For on the one hand the disciples believed from the touching that Jesus had risen and had resumed His true body; but on the other hand, from amazement at a thing so new and unusual, and from the greatness of their joy, they did not fully believe, nor could they firmly and certainly persuade themselves that this was the very same Jesus, who had been crucified shortly before and was now alive again. The greatness of joy arose from their partial belief, in that being partly convinced by the sight, voice, and touch of Jesus, they believed that He truly was Jesus; yet that same greatness of joy made them unable to believe it firmly. For we experience in ourselves that when the most joyful tidings are brought, and brought by serious men, we are affected with immense joy, and therefore do not yet give firm belief, because the thing announced is immense, new, wonderful, unusual, and supremely desired, and therefore surpasses our faith and hope, lest, if afterward it be found to be false, we see ourselves deceived by falsehood, and grieve as much as we had previously rejoiced. For the greatest joy, if the thing over which we rejoice is found to be false, turns into the greatest sorrow: therefore we temper and suspend this joy, until more certain tidings or arguments for the truth of the matter are supplied. So it was here with the Apostles, for their vehement joy obscured and impeded their judgment, says Vatablus.
HAVE YOU ANYTHING TO EAT? Christ appeared to the disciples reclining at table and eating supper, as is clear from Mark 16:14. They, upon seeing Jesus, immediately out of reverence rose from the table, and they ran to meet Him rejoicing and astonished, and therefore doubting. Wherefore Jesus gave Himself to them to be touched; but since even so they did not fully believe, He asked for the food that He saw on the table, so that He might eat before them, and thus show that He was alive again.
Verse 42: A Piece of Broiled Fish, and a Honeycomb
42. AND THEY OFFERED HIM A PIECE OF BROILED FISH, AND A HONEYCOMB. See here the frugality of the Apostles: for they had no other food than fish and honeycomb, which is the food of the poor; for if they had had roasted or boiled meats, they would certainly have offered what was better to Christ. Therefore they ate fish, as fishermen would: for the same reason of frugality the ancients fed themselves not on meats but on fish, as is clear from Athenaeus, Book On the Suppers of the Wise, indeed before the flood there was no use and eating of flesh, but of fish, as I showed at Genesis IX.
Symbolically, Bede says: The broiled fish is Christ who suffered: for He deigned to lie hidden in the waters of the human race, and to be caught in the snare of our death, and to be, as it were, roasted by tribulation at the time of His passion; but He became honeycombs in the resurrection — honey in the wax, divinity in humanity. And Theophylactus: He ate a part of the broiled fish; for roasting human nature, swimming in the sea of this life, with the fire of His own divinity, and drying up its moisture, He drew it from the deep waters and made it divine food and sweet nourishment: which the honeycomb signifies.
Or the broiled fish is the active life, consuming our moisture of labors with hot coals; the honeycomb is the sweet contemplation of the words of God. And Gregory of Nyssa says: The legal Passover was eaten with bitterness, but after the resurrection the food is sweetened with honeycomb.
Tropologically: Those who here are roasted by tribulations for God, says the Gloss, will afterward be satisfied with true sweetness.
Another tropological reason why Christ ate the broiled fish is given by the Anonymous Author in the Greek Catena. For human nature, he says, was immersed like a fish in the moisture to which it was given over because of the incontinence of life; the Word of God, as a certain new and unapproachable fire, through the ineffable union of the flesh, drying up and roasting it, as it were, freed it from all admixture of passions. And He fulfilled this dispensation so sweetly that He made for Himself a sweet food; for the salvation of men is the food of God. Whence Christ, immediately after eating the fish and honeycomb, breathing on the Apostles, gave them the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins, as is clear from John 20:22: "When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."
Verse 43: He Took the Remains and Gave Them to Them
43. AND WHEN HE HAD EATEN BEFORE THEM, HE TOOK THE REMAINS AND GAVE THEM TO THEM. In Greek: and taking them before them, He ate. This eating of Christ was real. For it was a vital action, by which the food was vitally conveyed into the stomach by Christ, who was animate and risen, by the power of the vegetative soul, and could be digested by its heat. It is otherwise with angels, when they assume a body; for they seem to eat, but do not really eat; because they have neither a true body nor stomach, nor do they vitally convey food into it, because they do not live in the body, for they neither inform nor animate it: therefore they convey the food into an airy stomach, just as if we were to convey food into some woolen or linen bag. Whence Raphael, Tobit 12:19: "I seemed indeed, he says, to eat and drink with you; but I use invisible food and drink, which cannot be seen by men." Christ, however, was not nourished by this food, but in His stomach either annihilated it entirely, or converted and dispersed it into air and other matter. So Theophylactus: "Eating, he says, by consuming with a certain divine power what He was eating." Likewise St. Augustine, Epistle 49, where he gives a comparison: "In one way, he says, thirsty earth absorbs water, in another way the burning ray of the sun; the former by need, the latter by power"; so also St. Thomas and the Scholastics.
HE TOOK THE REMAINS AND GAVE THEM TO THEM — both lest they perish; and so that the Apostles might eat these remains, and thus be able to say that they had eaten of the same food with Him; and so that they might show these remains to unbelievers, and by asserting that Christ had eaten of them, persuade those same people that He had risen. These words are now lacking in the Greek and Syriac. But that they formerly existed in the Greek is clear from our Interpreter and the Arabic, which has: and He took the remains and gave them to them.
Verse 44: These Are the Words Which I Spoke to You
44. THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH I SPOKE TO YOU, WHILE I WAS YET WITH YOU, THAT ALL THINGS MUST BE FULFILLED WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF MOSES, AND THE PROPHETS, AND THE PSALMS, CONCERNING ME. "These are the words which I spoke to you," by which namely I foretold that I would thus suffer, die on the cross, and rise on the third day, as you now see has actually happened. Recognize therefore that I am the true Prophet and Messiah, inasmuch as the outcome of events corresponds exactly to My oracles. Or: "These are the words," that is, these are the things which, as I spoke and foretold to you, so now you see actually accomplished and completed: these things are My passion, crucifixion, death, and resurrection, so that there is a metonymy by which the word is often taken for the thing signified by the word.
Furthermore, these things should not seem to you, O Apostles, new and unexpected, because they were foretold and announced not only by Me, but also long ago by Moses, the Prophets, and David in the Psalms, as follows.
Some think that Luke here uses anticipation; for they think that Christ said these things not on the Sunday of the Resurrection, but on the day of the Ascension: for then He commanded them to remain in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit (as here He commands in verse 49), as is clear from Acts 1:4. Whence Luke also immediately treats of Christ's ascension, verse 50, unless one says that Christ impressed these things upon the Apostles on both days, and therefore repeatedly, to confirm both their faith and their memory.
Verse 45: He Opened Their Understanding
45. Then He opened their (in Greek auton, that is, their: so the Syriac and Arabic) understanding (in Greek noun, that is, mind), THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES. As if to say: Then He illuminated their mind, so that they might understand the oracles of the Prophets concerning the death, cross, and resurrection of Christ, which until now they had not understood, just as He had done for the two disciples going to Emmaus, to whom on the road He interpreted the Scriptures that concerned Him, preceding verse 27: "And beginning from Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things that concerned Him." This is clear from verse 46, which follows.
Christ did this both to strengthen the Apostles in the faith of His passion and resurrection, and to make them teachers and preachers of that same faith. For it is their role to explain Sacred Scripture to the people. Moreover, Christ did this here in an incipient way, but brought it to perfection at Pentecost, when He sent the Holy Spirit upon them, who imparted to them a fuller knowledge of languages as well as of the Scriptures.
Hence it is clear, first, that Sacred Scripture is not open and clear to all readers, even to laypeople and the unlearned, as the heretics claim; second, that it is not to be interpreted according to one's own sense, as the same maintain; but according to the spirit of God, which Christ here gave to the Apostles, they to the Church, and the Church has handed the same down to us. Wherefore St. Paul teaches that God has placed teachers in the Church, and among the gifts freely given by God, 1 Cor. ch. 12, he numbers "the interpretation of tongues"; for this reason there were formerly interpreters in the Church, whose office see in Baronius, vol. I, p. 394.
Verse 46: So It Was Necessary for Christ to Suffer
46. And He said to them: Because (that, which particle here is redundant by pleonasm according to the Hebrew manner) SO IT IS WRITTEN (Isaiah 53, Psalm 21, and elsewhere), AND SO IT WAS NECESSARY FOR CHRIST TO SUFFER, AND TO RISE FROM THE DEAD ON THE THIRD DAY. Behold, in these articles of faith Christ opened the understanding and mind of the Apostles, so that they might understand the sacred Scriptures prophesying about these things.
Verse 47: Repentance and Remission of Sins Preached in His Name
47. AND THAT REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF SINS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME TO ALL NATIONS. "In His name," that is, first, by His authority, namely of Christ; second, by command of Christ; third, in place of Christ, so that the Apostles would continue and propagate Christ's preaching of repentance and the remission of sins to be given through faith, to all nations; fourth, "in His name," that is, in the power and efficacy of the merits and death of Christ: for to none except through these does God give the spirit of repentance and remission of sins.
BEGINNING FROM JERUSALEM — to you, namely, the Apostles, as preachers; as if to say: You, O Apostles, begin to preach in Jerusalem, and from there proceed to all nations.
Beginning. The Interpreter reads arxamenon (genitive plural), others read arxamenon (accusative singular), that is, beginning, meaning starting from Jerusalem, so that it is an Atticism; the Syriac: the beginning will be from Jerusalem.
The reason was: First, because in Jerusalem the Synagogue flourished, and there, with Christ preaching, the Church began: for there the old Church was transfused into the new by Christ, according to that word of Isaiah: "From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And ch. 60, v. 1: "Arise, be enlightened, Jerusalem, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, etc. And nations shall walk in your light, and kings in the splendor of your rising." Second, because Christ had been promised to the Jews by the Prophets, together with His faith, preaching, salvation, and grace: and Jerusalem was the metropolis of the Jews. Third, because David and Solomon had reigned in Jerusalem; and Christ, their son, had come to restore their fallen kingdom, but in another, more sublime way, namely spiritual, through faith and grace: therefore it was fitting to begin it in Jerusalem. I have reviewed more reasons at Acts 1:4.
Verse 48: You Are Witnesses of These Things
48. You are witnesses of these things. These things and what follows about Christ's ascension, Luke narrates more fully, Acts 1:4 and following, where I have explained them.
Verse 49: I Send the Promise of My Father — Clothed with Power from On High
49. AND I SEND THE PROMISE OF MY FATHER UPON YOU. As if to say: In a few days at Pentecost I will send you the Holy Spirit, who will teach you these things and more with greater clarity, and will strengthen you to preach them freely and effectively to all nations.
But you, sit in the city (Jerusalem) UNTIL YOU ARE CLOTHED WITH POWER (in Greek dynamei, that is, with force, strength) FROM ON HIGH. As if to say: Until from heaven I send upon you the Holy Spirit, who will on every side clothe and imbue you with heavenly spirit and strength, just as a soldier is on every side clothed and covered with a breastplate and other arms, so that thus armed in your whole body and mind, you may feel no fear, slowness, or torpor in your mind; but may go forth constant, intrepid, fervent, swift, and agile to preach throughout the whole world, and powerfully subdue to Me and My faith all nations, kings, tyrants, wise men, etc. For, as St. Chrysostom says, in the Catena: "Just as a general does not allow soldiers who are about to attack many foes to go out until they are armed (lest unarmed they be slain by the swords of the enemy); so also Christ does not permit the disciples to go forth to battle before the coming of the Spirit."
Whence tropologically, St. Gregory, Part III of the Pastoral Rule, admonition 26: "Let us sit in the city, he says, if we confine ourselves within the enclosures of our own minds, lest by speaking outwardly we wander astray, so that when we are perfectly clothed with divine power, then as if going forth from ourselves we may also instruct others."
Verse 50: He Led Them Out to Bethany; Lifting His Hands, He Blessed Them
50. AND HE LED THEM OUT TO BETHANY — and from there to the Mount of Olives, from which He ascended into heaven. Bethany was fifteen stadia distant from Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives was in between: yet Christ went first to Bethany, to bid farewell to Lazarus, Martha, and Magdalene, His hosts, and to bring them with Him to the Mount of Olives, so that they might be spectators of His ascension and sharers in His glory and triumph.
AND WITH HIS HANDS LIFTED UP (toward heaven, as if asking from God an efficacious blessing to be given to the disciples), he blessed them — forming the sign of the cross over them, as Dionysius the Carthusian, Francis Lucas, and others hold, as well as Suarez, Part III, Question LVIII, article 4, disputation 52, section 2. Indeed, St. Jerome, on Isaiah LXVI, 19, says: "And I will set a sign among them. This sign," he says, "the Lord, ascending to the Father, left for us, or placed upon our foreheads, so that we might freely say: The light of Your countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." For the cross is the sign of Christ, which is for us the fountain of all blessing and grace. Wherefore, from Christ and the Apostles has come the tradition that, when we bless someone, we do so with hands drawn in the form of a cross.
Furthermore, Christ, about to depart here from His disciples, teaches us that when we depart from our subjects, etc., we should bless them and, forming the sign of the cross over them, pray to God for a blessing upon them. So says Theophylactus.
Verse 52: They Worshipping Returned to Jerusalem
52. AND THEY, WORSHIPPING (Greek proskynesantes, that is, when they had worshipped), RETURNED TO JERUSALEM with great joy. They rejoiced, both because they saw Christ their Master ascending to heaven in so glorious a triumph; and because Christ had promised them the Holy Spirit, and they eagerly, joyfully, and with certainty awaited Him; and because after the labors of preaching, they hoped to be received into heaven by Christ in a similar manner. For He Himself had promised them this, John XIV, 31.
Verse 53: They Were Continually in the Temple, Praising God
53. AND THEY WERE CONTINUALLY IN THE TEMPLE, PRAISING AND BLESSING (that is, giving thanks for so many graces, gifts, and benefits of Christ) God. Amen. "Continually," namely after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; for before that, timid with fear of the Jews, they kept themselves at home. Or "continually," that is, frequently, they diligently went to the temple to pray to God there, to praise Him, and to give thanks: for otherwise, from Acts I, 13, it is established that they lived in a house, namely in the upper room in which Christ had celebrated the Last Supper; but this upper room was near the temple: from there, therefore, they easily and frequently went to the temple and returned home. "Amid the devotions of praise, they awaited the promised coming of the Holy Spirit with hearts prompt and prepared for all things," says the Venerable Bede. Who also notes here that Luke, who began his Gospel from the ministry of the temple through the priesthood of Zechariah, most beautifully completes it in the devotion of the temple, since he concluded with the Apostles there — the future ministers, indeed, of the new priesthood — not in the blood of sacrificial victims, but in the praise of God and in blessing.
Morally: The Apostles and disciples of Christ here teach us by their example to praise God continually, so that the whole life of a Christian may be a continuous praise of Christ. Thus we begin the life of the Blessed, for whom to praise God perpetually is an ever-active leisure and a leisurely activity, as I have often shown in Apocalypse IV, V, and VII. "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, O Lord; they shall praise You forever and ever."