Luke 24:31Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet, He did not remain with them, for it is noted that He “disappeared out of their eyes.” The manner in which our Lord engages with humanity following His resurrection is different from before, for humanity also requires renewal and a second life in Christ, enabling the transformed to unite with the transformed, and the incorruptible with the incorruptible. Therefore, as John recounts, He refrained from allowing Mary to touch Him until He had ascended and returned again.

Those with understanding grasp something deeper in this current moment than those who do not comprehend. After revealing Himself, the Lord concealed His presence. He departed in bodily form from those who had held Him in faith. He left the body and the entire church, ascending to heaven so that faith may be strengthened. For if you only perceive with your eyes, where then is your faith? Yet, if you believe what you do not see, you will rejoice upon seeing. Allow faith to grow, for vision will return. That which is unseen will manifest; it will surely come, brethren, it will come, but consider how it finds you. What they claim will come: where is it? When? How does it exist? Know this: it will indeed come, even if you are reluctant. Woe to those who do not believe, for they will face great fear; however, there will be immense joy for those who have faith. The faithful will rejoice, while the unfaithful will be filled with shame. The faithful will proclaim, We thank Thee, O Lord; truly what we have heard is real, what we have believed, hoped for, and now behold. The unfaithful will question, Where is this? Why did we not believe? Why did we deem what was spoken to us false? Yet, let those who do not see but believe be exalted, for when they see, they will rejoice. For our salvation, the Lord took on human form and faced death within that form. However, on the third day He rose, never to die again: having taken on flesh once more, He first demonstrated to us the model of eternal resurrection. Ascending in the same flesh to the Father, He now sits at the right hand of God, engaged in the Father’s will, and we await His return in judgment for the living and the dead. Let us also trust that we will receive the same flesh, the same bones, and this eternal structure of our being. We shall all be resurrected, but not all will rejoice. The time approaches, says the Lord, when all those in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God; those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life, while those who have committed evil will face the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28, 29).

The disciples did not recognize Him until the breaking of the bread. Indeed, whoever does not partake and thus condemns himself recognizes Christ in this sacred act.

His flesh, being incorruptible and composed of the purest elements, was concealed when He chose and revealed when He so willed. As it is stated, ‘He was invisible.’ Therefore, do not interpret the phrase ‘He was invisible’ as suggesting He had vanished, nor should the resurrection be viewed as mere illusion or fantasy. If that were the case, why would it be said, ‘touch and see,’ etc. (Luke 24:39)?

As Paul instructs, let brotherly affection remain among you. Do not neglect to entertain strangers, for by doing so some have unwittingly welcomed angels (Hebrews 13:1, 2). Peter further advises, "Show love to one another without complaining" (1 Pet. 4:9). The Truth itself states, "I was a stranger, and you invited Me in" (Matthew 25:35).

Here is a noteworthy account shared with us by the elders: there was a certain host who frequently welcomed strangers into his home. One day, a visitor arrived, and as the host sought to wash his hands in his usual act of humility, he turned to find no one to whom he could offer the service. While pondering this unusual occurrence, that very night the Lord spoke to him in a vision, saying, "In other days, you welcomed Me through My members, but yesterday you received Me personally." Indeed, the One who comes in judgment will declare, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me" (Matthew 25:40). Thus, before the judgment, He seeks out those who received Him through His members, while we often fall short in our enthusiasm for hospitality. Let us invite Christ into our homes so that we may be deemed worthy of joining the Eternal Feast. Extend your hospitality to the traveling Christ, so that at the Judgment, He will not recognize you as wanderers, but will welcome you into His Kingdom as His own, by the grace of He who lives and reigns, God forever and ever. Amen.

Lastly, the breaking of bread denotes the sacrament of Holy Communion, wherein fervent souls come to encounter the Lord in fullness and truth. With a sincere longing for this heavenly sustenance, they prepare their hearts and, driven by spiritual hunger, open their mouths to receive this bread of life and immortality.

First, however, the Lord wished to lead back some of those who had left Jerusalem, including Cleopas, a relative of the Lord (Mary, wife of Cleopas, is referred to as the sister of the Mother of God in John 19:25). The other individual remains unidentified. Both were on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a village situated about 60 stadia away. They departed before news of the Lord's appearance to Mary Magdalene reached them. During their journey, they engaged in discussion about the recent events in Jerusalem. The disgraceful death of Jesus had shattered their expectations of Him as the Restorer of Israel. The Lord, partially altering His appearance (Mark 16:12) and momentarily veiling their vision (Luke 24:16), approached them and began a dialogue in which He demonstrated that the Messiah, the Restorer of Israel, was destined to suffer according to the Scriptures; such suffering was the path to His glory. This reasoning encouraged them to perceive that if they acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, His death could not be seen as the annihilation of His mission; they were to anticipate the glorification foretold in Scripture through His resurrection. Jesus’ teaching was prolonged (as the journey was significant), focusing on clarifying the prophetic texts regarding the Messiah, His sufferings, and His resurrection. The Evangelist does not list the specific passages He referenced, yet it is likely they were the same ones later cited by the disciples, and apostles Peter and Paul in their teachings and letters. The disciples found great joy in hearing His words; their hearts were ignited. When they arrived at their destination, the companion expressed a desire to continue on, but they urged Him to stay and shared in an evening meal. At that moment, He revealed Himself to them during the breaking of the bread; perhaps they noticed the wounds in His hands, but He vanished from their sight. This revelation confirmed for them that they had indeed encountered someone extraordinary, prompting them to return to Jerusalem to share the news with the Apostles.

In this encounter of the resurrected Christ with the two disciples, three noteworthy aspects stand out: first, the journey to Emmaus and back to Jerusalem by Jesus, who had died just two days prior from wounds to His hands, feet, and side, along with severe blood loss and immense suffering; second, the act of sharing a meal; third, had Christ arisen with the same wounded, frail, and weakened body buried after His crucifixion, He would have been unable to walk the approximately twenty versts to Emmaus and back, or even move at all. If He undertook this journey, it indicates that He rose with a body fully restored to its pre-crucifixion state, save for the wounds He bore from the Cross.

When pondering this reality, it is crucial to recall that during His earthly ministry, until His sacrificial death, Christ did not utilize His divine authority to ease His human frailties, as doing so would have hindered His role as our perfect example. Yet, He proclaimed, "I lay down My life that I may take it again... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17-18). Therefore, since Christ possessed the authority to reclaim His life—meaning He arose by His own power rather than being resurrected by another—and given that in His Resurrection He no longer needed to restrict the exercise of His divine might, it is certain that He did not rise with a weakened, battered, and emaciated body, but rather with a restored, or glorified, body.

With the ability to perform miraculous signs, raise the dead, and rise from the dead Himself, the Lord could certainly summon His divine power to heal His frail and depleted body. After rising with His renewed body, Christ was able to eat, although He did not require nourishment to bolster His human strength during the forty days from His Resurrection to His Ascension into heaven. He became invisible and reappeared at will, thanks to His inherent divine power, with no limitations to its use.