Yeshua’s Resurrection & Appearances ~ Part 3

In our last post, we concluded Yeshua’s Crucifixion. We will continue to examine His Resurrection & Appearance.

Chief Priests Try to Cover Up Yeshua’s Resurrection

¹¹ As they (the women) were going, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the head cohanim everything that had happened. ¹² Then they met with the elders, and after discussing the matter, they gave the soldiers a sizeable sum of money ¹³ and said to them, “Tell people, ‘His talmidim came during the night and stole his body while we were sleeping.’ ¹⁴ If the Governor hears of it, we will put things right with him and keep you from getting in trouble.” ¹⁵ The soldiers took the money and did as they were told, and this story has been spread about by Judeans till this very day. ^[1]

Wide circulation of this story probably led to the Emperor’s edict in the Nazareth Inscription (likely dated ca. a.d. 41–54) that threatened death to anyone who removed an entombed body. Several aspects of the soldiers’ story make no sense. If the soldiers were all asleep, they could not have known that Yeshua’s talmidim had removed His body. Furthermore, it is improbable that all the soldiers would have slept simultaneously. Finally, soldiers were severely punished or even executed for sleeping on duty.  ^[2]

The Women Tell of Yeshua’s Appearance

⁹ Returning from the tomb, they told everything to the Eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ The women who told the emissaries these things were Miryam of Magdala, Yochanah, Miryam, the mother of Ya’akov, and the others in their circle. ¹¹ But the emissaries didn’t believe them; in fact, they thought that what they said was utter nonsense!  ^[3]

In Yeshua’s day, women were not considered to be credible witnesses. This is why the Eleven (the apostles who remained after Ye’huda’s act of betrayal) did not believe the women’s report about what had happened at Yeshua’s tomb, viewing it as nonsense.

Yeshua Appears to Cleopas

¹³ That same day, two of them were going toward a village about seven miles from Yerushalayim called Amma’us (Emmaus),

Two of them. These two were talmidim but not among the twelve emissaries.

¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed, Yeshua himself came up and walked along with them, ¹⁶ but something kept them from recognizing him. ¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you talking about with each other as you walk along?” They stopped short, their faces downcast; ¹⁸ and one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him, “Are you the only person staying in Yerushalayim that doesn’t know the things that have been going on there the last few days?” ¹⁹ “What things?” He asked them. They said to Him, “The things about Yeshua from Natzeret. He was a prophet and proved it by the things He did and said before God and all the people.

He was a prophet. For the reasons given in the rest of the verse, the talmidim had settled on this description of Yeshua; compare Mattityahu 21:11, Acts 3:22–23.

²⁰ Our head cohanim and our leaders handed Him over so that He could be sentenced to death and executed on a stake as a criminal. ²¹ And we had hoped that He would be the one to liberate Isra’el! Besides all that, today is the third day since these things happened;

And we had hoped that he was the one who would liberate Israel. In other words, these Zealot-sympathizers had hoped He would turn out to be the Messiah – for they had not yet grasped the notion of a suffering Messiah who would die for sins. Even after the talmidim had seen the resurrected Yeshua several times and been taught by Him for forty days, they still expected Him to “liberate Isra’el” without delay (Acts 1:6). Yeshua answered their question about when and how He would consummate the setting up of the Kingdom in Acts 1:6–8.

²² and this morning, some of the women astounded us. They were at the tomb early ²³ and couldn’t find His body, so they came back, but they also reported that they had seen a vision of angels who say He’s alive! ²⁴ Some of our friends went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they didn’t see Him.” ²⁵ He said to them, “Foolish people! So unwilling to put your trust in everything the prophets spoke! ²⁶ Didn’t the Messiah have to die like this before entering his glory?” ²⁷ Then, starting with Moshe and all the prophets, He explained to them the things that can be found throughout the Tanakh concerning Himself. ^[4]

Throughout the Tanakh are prophecies about the Messiah that are fulfilled in Yeshua and reported in the Brit Hadasha. While walking with the two talmidim toward Amma’us, Yeshua indeed referred to many of these prophecies as He explained to them the things that can be found throughout the Tanakh concerning Himself. We will learn in our next post that Yeshua opens their eyes to His identity.

In our next post, we will continue to explore Yeshua’s Resurrection & Appearances.

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^[1]  Mattityahu 28:11–15.
^[2]  Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary.
^[3]  Luke 24:9–11.
^[4]  Luke 24:13–27.