1. In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
2. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
3. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
4. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
5. And the angel answered and said to the women, Fear not you: for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
7. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there shall you see him: lo, I have told you.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. After the mocking and scourging, after the mingled draughts of vinegar and gall, the pains of the cross, and the wounds, and finally after death itself and Hades, there rose again from the grave a renewed flesh, there returned from obstruction a hidden life, health chained up in death broke forth, with fresh beauty from its ruin.
AUG. Concerning the hour when the women came to the sepulcher there arises a question not to be overlooked. Matthew here says, On the evening of the Sabbath. What then means that of Mark, Very early in the morning, the first day of the week? Truly Matthew, by naming the first part of the night, to wit, the evening, denotes the whole night in the end of which they come to the sepulcher. But seeing the Sabbath hindered them from doing this before, he designates the whole night by the earliest portion of it in which it became lawful for them to do whatever, during some period of the night, they designed to do.
Thus, On the evening of the sabbath, is just the same as if he had said, On the night of the sabbath, i.e. the night which follows the day of the sabbath, which is sufficiently proved by the words which follow, As it began to dawn towards the first day of the week. This could not be if we understood only the first portion of the night, its beginning, to be conveyed by the word, evening. For the evening or beginning of the night does not begin to dawn towards the first day of the week, but only the night which is concluded by the dawn. And this is the usual mode of speaking in Holy Scripture, to express the whole by a part. By evening therefore he implied the night, in the end of which they came to the sepulcher.
BEDE; Otherwise; It may be understood that they began to come in the evening, but that it was the dawn of the first day of the week when they reached the sepulcher; that is, that they prepared the spices for anointing the Lord's body in the evening, but that they took them to the sepulcher in the morning. This has been so shortly described by Matthew, that it is not quite clear in his account, but the other Evangelists give the order more distinctly. The Lord was buried on the sixth day of the week, and the v omen returning from the sepulcher prepared spices and ointments as long as it was lawful to work; on the sabbath they rested, according to the commandment, as Luke plainly declares; and when the Sabbath was past and the evening was come, and the season of labor returned, with zealous devotion they proceeded to purchase such spices as they yet lacked, (this is implied in Mark's words, when the sabbath was past, that they might go and anoint Jesus, for which purpose they come early in the morning to the sepulcher.
JEROME; Or, otherwise; This apparent discrepancy in the Evangelists as to the times of their visits is no mark of falsehood, as wicked men urge? but shows the sedulous duty and attention of the women, often going and coming, and not enduring to be long absent from the sepulcher of their Lord.
REMIG. It is to he known that Matthew designs to hint to us a mystical meaning, of how great worthiness this most holy night drew from the noble conquest of death, and the Resurrection of Our Lord. With this purpose he says, On the evening of the Sabbath. For whereas according to the wonted succession of the hours of the day, evening does not dawn towards day, but on the contrary darkens towards night, these words show that the Lord shed, by the light of His resurrection joy and brilliance over the whole of this night.
BEDE; For from the beginning of the creation of the world until now, the course of time has followed this arrangement, that the day should go before the night, because man, fallen by sin from the light of paradise, has sunk into the darkness and misery of this world. But now most fitly night goes before day, when, through faith in the resurrection, we are brought back from the darkness of sin and the shadow of death to the light of life, by the bounty of Christ.
CHRYSOLOGUS. Because the sabbath is illuminated, not taken away, by Christ, Who said, I am not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. It is illuminated that it may lighten into the Lord's day, and shine forth in the Church, when it had hitherto burnt dim, and been obscured by the Jews in the Synagogue.
It follows, Came Mary Magadalen, and the other Mary, &c. Late runs woman for pardon, who had run early to Sill; in paradise she had taken up unbelief, from the sepulcher she hastens to take up faith; she now hastens to snatch life from death, who had before snatched death from life. And it is not, They come, but came, (in the singular,) for in mystery and not by accident, the two came under one name. She came, but altered; a woman, changed in life, not in name; in virtue, not in sex.
The women go before the Apostles, bearing to the Lord's sepulcher a type of the Churches; the two Marys, to wit. For Mary is the name of Christ's mother; and one name is twice repeated for two women, because herein is figured the Church coming out of the two nations, the Gentiles and the Jews, and being yet one. Mary came to the sepulcher, as to the womb of the resurrection, that Christ might be the second time born out of the sepulcher of faith, who after the flesh had been born of her womb; and that as a virgin had borne Him into this life present, so a sealed sepulcher might bring Him forth into life eternal. It is proof of Deity to have left a womb virgin after birth, and no less to have come forth in the body from a closed sepulcher.
JEROME; And, behold, there was a great earthquake. Our Lord, Son at once of God and man, according to His twofold nature of Godhead and of flesh, gives a sign one while of His greatness, another while of His lowliness. Thus, though now it was man who was crucified, and man who was buried, yet the things that were done around show the Son of God.
HILARY. The earthquake is the might of the resurrection, when the sting of death being blunted, and its darkness illuminated, there is stirred up a quaking of the powers beneath, as the Lord of the heavenly powers rises again.
CHRYS. Or the earthquake was to rouse and waken the women' who had come to anoint the body; and as all these things were done in the night-time, it was probable that some of them had fallen asleep.
BEDE; The earthquake at the Resurrection, as also at the Crucifixion, signifies that worldly hearts must be first moved to penitence by a health-giving fear through belief in His Passion and Resurrection.
CHRYSOL. If the earth thus quaked when the Lord rose again to the pardon of the Saints, how will it quake when He shall rise again to the punishment of the wicked; As the Prophet speaks, The earth trembled when the Lord rose again to judgment. And how will it endure the Lord's presence, when it was unable to endure the presence of His Angel? And the Angel of the lord descended from heaven. For when Christ arose, death was destroyed, commerce with heaven is restored to things on the earth; and woman, who had of old held communication to death with the Devil, now holds communication to life with the Angel.
HILARY. This is an instance of the mercy of God the Father, to supply the ministry, of heavenly power to the Son on His resurrection from the grave; and he is therefore the proclaimer of this first resurrection, that it may be heralded by some attendant token of the Father's good pleasure.
BEDE; Forasmuch as Christ is both God and man, therefore there lack not amidst the acts of His humanity the ministrations of Angels, due to Him as God. And came and rolled back the stone; not to open the door for the Lord to come forth, but to give evidence to men that He was already come forth. For He who as mortal had power to enter the world through the closed womb of a Virgin, He when become immortal, was able to depart out of the world by rising from a sealed sepulcher.
REMIG. The rolling back of the stone signifies the opening of Christ's sacraments, which were covered by the letter of the Law. For the Law having been written on stones, is here denoted by the stone.
CHRYSOL. He said not 'rolled,' but rolled back; because the rolling to of the stone was a proof of death; the rolling it back asserted the resurrection. The order of things is changed; The Tomb devours death, and not the dead; the house of death becomes the mansion of life; a new law is imposed upon it, it receives a dead, and renders up a living, man. It follows, And sat thereon. He sat down, who was incapable of weariness; but sat as a teacher of the faith, a master of the Resurrection; upon the stone, that the firmness of his seat might assure the steadfastness of the believers; the Angel rested the foundations of the Faith upon that rock, on which Christ was to found His Church. Or, by the stone of the sepulcher may be denoted death, under which we all lay; and by the Angel sitting thereon, is shown that Christ has by His might subdued death.
BEDE; And rightly did the Angel appear standing, who proclaimed the Lord's coming into the world to show that the Lord should come to vanquish the prince of this world. But the Herald of the Resurrection is related to have been seated, to show that now He had overcome him that had the power of death, He had mounted the throne of the everlasting kingdom. He sate upon the stone, now rolled back, wherewith the mouth of the sepulcher had been closed, to teach that He by His might had burst the bonds of the tomb.
AUG. It may disquiet some, how it is that according to Matthew the Angel sat upon the stone after it had been rolled back from the sepulcher, whereas Mark says that the women having gone into the sepulcher, saw a young man sitting on the right hand. Either we may suppose that they saw two, and that Matthew has not mentioned him whom they saw within, nor Mark him whom they saw without the sepulcher; but that they heard from each severally what the Angels said concerning Jesus. Or the words, entering into the sepulcher, may mean entering into some enclosed place, which probably there might be in front of the rock out of which the sepulcher was hewn; and thus it might be the same Angel whom they saw sitting on the right hand, whom Matthew describes as sitting on the stone which he had rolled . back.
CHRYSOL. The splendor of his countenance is distinct from the shining of his raiment; his countenance is compared to lightning, his raiment to snow; for the lightning is in heavier, snow on the earth; as the Prophet said, Praise the Lord from the earth; fire and hail, snow and vapors. Thus in the Angel's countenance is preserved the splendor of his heavenly nature; in his raiment is shown the grace of human communion. For the appearance of the Angel that talked with them is so ordered, that eyes of flesh might endure the still splendor of his robes, and by reason of his shining countenance they might tremble before the messenger of their Maker.
ID. But what means this raiment where there is no need of a covering? The Angel figures our dress, our shape, our likeness in the Resurrection, when man is sufficiently clothed by the splendor of his own body.
JEROME; The Angel in white raiment signifies the glory of His triumph.
GREG. Or otherwise; Lightning inspires terror; snow is an emblem of equity; and as the Almighty God is terrible to sinners and mild to the righteous, so this Angel is rightly a witness of His resurrection, and is exhibited with a countenance as lightning, and with raiment as snow, that by His presence He might terrify the wicked, and comfort the good; and so it follows, And for fear of him the keepers did shake.
RABAN. These who had not the faith of love were shaken with a panic fear; and they who would not believe the truth of the resurrection become themselves as dead men.
CHRYSOL. For they kept watch over Him with a purpose of cruelty, not with the solicitude of affection. And no man can stand who is forsaken by his own conscience, or troubled with a sense of guilt. Hence the Angel confounds the wicked, and comforts the good.
JEROME; The guards lay like dead men in a trance of terror, but the Angel speaks comfort not to them, but to the women, saying, Fear not you; as much as to say, Let them fear with whom unbelief abides; but do you who seek the crucified Jesus hear that He has risen again, and has accomplished what He promised.
CHRYSOL. For their faith had been bowed by the cruel storm of His Passion, so that they sought Him yet as crucified and dead; I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified; the weight of the trial had bent them to look for the Lord of heaven in the tomb, but, He is not here.
RABAN. His fleshly presence, that is; for His spiritual presence is absent from no place. He is risen, as he said.
CHRYS. As much as to say, If you believe me not, remember His own words. And then follows further proof, when he adds, Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
JEROME; That if my words fail to convince you, the empty tomb may.
CHRYSOL. Thus the Angel first announces His name, declares His Cross, and confesses His Passion; but straightway proclaims Him risen and their Lord. An Angel after such sufferings, after the grave acknowledges Him Lord; how then shall man judge that the Godhead was diminished by the flesh, or that His Might failed in His Passion. He says, Which was crucified, and points out the place where the Lord was laid, that they should not think that it was another, and not the same, who had risen from the dead. And if the Lord reappears in the same flesh, and gives evidence of His resurrection, why should man suppose that he himself shall reappear in other flesh? Or why should a slave disdain his own flesh, seeing the Lord did not change ours?
RABAN. And this glad tiding is given not to you alone for the secret comfort of your own hearts, but you must extend it to all who love Him; Go quickly, and tell his disciples.
CHRYSOL. As much as to say, Woman, now thou art healed, return to the man, and persuade him to faith, whom you did once persuade to treachery. Carry to man the proof of the Resurrection, to whom you did once carry counsel of destruction.
CHRYS. And, behold, he shall go before you, that is, to save you from danger, lest fear should prevail over faith.
JEROME; Mystically; He shall go before you into Galilee, that is, into the wallowing style of the Gentiles, where before was wandering and stumbling, and the foot had no firm and steady resting-place.
BEDE; The Lord is rightly seen by His disciples in Galilee, forasmuch as He had already passed from death to life, from corruption to incorruption; for such is the interpretation of Galilee, 'Transmigration.' Happy women! who merited to announce to the world the triumph of the Resurrection! More happy souls, who in the day of judgment, when the reprobate are smitten with terror, shall have merited to enter the joy of the blessed resurrection!
8. And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
10. Then said Jesus to them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
HILARY; The women having been comforted by the Angel, are straightway met by the Lord, that when they should proclaim His resurrection to the disciples, they should speak rasher from Christ's own mouth than from an Angel's.
AUG. They departed forth of the tomb, that is, from that spot of the garden which was before the tomb hewn in the rock.
JEROME; A twofold feeling possessed the minds of the women, fear and joy; fear, at the greatness of the miracle; joy, in their desire of Him that was risen; but both added speed to their women's steps, as it follows, And did run to bring his disciples word. They went to the Apostles, that through them might be spread abroad the seed of the faith. They who thus desired, and who thus ran, merited to have their rising Lord come to meet them; whence it follows, And, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.
RABAN. Hereby He showed that He will meet with His help all those who begin the ways of virtue, and enable them to attain to e, everlasting salvation.
JEROME; The women ought first to hear this Hail, that the curse of the woman Eve may be removed in these women.
CHRYSOL. That in these women is contained a full figure c of the Church is shown hereby, that Christ convinces His disciples when in doubt concerning the Resurrection, and confirms them when in fear; and when He meets them He does not terrify them by His power, but prevents them with the ardor of love. And Christ in His Church salutes Himself, for He has taken it into His own Body.
AUG. We conclude that they had speech of Angels twice at the sepulcher; when they saw one Angel, of whom Matthew and Mark speak; and again when they saw two Angels, as Luke and John relate. And twice in like manner of the Lord; once at that time when Mary supposed Him to be the gardener, and now again when He met them in the way to confirm them by repetition, and to restore them from their faintness.
CHRYSOL. Then Mary was not suffered to touch Him; now she has permission not only to touch, but to hold Him altogether; they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
RABAN. It was told above how He rose when the sepulcher was closed, to show that that body which had been shut up therein dead, was now become immortal. He now offers His feet to be held by the women, to show that He had real flesh, which can be touched by mortal creatures.
CHRYSOL. They hold Christ's feet, who in the Church present the type of Evangelic preaching, and merit this privilege by their running to Him; and by faith so detain their Savior's footsteps, that they may come to the honor of His perfect Godhead. She is deservedly bid to touch me not, who mourns her Lord upon earth, and so seeks Him dead in the tomb, as not to know that He reigns in heaven with the Father. This, that the same Mary, one while exalted to the summit of faith, touches Christ, and holds Him with entire and holy affection; and again, cast down in weakness of flesh, and womanly infirmity, doubts, undeserving to touch her Lord, causes us no difficulty. For that is of mystery, this of her sex; that is of divine grace, this of human nature. And so also we, when we have knowledge of divine things, live to God; when we are wise in human things, we are blinded so by our own selves.
ID. They held His feet to show that the head of Christ is the man, but that the woman is in Christ's feet, and that it was given to them through Christ, not to go before, but to follow the man. Christ also repeats what the Angel had said, that what an Angel had made sure, Christ might make yet more sure. It follows, Then said Jesus to them, Fear not.
JEROME; This may be always observed, both in the Old and New Testament, that when there is an appearance of any majestic person, the first thing done is to banish fear, that the mind being tranquilized may receive the things that are said.
HILARY; The same order as of old now followed in the reversal of our woe, that whereas death began from the female sex, the same should now first see the glory of the Resurrection, and be made the messenger thereof. Whence the Lord adds, Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, there shall they see me.
CHRYSOL. He calls them brethren whom He has made akin to His own body; brethren whom the generous Heir has made His co-heirs; brethren, whom He has adopted to be sons of His own Father.
AUG. That the Lord, both by His own mouth, and by the Angel, directs them to seek for Him, not in that place in which He was to show Himself first but in Galilee, makes every believer anxious to understand in what mystery it is spoken. Galilee is interpreted 'transmigration,' or 'revelation'. And according to the first interpretation what meaning offers itself, save this, that the grace of Christ was to pass from the people of Israel to the Gentiles, who would not believe when the Apostles should preach the Gospel to them, unless the Lord Himself should first make ready their way in the hearts of men. This is the signification of that, He shall go before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, means, there shall you find His members, there shall you perceive His living Body in such as shall receive you. According to the other interpretation, 'revelation,' it is to be understood, you shall see him no longer in the form of a servant, but in that in which He is equal with the Father. That revelation will be the true Galilee, when we shall be like him, and shall see him as he is. That will be the blessed passing from this world to that eternity.
Catena Aurea Matthew 28
13. And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17. And he said to them, What manner of communications are these that you have one to another, as you walk, and are sad?
18. And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said to him, Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem, and have not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19. And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
22. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher;
23. And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
GLOSS. After the manifestation of Christ's resurrection made by the Angels to the women, the same resurrection is further manifested by an appearance of Christ Himself to His disciples; as it is said, And behold two of them.
THEOPHYL. Some say that Luke was one of these two, and for this reason concealed his name.
AMBROSE; Or to two of the disciples by themselves our Lord showed Himself in the evening, namely, Ammaon and Cleophas.
AUG. The fortress mentioned here we may not unreasonably take to have been also called according to Mark, a village. He next describes the fortress, saying, which was from Jerusalem about the space of sixty stades, called Emmaus.
BEDE; It is the same as Nicopolis, a remarkable town in Palestine, which after the taking of Judea under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antonius, changed together with its condition its name also. But the stadium which, as the Greeks say, was invented by Hercules to measure the distances of roads, is the eighth part of a mile; therefore sixty stades are equal to seven miles and fifty paces. And this was the length of journey which they were walking, who were certain about our Lord's death and burial, but doubtful concerning His resurrection. For the resurrection which took place after the seventh day of the week, no one doubts is implied in the number eight. The disciples therefore as the, walk and converse about the Lord had completed the sixth mile of their journey, for they were grieving that He who had lived without blame, had come at length even to death, which He underwent on the sixth day. They had completed also the seventh mile, for they doubted not that He rested in the grave. But of the eighth mile they had only accomplished half; for the glory of His already triumphant resurrection, they did not believe perfectly.
THEOPHYL. But the disciples above mentioned talked to one another of the things which had happened, not as believing them, but as bewildered at events so extraordinary.
BEDE; And as they spoke of Him, the Lord comes near and joins them, that He may both influence their minds with faith in His resurrection, and fulfill that which He had promised, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there, am I in the midst of them; as it follows, And it came to pass while they communed to-tether and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
THEOPHYL. For having now obtained a spiritual body, distance of place is no obstacle to His being present to whom he wished, nor did He any further govern His body by natural laws, but spiritually and supernaturally. Hence as Mark says, He appeared to them in a different form, in which they were not permitted to know Him; for it follows, And their eyes were holden that they should not know him; in order truly that they may reveal their entirely doubtful conceptions, and uncovering their wound may receive a cure; and that they might know that although the same body which suffered, rose again, yet it was no longer such as to be visible to all, but only to those by whom He willed it to be seen; and that they should not wonder why henceforth He walks not among the people, seeing that His conversation was not fit for mankind, but rather divine; which is also the character of the resurrection to come, in which we shall walk as the Angels and the sons of God.
GREG. Rightly also he refrained from manifesting to them a form which they might recognize, doing that outwardly in the eyes of the body, which was done by themselves inwardly in tile eyes of the mind. For they in themselves inwardly both loved and doubted. Therefore to them as they talked of Him He exhibited His presence, but as they doubted of Him He concealed the appearance which they knew. He indeed conversed with them, for it follows, And he said to them, What manner of communications, &c.
GREEK EX. They were in truth discoursing among themselves, no longer expecting to see Christ alive, but sorrowing as concerning their Savior slain. Hence it follows, And one of them whose name was Cleophas, answering him said, Are you only a stranger?
THEOPHYL. As if he said, "Are you a mere stranger, and one dwelling beyond the confines of Jerusalem, and therefore unacquainted with what has happened in the midst of it, that you know not these things;
BEDE; Or he says this, because they thought Him a stranger, whose countenance they did not recognize. But in reality He was a stranger to them, from the infirmity of whose natures, now that He had obtained the glory of the resurrection, He was far removed, and to whose faith, as yet ignorant of His resurrection, He remained foreign. But again the Lord asks; for it follows, And he said to them, What things? And their answer is given, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet. They confess Him to be a Prophet, but say nothing of the Son of God; either not yet perfectly believing, or fearful of falling into the hands of the persecuting Jews, either knowing not who He was, or concealing the truth which they believed. They add in praise of Him, mighty in deed and word.
THEOPHYL. First comes deed, then word; for no word of teaching is approved unless first he who teaches shows himself to be a doer thereof. For acting goes before sight; for unless by your works you have cleansed the glass of the understanding, the desired brightness does not appear. But still further it is added, Before God and all the people. For first of all we must please God, and then have regard as far as we can to honesty before men, that placing the honor of God first, we may live without offense to mankind.
GREEK EX. They next assign the cause of their sadness, the betrayal and passion of Christ; and add in the voice of despair, But we hoped it had been he who should trace redeemed Israel. We hoped, (he says,) not we hope; as if the death of the Lord were like to the deaths of other men.
THEOPHYL. For they expected that Christ would redeem Israel from the evils that were rising up among them and the Roman slavery. They trusted also that He was an earthly king, whom they thought would be able to escape the sentence of death passed upon Him.
BEDE; Reason had they then for sorrow, because in some sort they blamed themselves for having hoped redemption in Him whom now they saw dead, and believed not that He would rise again, and most of all they bewailed Him put to death without a cause, whom they knew to be innocent.
THEOPHYL. And yet those men seem not to have been altogether without faith, by what follows, And besides all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. Whereby they seem to have a recollection of what the Lord had told them that He would rise again on the third day.
GREEK EX. The disciples also mention the report of the resurrection which was brought by the women; adding, Yes, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, &c. They say this indeed as if they did not believe it; wherefore they speak of themselves as frightened or astonished.
For they did consider as established what was told them, or that there had been an angelic revelation, but derived from it reason for astonishment and alarm. The testimony of Peter also they did not regard as certain, since he did not say that he had seen our Lord, but conjectured His resurrection from the fact that His body was not lying in the sepulcher.
Hence it follows, And certain of them that were with us went, &c.
AUG. But since Luke has said that Peter ran to the sepulcher; and has himself related the words of Cleophas, that some of them went to the sepulcher, he is understood to confirm the testimony of John, that two went to the sepulcher. He first mentioned Peter only, because to him first Mary had related the news.
25. Then he said to them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28. And they drew nigh to the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, 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 another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?
33. And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them 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 he was known of them in breaking of bread.
THEOPHYL. Because the above-mentioned disciples were troubled with too much doubt, the Lord reproves them, saying, O fools, (for they almost used the same words as those who stood by the cross, He saved others, himself he cannot save.) And He proceeds, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. For it is possible to believe some of these things and not all; as if a man should believe what the Prophets say of the cross of Christ, as in the Psalms, They pierced my hands and my feet; but should not believe what they say of the resurrection, as, You shall not suffer your Holy One to see corruption. But it becomes us in all things to give faith to the Prophets, as well in the glorious things which they predicted of Christ, as the inglorious, since through the suffering of evil things is the entrance into glory.
Hence it follows, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory? that is, as respects His humanity.
ISID. PEL. But although it behooved Christ to suffer, yet they who crucified Him are guilty of inflicting the punishment. For they were not concerned to accomplish what God purposed. Therefore their execution of it was impious, but God's purpose most wise, who converted their iniquity into a blessing upon mankind, using as it were the viper's flesh for the working of a health-giving antidote.
CHRYS. And therefore our Lord goes on to show that all these things did not happen in a common way, but from the predestined purpose of God. Hence it follows, And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself: As if He said, Since you are slow I will render you quick, by explaining to you the mysteries of the Scriptures. For the sacrifice of Abraham, when releasing Isaac he sacrificed the ram, prefigured Christ's sacrifice. But in the other writings of the Prophets also there are scattered about mysteries of Christ's cross and the resurrection.
BEDE; But if Moses and the Prophets spoke of Christ, and prophesied that through His Passion He would enter into glory, how does that man boast that he is a Christian. who neither searches how these Scriptures relate to Christ, nor desires to attain by suffering to that glory which he hopes to have with Christ.
GREEK EX. But since the Evangelist said before, Their eyes were holden that they should not know him, until the words, of the Lord should move their minds to faith, He fitly affords in addition to their hearing a favorable object to their sight As it follows, And they drew night to the fortress whither they were going, and he feigned as if he was going further.
AUG. Now this relates not to falsehood. For not every thing we feign is a falsehood, but only when we feign that which means nothing. But when our feigning has reference to a certain meaning it is not a falsehood, but a kind of figure of the truth. Otherwise all the things figuratively spoken by wise and holy men, or even by our Lord Himself must be accounted falsehoods. For to the experienced understanding truth consists not in certain words, but as words so also deeds are feigned without falsehood to signify a particular thing.
GREG. Because then He was still a stranger to faith in their hearts, He feigned as if he would go further. By the word "fingere" we mean to put together or form, and hence formers or preparers of mud we call "figuli." He who was the Truth itself did nothing then by deceit, but exhibited Himself in the body such as He came before them in their minds. But because they could not be strangers to charity, with whom charity was walking, they invite Him as if a stranger to partake of their hospitality.
Hence it follows, And they compelled him. From which example it is gathered that strangers are not only to be invited to hospitality, but even to be taken by force.
GLOSS. They not only compel Him by their actions, but induce Him by their words; for it follows, saying, Abide with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is far gone, (that is, towards its close.)
GREG. Now behold Christ since He is received through His members, so He seeks His receivers through Himself; for it follows, And he went in with them.
They lay out a table, they bring food. And God whom they had not known in the expounding of Scriptures, they knew in the breaking of bread; for it follows, And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave it to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him.
CHRYS. This was said not of their bodily eyes, but of their mental sight.
AUG. For they walked not with their eyes shut, but there was something within them which did not permit them to know that which they saw, which a mist, darkness, or some kind of moisture, frequently occasions. Not that the Lord was not able to transform His flesh that it should be really a different form from that which they were accustomed to behold; since in truth also before His passion, He was transfigured in the mount, so that His face was bright as the sun. But it was not so now. For we do not unfitly take this obstacle in the sight to have been caused by Satan, that Jesus might not be known. But still it was so permitted by Christ up to the sacrament of the bread, that by partaking of the unity of His body, the obstacle of the enemy might be understood to be removed, so that Christ might be known.
THEOPHYL. But He also implies another thing, that the eyes of those who receive the sacred bread are opened that they should know Christ. For the Lord's flesh has in it a great and ineffable power.
AUG. Or because the Lord feigned as if He would go farther, when He was accompanying the disciples, expounding to them the sacred Scriptures, who knew not whether it was He, what does He mean to imply but that through the duty of hospitality men may arrive at a knowledge of Him; that when He has departed from mankind far above the heavens, He is still with those who perform this duty to His servants. He therefore holds to Christ, that He should not go far from him, whoever being taught in the word communicates in all good things to him who teaches. For they were taught in the word when He expounded to them the Scriptures. And because they followed hospitality, Him whom they knew not in the expounding of the Scriptures, they know in the breaking of bread. For not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified.
GREG. Whoever then wishes to understand what he has heard, let him hasten to fulfill in work what he can now understand. Behold the Lord was not known when He was speaking, and He vouchsafed to be known when He is eating. It follows, And he vanished out of their sight.
THEOPHYL. For He had not such a body as that He was able to abide longer with them, that thereby likewise He might increase their affections. And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
ORIGEN; By which is implied, that the words uttered by the Savior inflamed the hearts of the hearers to the love of God.
GREG. By the word which is heard the spirit is kindled the chill of dullness departs, the mind becomes awakened with heavenly desire. It rejoices to hear heavenly precepts, and every command in which it is instructed, is as it were adding a faggot to the fire.
THEOPHYL. Their hearts then were turned either by the fire of our Lord's words, to which they listened as the truth, or because as he expounded the Scriptures, their hearts were greatly struck within them, that He who was speaking was the Lord. Therefore were they so rejoiced, that without delay they returned to Jerusalem. And hence what follows, And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem. They rose up indeed the same hour, but they arrived after many hours, as they had to travel sixty stades.
AUG. It had been already reported that Jesus had risen by the women, and by Simon Peter, to whom He had appeared. For these two disciples found them talking of these things when they came to Jerusalem; as it follows, And they found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them., saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.
BEDE; It seems that our Lord appeared to Peter first of all those whom the four Evangelists and the Apostle mention.
CHRYS. For He did not show Himself to all at the same time, in order that He might sow the seeds of faith. For he who had first seen and was sure, told it to the rest. Afterwards the word going forth prepared the mind of the hearer for the sight, and therefore He appeared first to him who was of all the most worthy and faithful. For He had need of the most faithful soul to first receive this sight, that it might be least disturbed by the unexpected appearance. And therefore He is first seen by Peter, that he who first confessed Christ should first deserve to see His resurrection, and also because he had denied Him He wished to see him first, to console him, lest he should despair. But after Peter, He appeared to the rest, at one time fewer in number, at another more, which the two disciples attest; for it follows, And they told what things were done by the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
AUG. But with respect to what Mark says, that they told the rest, and they did not believe them, whereas Luke says, that they had already begun to say, The Lord is risen indeed, what must we understand, except that there were some even then who refused to believe this?
Catena Aurea Luke 24
24 
"I rose up and am still with Thee." After His labors and His humiliations, Christ finds rest with His Father. "I am still with Thee." This is perfect beatitude. Through His cross He entered into the possession of eternal glory. Christ has gained the crown of victory; through Christ men also win their crowns of victory. Humanity was under a curse and subject to the wrath of God. Now that they have risen with Christ, their guilt has been destroyed. "I rose up and am still with Thee." The liturgy places these words in the mouth of the Church that she may pray them with Christ. 
Hesychius of Jerusalem, a fifth-century priest, monk, and theologian revered in the Eastern churches.