"Then the two told what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how JESUS had made HIMSELF known, when HE broke bread with them.
While they were still talking about this, JESUS HIMSELF stood in their midst. (HE said to them, 'Peace to you.') In their panic and fright they thought they were seeing a ghost, but HE said to them, 'Why are you upset, and how does such an idea cross your minds? Look at MY hands and feet, and see that it is I MYSELF! Touch ME, and see for yourselves, for a ghost has no flesh and bones as I have!' (As HE said this, HE showed HIS hands and feet.)
Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, as they were astonished; so HE said to them, 'Have you anything to eat?' And they gave HIM a piece of broiled fish. HE took it, and ate it before them.
Then JESUS said to them, 'Remember the words I spoke to you when I was still with you: Everything written about ME in the law of Moses, in the prophets and in the psalms must be fulfilled.' Then HE opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And HE said, 'So it was written: the Messiah had to suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in HIS name would be proclaimed to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things." - Luke24:35-48
(JESUS was reborn to a glorious life from the day of HIS resurrection. HE was already in the FATHER's glory, 'but wanted to be with HIS disciples on various occasions in order to convince them that HIS new condition was not a lesser life, or something ghostly, but rather a super life.
In this chapter we put in parentheses some words or sentences that do not appear in many ancient manuscripts and which perhaps have been added later.
JESUS uses these encounters to clarify the meaning of HIS brief and intense mission for HIS apostles. HE saves us from sin, which means nothing less than reordering history to resurrect humankind.
Everything written about ME in the law of Moses, in the prophets and in the psalms must be fulfilled. What the prophets announced, about a savior who would be rejected by HIS people and take the sin of HIS people upon HIMSELF, had to be fulfilled. What sin? Everyone's sins, of course, but also the violence of the whole Jewish society at the time of JESUS. This was the sin that brought HIM to the cross.
As a matter of fact, this way of death and resurrection was not reserved only for JESUS, but for HIS people also. In that precise period, Israel, subject to the Roman Empire, had to accept the death of its earthly ambitions: autonomy, national pride, the religious superiority of the Jews over other people... in order to rise as the people of GOD scattered among nations and to become the agent of salvation. A minority took the way JESUS pointed out and this was the beginning of the Church.
Repentance and forgiveness. Christian conversion is not passing from one party to another, from one religious group to another: it is a recasting of the person. Persons are part of a society, a world, a history. Therefore the preaching to the nations means also the education of the nations and even international society. This is something that takes longer than ten or a hundred years.
You are witnesses of these things. JESUS calls HIS apostles to be the official witnesses of HIS Gospel and those who judge authentic faith.)
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