AFTER THE RESURRECTION.
In the afternoon, after the resurrection, two disciples on the way to Emmaus found themselves accompanied by a stranger with wondrous power as an expositor of scripture. (Luke 24:13-27.)
Plockhörst, Plate 164, takes us along the road with the three. The speaker is asking, "Was not the Christ bound to undergo all this before entering upon his glory?" (Verse 26.)
Scheffer, Plate 163, shows Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and another woman who, after their vision at the sepulchre, are on their way to tell the disciples. (Luke 24:9-10.) These are the women whose words seemed to the disciples but idle tales unworthy of belief. (Verse 11.)
Hofmann, Plate 166, shows the two urging the stranger to stop at Emmaus. (Verses 28, 29.)
Fürst, Plate 165, shows them inviting him into the house. (Verse 29.)
Müller, Plate 167, illustrates verse 30, "he took the bread and blessed it."
Diethe, Plate 168, shows him in the act of breaking the bread.
In the picture of Rembrandt, Plate 169, the glory appears, and the disciples recognize the Master "in the breaking of the bread." (Verses 31 and 35.)
That very evening at Jerusalem, Jesus appeared to the disciples who were gathered in an upper room. Thomas, one of the twelve, was absent, and doubted when the others told him that they had seen the Lord. (John 20:24, 25.)
Eight days later the disciples were again together, Thomas being with them. Suddenly Jesus stood in the midst. (John 20:26.)
Guercino, Plate 170, shows what followed. "Then said he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and see my hand, and reach hither thy hand and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing." (John 20:27.) The painter has given Jesus a banner as a symbol of victory, a Christian symbol as old as the catacombs.
