Luke 24

Luke 24 tells how the crucified Jesus is risen and shows Himself alive. The empty tomb, the walk to Emmaus and the meeting in the upper room each move frightened, grieving disciples from doubt to joyful faith. Jesus opens the Scriptures to show that His suffering and rising were God’s plan, sends His followers to preach forgiveness to all nations, and ascends while blessing them.

Luke 24:1-3

At first light on Sunday the women came to finish anointing a body they believed was dead. They expected a sealed tomb and a corpse. They found the stone moved and the tomb empty. Their love was real, but they did not yet expect resurrection.

BSA: spices (“aromatics, fragrant substances”): These were costly burial perfumes, a sign of devotion to a Master they thought was gone.

See also: Mark 16:1-4.

Luke 24:4

While the women were still baffled, two heavenly messengers appeared, looking like men but shining with glory. God did not leave the women to guess what the empty tomb meant. He sent an explanation.

Greek: ἀστραπτούσῃ (astraptousē, G797) — “flashing like lightning.” The word describes light that flashes out like lightning. Their clothing showed that these visitors came from heaven.

Luke 24:5

Terrified, the women bowed to the ground. The question is gentle but pointed: death is the place for the dead, and Jesus is not dead. The empty tomb is a joyful surprise, not a mystery to fear.

BSA: living (“one who has life, is alive”): Jesus is not a memory or a spirit. He is the One who truly lives.

Luke 24:6-7

The angels give the good news plainly: He has risen. Then they point the women back to Jesus’ own words in Galilee. He had told them that His death and rising were part of the plan, and not a defeat that caught Him unaware.

BSA: delivered (“to surrender or yield up”): Jesus would be handed over, and He would go willingly into the hands of sinners.

See also: Luke 9:22; Luke 18:31-33.

Luke 24:8

Remembering was the turning point. The words Jesus had spoken earlier, which had not made sense, now made sense in the light of the empty tomb. Faith often grows when God’s word comes back to mind.

BSA: remembered (“brought to mind, recalled”): The words had not been forgotten. They had been waiting, and now they came back to the women with new meaning.

Luke 24:9-10

The women ran back and told everything to the Eleven and the others. Luke names Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James. Women were the first to carry the news of the resurrection, and God trusted them with it.

BSA: reported (“told, announced”): They gave a full account of all they had seen and heard, and did not keep the news to themselves.

Luke 24:11

The apostles did not believe. They thought the report was silly talk. The disciples were not gullible people who wanted a resurrection. Their unbelief shows that the later change in them needed a real cause.

Greek: λῆρος (lēros, G3026) — “idle talk, nonsense.” This rare word describes the babble of someone feverish. The men thought the women were not thinking straight.

Luke 24:12

Peter ran to see for himself. He found only the linen wrappings lying there, and he went home puzzled. He saw that the body was gone, but he did not yet see what it meant. Faith needs more than an empty place.

BSA: wondering (“marveling, amazed”): Peter was amazed and thoughtful, but not yet believing.

Luke 24:13-14

That same Sunday two followers were walking home to Emmaus, a village a couple of hours’ walk from Jerusalem. They went over the events again and again. Their hopes had been broken, and they could talk of nothing else.

BSA: seven miles (“sixty stadia”): Luke gives the distance in the measure of his day, about a two-hour walk.

Luke 24:15-16

While they talked and argued, Jesus Himself joined them. Yet they did not know Him. Something held their eyes back until the moment He chose. He often comes alongside people in their grief before they recognize Him.

BSA: kept (“prevented”): Their failure to recognize Him was not mere carelessness. Something kept them from seeing until He allowed it.

Greek: συζητεῖν (syzētein, G4802) — “to search or debate together.” The word pictures two people turning a question over and over between them. They were hunting for an answer, and the Answer was walking beside them.

Luke 24:17-18

Jesus asked what they were talking about, and they stopped, with their sorrow plain on their faces. Cleopas was amazed that anyone in Jerusalem could be ignorant of recent events. The One he spoke to was the One who had lived through them all.

BSA: visitor (“stranger, sojourner”): Cleopas took Jesus for a pilgrim who had just arrived and had not heard the news.

Luke 24:19-20

They described Jesus honestly: a prophet strong in word and deed, handed over by their own leaders and crucified. They said all this to Jesus Himself, not knowing it. Their words are true, but they stop at the cross.

BSA: powerful (“able, strong”): Jesus’ teaching and His miracles both showed real divine power.

Luke 24:21

Their hope had been that Jesus would free Israel, and the cross seemed to have ended it. Three days had passed. They did not know that the cross was the way the freeing would be done.

BSA: redeem (“ransom, set free”): Redeeming means setting captives free by paying a price. That is exactly what Jesus’ death did.

Greek: λυτροῦσθαι (lytrousthai, G3084) — “to ransom, to buy back.” The word comes from the language of paying a ransom for a prisoner. It points to freedom bought at a cost.

See also: Luke 1:68.

Luke 24:22-24

The two told of the women’s report and of the empty tomb that others had checked. They had every clue, but they still did not believe. Facts alone did not produce faith. The risen Lord was missing from their picture: they could not see Him.

BSA: astounded (“amazed, astonished”): The women’s news shook the disciples without yet bringing them to belief.

Luke 24:25

Jesus spoke firmly, though with love. Their trouble was not too little evidence but hearts slow to trust what the prophets had written. He did not scold them for grieving. He corrected them for not believing God’s word.

BSA: slow (“dull, sluggish”): Their hearts were dragging behind the truth, which had been available to them in Scripture all along.

Luke 24:26

Jesus teaches that the Messiah’s suffering was not a tragic mistake. It was the path God had planned to His glory. The cross and the crown belong together, and the cross came first.

BSA: necessary (“required by God’s plan”): The suffering was part of God’s purpose and was not an accident of history.

Greek: ἔδει (edei, G1163) — “it was necessary, it had to be.” This is the Greek word of divine necessity. It says the events were bound by God’s purpose, not by chance or by the will of Jesus’ enemies.

See also: Isaiah 53:10-12.

Luke 24:27

Starting at the first books of the Bible and going through the prophets, Jesus showed how all the Scriptures point to Him. The whole Old Testament leads toward Christ. A long walk became the best Bible study ever given.

BSA: explained (“interpreted thoroughly, made clear”): Jesus did more than quote texts. He made their meaning plain, step by step.

Greek: διερμήνευσεν (diermēneusen, G1329) — “interpreted fully.” The word means to unfold the meaning of something completely. It is the root of the word we use for the careful study of interpreting a text.

Luke 24:28-29

Jesus acted as if He would walk on, and He did not force His company on them. They urged Him to stay, since evening was coming. Their hospitality was rewarded beyond all they knew. He still comes in to those who invite Him.

BSA: Stay (“abide, remain”): Their request was warm and personal: stay with us. It is a prayer that believers still pray.

Greek: παρεβιάσαντο (parebiasanto, G3849) — “they pressed Him strongly.” The word means to insist, almost to compel. Their urging was earnest, and Jesus honored it.

Luke 24:30

At the table the guest became the host. Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them, just as He had done before. These familiar actions brought back memories of His earlier meals with them.

BSA: blessing (“gave thanks”): He thanked God for the food, as a Jew would, with His eyes on the Father.

See also: Luke 9:16; Luke 22:19.

Luke 24:31

In that moment their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished. The same Lord who had made them unable to see now gave them sight. Recognition was a gift, and it came with Scripture and bread together.

BSA: opened (“to open up, to reveal”): This was a full unveiling of what had been hidden from them.

Luke 24:32

Looking back, they saw that something in them had been stirred even while they did not know Him. When Christ opens the Scriptures, the heart is warmed by Him, not just informed. That warmth was the first sign of His presence.

BSA: burning (“deeply stirred”): Their hearts were moved as He spoke, even though they did not yet know who He was.

Greek: καιομένη (kaiomenē, G2545) — “burning, blazing.” The word describes a fire that is actually kindled. The Scriptures set their hearts alight.

Luke 24:33-35

They did not wait for morning. They hurried the seven miles back in the dark and found the believers already saying that Jesus had appeared to Simon Peter. The two added their own story, and how they had known Him as He broke the bread.

BSA: recognized (“come to know, understood”): It was more than seeing a face. They came to know Him as the living Lord.

See also: 1 Corinthians 15:5.

Luke 24:36

Suddenly Jesus was among them. His first word was peace. The disciples had abandoned Him, yet He came with a blessing and not a rebuke. His peace means a right relationship with God, not only a calm feeling.

BSA: Peace (“harmony, inner calm, freedom from war”): This was the ordinary Hebrew greeting of wholeness and well-being, here given by the One who made peace through His cross.

See also: John 14:27.

Luke 24:37-38

They thought they were seeing a ghost and were afraid. Jesus did not scold them. He asked why they were troubled and why doubts rose in their hearts. He understood what lay behind their fear and met it gently.

BSA: doubts (“questionings, or reasonings”): Doubts were arguments running through their minds, and Jesus brought them into the open to answer them.

Luke 24:39-40

Jesus offers proof: look at My hands and feet, touch Me. The risen Lord is not a spirit but has a real body, still bearing the marks of the cross. The resurrection is physical and personal, and not a vague idea.

BSA: Touch (“handle Me, and see for yourself”): He invited them to check with their own hands that He was real.

Greek: ψηλαφήσατε (psēlaphēsate, G5584) — “feel, handle.” The word means to feel carefully with the hands, the way one would examine an object. Jesus invited a real examination.

See also: 1 John 1:1.

Luke 24:41-43

Their joy was so great that they could hardly believe it. So Jesus asked for food and ate a piece of broiled fish before them. A ghost would not eat. He is truly alive, and He shares an ordinary meal with His friends.

BSA: disbelief (“unable to trust their eyes”): The good news was almost too good to take in.

Luke 24:44

Jesus reminds them He had told them all this. The Law, the Prophets and the Psalms were the three parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, and all of them point to Him. Everything written had to find its fulfillment, and He was that fulfillment.

BSA: fulfilled (“completed, brought to pass”): Scripture was not simply matched by events. It was brought to its full purpose in Christ.

See also: Matthew 5:17.

Luke 24:45

Facts were not enough, and neither was cleverness. Jesus Himself had to open their minds to understand the Scriptures. Understanding God’s word is a gift He gives, and the believer can ask Him for it.

BSA: opened (“revealed, expounded upon”): He did more than inform them. He unlocked their understanding from the inside.

Greek: διήνοιξεν (diēnoixen, G1272) — “opened fully.” This is the same word Luke used when the Scriptures were opened on the road. Jesus opens both the Book and the mind that reads it.

Luke 24:46

Jesus sums up the gospel the Scriptures teach: the Messiah suffers and rises on the third day. Suffering and resurrection are the heart of the message. Both were promised long before they happened.

BSA: suffer (“experience pain, undergo hardship”): His suffering was real, and the cross was part of the plan to save.

See also: 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

Luke 24:47

The message now goes to the whole world: repentance and forgiveness of sins, offered in Jesus’ name. It begins in Jerusalem, the very city that rejected Him. Mercy goes first to those who need it most.

BSA: repentance (“a change of heart, turning away from sin”): Repentance is a real turning of the whole person toward God. forgiveness (“pardon, remission”): Sins are not just overlooked but sent away.

See also: Acts 1:8.

Luke 24:48

The disciples had seen the cross, the empty tomb and the risen Lord. They are now the eyewitnesses who will tell it. The Christian message rests on what was seen and heard, passed on by those who were there.

BSA: witnesses (“testifiers of what you have seen”): A witness reports what he knows firsthand, and this is what the apostles were called to do.

Luke 24:49

Jesus promises the gift His Father had pledged, the Holy Spirit. The disciples were not to start their mission alone. They were to wait in Jerusalem until power came from heaven, and it came at Pentecost.

BSA: promise (“commitment, assurance”): God had pledged this gift, and He could be counted on to give it.

Greek: ἐνδύσησθε (endysēsthe, G1746) — “be clothed, be dressed in.” The word means to put on a garment. The disciples would be wrapped in God’s power like a coat that covers the whole person.

See also: Acts 1:4-5; Acts 2:1-4.

Luke 24:50-51

Near Bethany Jesus raised His hands and blessed them, and while He blessed them He was taken up into heaven. His last act on earth was a blessing. He goes up as a living Lord who continues to bless His people.

BSA: blessed (“praised, spoke well of”): He pronounced God’s favor over His followers as He left.

See also: Acts 1:9.

Luke 24:52-53

The disciples had been fearful and sad, but now they worship Jesus and go back with great joy. They spend their days in the temple praising God. The risen and ascended Christ turns grief into steady joy and worship.

BSA: joy (“a deep and lasting happiness”): Their gladness was not a passing feeling but a lasting gift of the risen Lord.