What Happened after Easter?

A few days after Jesus' death and burial the women went to the tomb, to sprinkle spices on the body, to keep the smell down. When they arrived, they saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance and the body of Jesus was gone.

Two angels appeared to them, and they were terrified and hid their faces and the angels asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

So, they went to tell his disciples and they didn't believe they. The story sounded like nonsense, but Peter went back to the tomb to look. Even after he looked and saw the empty linen cloths, he still didn't believe them.

At the same time on the road to the village of Emmaus, two of Jesus’ followers were walking and they were talking about everything that had happened. Jesus himself came and began walking with them, but God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them what they were talking about. One of them said, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about everything that happened in the last few days.” Jesus proceeds to ask them what things.

The two then proceeded to recount what had happened in the past few days, but they didn't call him savior or lord or son of God. They called him a prophet.

They told him:

-how Jesus had done powerful miracles

-how he was a teacher in the eyes of God

-how all the people loved him

-how the priests and religious leaders had condemned him to death

They told him how they had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel from the Romans. Then they told him how the women had found the tomb empty and about the angels who told them that Jesus was alive.

Then Jesus called them foolish for not believing what that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures about the Messiah having to suffer for the sins of the world. He also explained the writings from Moses and the prophets, about himself. When they neared Emmaus the men begged Jesus to stay with them, He agreed and when they sat down to eat, he took the bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. Instantly they recognized him, and at that moment he disappeared.

They went back to Jerusalem and found the disciples and told them that they had seen the Lord and he had risen. As they were telling them what happened, Jesus suddenly stood among them, and the whole group was scared. He told them not to be frightened and showed them his hands and his feet, to prove it was really him. Despite this, they still believed that they were seeing a ghost, so Jesus asked them to give him food. They watched as he ate and realized He truly was alive.

He then reminded them that when he was with them before, that the scriptures had to be fulfilled. He opened their minds to understand what the Scriptures said about how the Messiah would suffer and die to take away the sins of the world. He also reminded them that the scriptures stated that he would rise from the dead on the third day, and told them that they had become witnesses of those things.

He promised them that he would send them the Holy Spirit, who would fill them with power from heaven, but they had to stay there in the city. Jesus then led them to Bethany and lifted His hands to heaven to bless them, and while he was blessing them, he was taken up to heaven. The disciples returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy, worshiping and praising God in the Temple.