"Bedtime Bible Stories"

on the Road to Emmaiis
From the Book of Luke,
Chapter 24, Verses 13-31

On the same day the women found the empty tomb, two followers of Jesus were walking down the road toward a town called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking about all the things that had happened over the last few days.

As they continued on, a stranger joined them. The stranger said, "You two seem to be discussing something very serious. If you don't mind my asking, what are you talking about?"

The men stopped. They looked very sad. One of the men, a man named Cleopas said, "You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about the terrible things that happened there last week."

"What things?" the stranger asked.

"The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth," Cleopas said. "He was a prophet from God who performed fantastic miracles. But the chief priests had him arrested by the Romans and crucified. We thought he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.

"And now, besides all of this, some of the women who followed him say the went to his tomb and his body was missing! They said they saw angels who told them Jesus had come back to life!"

Then the stranger said, "Why is that so hard to believe? The Scriptures predicted everything you just described. The prophets said the Messiah would have to suffer though all of these things!"

As they continued to walk toward Emmaus, the stranger quoted passage after passage from the Scriptures that had predicted everything about Jesus, from the Book of Genesis all the way through to the end.

Cleopas and his friend were very impressed with the stranger and all the things he knew about the Scriptures. When they reached Emmaus, they begged the stranger to stay with them and share dinner.

So the stranger joined Cleopas and his friend in Cleopas' home. Cleopas asked the stranger to say the blessing as they sat down for dinner. The stranger picked up a small loaf of bread from the table and broke it as he asked for God's blessing.

As he passed the bread across the table, Cleopas and his friend suddenly recognized the stranger.

It was Jesus himself. Then, just as suddenly, they were alone and Jesus had disappeared!

Cleopas and his friend ran to the eleven disciples to tell them what had happened. When they reached the room where the disciples were staying the disciples said, "Jesus has come back from the dead, just as he said he would. Mary and Peter have seen him! "

"We have too" said Cleopas. And the all knew it
was true!