3132.— When Our Lord Met with His Disciples
Will you kindly explain on what day of the week our Lord Jesus met with His disciples? John 20:19. When the disciples themselves met together is very clearly shown. That was the evening of that first day of the week. The first evening of the day began about three o'clock and closed at sunset. Whether our Lord met with them during any part of that three hours is quite questionable indeed; for we read in Luke 24 that two of the disciples went to Emmaus, about seven and one half or eight miles from Jerusalem; that when they reached there they asked Jesus to come in and tarry with them because "the day is far spent." Luke 24:29. He stayed there with them for some time while they prepared their meal and ate it. He then made Himself known to them, and they arose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. The day must have been passed when they reached there. Ordinarily they would not walk the eight miles in any less than two or two and one half hours. Jesus accompanied them on the way. They tell their story, and immediately afterward He appears to them. So it would seem to us that when He appeared in their midst and spoke to them as He did, the first day had passed and the second day had already begun. This meeting is also referred to in Mark 16:12-14. The disciples had gathered to this place of meeting not as an appointment, but because this was their regular place of living in Jerusalem, for we learn by Acts 1:13 that they had a common abode. They had simply gone home at the close of that first day; and while there together in a gathering which began before the first day closed, Jesus later met with them.