This week's text picks up the post-resurrection events after several miraculous appearances have already been reported. At the tomb the women had encountered two angelic messengers who announced, "He is not here, but has risen." Notice that Luke has at least three women witnessing the pronouncement of the two heavenly beings more than enough to legally validate the testimonies of both the messengers and their tomb-side audience. Similarly, Jesus' Emmaus road appearance is to two men again meeting the Jewish legal limit for corroborating witnesses.

But despite all these reports as well as the "hearsay" evidence of Jesus' appearance to Simon (v.34), a measure of skepticism apparently still pervades the disciples' resurrection convictions. In verse 36, even while the Emmaus road travelers are…