Expository Thoughts
29. "Stay with us." There are several similar expressions in Scripture on similar occasions (see Genesis 32:26; Judges 6:18; 13:15). All show that God loves to be entreated by his people and that those who wish to have much must ask much, and even do so with holy violence.
30. He took bread . . . gave thanks . . . broke it . . . began to give it. I think this refers to a well-known gesture of our Lord in the act of breaking bread, with which all his disciples were familiar. I think it is even possible that there is a reference to our Lord's demeanor at the miracle of feeding the multitude with a few loaves and fishes.
Alford suggests that the marks of the nails of our Lord's hands may have been first noticed as he was breaking bread.
31. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. We cannot explain this sudden revelation of Christ. The whole transaction is so miraculous that we can only take the words as we find them and must not waste time in attempting to define what is beyond our comprehension.
He disappeared from their sight. This and other expressions concerning our Lord's risen body show plainly that it was a body in some wonderful way different from the common body of man. It was a real material body and true flesh and blood; but it was a body capable of moving, appearing, and disappearing after a manner that we cannot explain.
33. There they found the Eleven. This deserves close attention. Was Thomas with them or not? If he was, he must have gone out immediately after the two disciples came in; otherwise it would be difficult to reconcile the verses which immediately follow, describing