Ascension of Jesus

6Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

11“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

12Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.

13When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

14They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

16and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.

17He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

Luke 24

1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

7‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”

8Then they remembered his words.

9When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

11But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.

14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;

16but they were kept from recognizing him.

17He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”They stood still, their faces downcast.

18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19“What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.

20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;

21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.

22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning

23but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.

24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

26Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.

29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.

31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

32They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together

34and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

36While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.

38He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?

39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

41And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

42They gave him a piece of broiled fish,

43and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

46He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

47and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48You are witnesses of these things.

49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

50When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.

51While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.

52Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

53And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Mark 16

1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.

2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb

3and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

4But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ”

8Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

9When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

10She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping.

11When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

12Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country.

13These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

14Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

15He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.